Simmons University presents “The Chair, the Glove and the Envelope…Uncovering the Process: Drawings by Bill Flynn,” Nov. 2 – Dec. 9, at the Simmons University Trustman Art Gallery, fourth floor, Main College Building, 300 The Fenway, in Boston.
A reception and gallery talk with the artist will be held Thursday, Nov. 12, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.
Underscoring the primacy of drawing, Bill Flynn’s masterful technique and creative process both instruct and entertain. The exhibition features “drawings” inspired by a wing chair given to the artist by his mother, flattened and abandoned suede work gloves, and torn envelopes. Each of these stimuli has generated a series of work that evolved from careful observation to complex narratives and compositions: the chair became a metaphor for American aggression in Iraq; the gloves, collected by the artist over the past 35 years, inspired sensuous, full-bodied, poured imagery derived from manipulating oil paint dispersed in mineral spirits; and the envelopes, a more recent interest, yielded playful, collaged compositions, where a string frequently replaces the drawn line, substituting reality for illusion.
Flynn explains, “Every drawing has a kind of language – a language of marks and lines and gestures, each with different densities that create positive and negative shapes. All of these elements assemble into a composition that defines the overall mood and structure of the drawing and determines the internal order of the visual experience for the viewer….Once you start making marks, they tell the story as much as the image.”
A graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Flynn has taught drawing there since 1967. He has had numerous solo exhibitions, most recently in 2007 at the Gelb Gallery at Phillips Academy in Andover.
Trustman Art Gallery hours are 10 AM – 4:30 PM, Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and 10 AM – 7 PM on Wednesday and Thursday. The Gallery is free, open to the public and wheelchair accessible.
The Trustman Art Gallery is located within Simmons University at 300 Fenway, 4th floor, Boston MA 02115. For more information, contact Helen Popinchalk at [email protected].
Find us on Instagram @trustman_gallery.