Book signing for "TOLERANCE" and "THE TURNING" exhibition by CHRIS MARS
September 13 - October 4, 2008
Book signing: Saturday, September 13, 6-7 pm
Reception for the artist: Saturday, September 13, 2008, 7-10 pm
Billy Shire Fine Arts
5790 Washington Blvd. (near Fairfax Avenue and the 10)
Culver City, Ca 90232
323-297-0600
www.billyshirefinearts.com
Chris Mars was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1961 to parents Constance and Leroy Mars. He is the youngest of seven children. Mars's eldest brother Joe suffered a so-called Nervous Breakdown in 1966 and was institutionalized at St. Cloud Mental Hospital. The impact of that event, along with Joe's life-long struggle with Schizophrenia, set the groundwork for a life's mission of championing society's downtrodden and outcast. Mars hopes his work causes the viewer to question the nature of evaluation and labels, be it by investigating the meaning of beauty or by casting aside the exclusion of the meek, the forgotten, or the enemy.
Like many artists, Mars seeks to know Truth. In his canvases are villains and angels, though one's initial demarcation may, as in life, prove false. Believing that truth comes through the educational exploration of a given subject, Mars offers in his work a particular truth exposed and defined through his unending personal scrutiny of self and of society and an amazing technical control of the medium.
Chris Mars was once best known as a musician, being a founder member of seminal indie/punk band The Replacements and subsequently recording four critically acclaimed - and progressively more experimental -- solo discs. His drumsticks are enshrined in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
His paintings are enshrined in the permanent collection of various museums throughout the country including The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Erie Art Museum, The Longview Museum of Fine Art, The Tweed Art Museum and The Minnesota History Center. His museum exhibition history also includes The American Visionary Art Museum, The Weisman Museum of Art, Steensland Art Museum, Art Center South Florida and soon The Phipps Center for the Arts.
Billy Shire Fine Arts will be hosting a book sigining for Chris Mars, September 13 from 6-7pm . Chris will be in attendance to launch his first book, "Tolerance" which features 159 full color paintings created by Mars between 2000 and 2007. The book features multiple essays about various individual paintings, written by the artist himself, giving readers "the meaning" behind Chris' motivations, thought process and symbolism.
