Artistic talent abounds in the Triangle area, but standing on Hillsborough Street or staring at the ever-present bricks of N.C. State, few students would believe it. How can an aspiring art-enthusiast discover new artists or collect unique works of art?
Some area restaurants have made it as easy as ordering a grande Mochacchino. Displaying collections by local artists has become a ubiquitous feature of many local restaurants and coffeehouses.
April & George, an upscale wine bar located in Glenwood South, offers an extensive gallery devoted monthly to an up-and-coming local artist. When the restaurant debuts a new artist’s collection — on the first Friday of each month — the bar is “always packed with a totally mixed crowd,” Sara Brothers, an April & George bartender, said.
“We get other area artists coming to see their friends’ work, we get students and young professionals. There are always people just mingling,” she said. “Most of the sales happen on that night, but people come in to see — and occasionally buy — the art all month long.”
Featured this month is creative genius and Raleigh resident Kenbro. Kenbro’s paintings and murals depict everyday scenes — looking out from a kitchen window, from inside a taxicab or a parlor. But instead of similarly mundane landscapes outside, the windows show black-and-white scenes of a UFO or a photograph of the Earth from space. This clever conjunction of images immediately impresses audiences with sheer size and delicate craftsmanship.
But simply don a complimentary pair of 3D glasses, switch the natural lighting for that of a blacklight, and Kenbro’s works reveal another layer of interest. Images that at first boasted little appeal, such as cushions on a settee or the faucet on a kitchen sink, now pop in three dimensions. The photographs of alien signs in a cornfield or spaceship attacks — depicted in a grainy grayscale — become twice as intriguing when illuminated with florescent, blacklit hues.
These works of art aren’t merely eye-candy for those munching on biscotti or sipping merlot. Artists use the publicity from restaurant displays as a vehicle to sell their works.
Kenbro priced his murals, which range in size from 20 inches by 24 inches to five feet by four feet, between $225 and $625.
“Part of the reason his show is doing so well,” Brothers said, “is that he priced his art so well.”
Less than a block down Glenwood Avenue, however, prices for local art jump exponentially. Funky coffee shop Helios boasts large oil and acrylic paintings by abstract artist Carolyn S. Goodridge.
Goodridge uses bold colors to create moving, enduring works of art — but her paintings also leave an enduring deficit in your bank account. A collection of three 12 inches by 72 inches panels, albeit a dramatic set, runs $2,500 per panel. Other moderately sized canvases boast $450, $550 and $2,700 price tags.
A word on her behalf: Goodridge does donate 10 percent of her profits from these pieces to SAFEchild, a Wake County child abuse prevention organization.
Do-gooder artwork also covers the walls at Five Points coffeehouse The Third Place. The late-night hang out currently displays a collection of photographs by Ari S. Friedlaender, a doctorate candidate at Duke University studying marine mammals and the ecology of Antarctica. Her “Frozen in Time” exhibit brilliantly depicts the little-known, seldom-appreciated beauty of Antarctica’s wilderness, including magnificent glaciers and pristine waters, whales and penguins. Friedlaender expressed that she is “trying to use photography as yet another way to educate and expose people to Antarctica.”
Regardless of the artistic medium or the artist’s motivation, these homegrown works of art can serve as an education about the wonder of the natural world, an inspiration to channel your own creativity, or just a reminder to look beyond what first meets the eye.
