June exhibitions at The Arts Company

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The Arts Company presents two solo exhibitions by two Nashville artists in their inaugural exhibitions at the gallery.  Second Act features the black and white photography of Stacy Widelitz.  Preliminary Provocations features the photorealistic paintings of Bob Durham.  Opening during FirstBank First Saturday Art Crawl on June 1 from 6-9 p.m., the exhibitions will continue through June 27 during regular gallery hours, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday, at The Arts Company, 215 5th Avenue of the Arts, North.

About the Exhibitions

Second Act

Stacy Widelitz may be best known for his award-winning music career, but his love of photography has led him into the “second act” of his creative life.  Widelitz was always an avid travel photographer - buildings, landscapes, historical sites, etc.  In the fall of 2015, he bought a new, higher quality camera for a trip to Tuscany.  On this trip, Widelitz became fascinated with the faces he encountered on the streets and in the cafés and started photographing them in black and white.  Always a fan of film noir, as well as classic black and white street photography, he discovered that those influences were coming out in the photos he was taking.  Surprised that he seemed to be able to capture an emotional moment with his camera, Widelitz realized that he had spent his whole life capturing emotional moments through music.  He decided that this type of photography was another important form of expression for him.

Preliminary Provocations

Bob Durham paints within the realist tradition.  Physical presence – the fact that we exist in three dimensions – holds his attention as nothing else can.  It is the foundation from which Durham works and the unattainable illusion for every painting he completes.  For Durham, the habitual practice of painting is a way of reckoning with the world and a means of better understanding its intricacies and innumerable rabbit holes.  His paintings take shape in a territory somewhere between imagination and physical reality.  Within the narrative nature of the paintings, an often disruptive and irrepressible element exposes the humor, contradictions and questionable conventions of the human condition.

About the Artists

Stacy Widelitz

Stacy Widelitz started composing professionally at nineteen, but came to prominence with the song "She's Like the Wind," co-written with Patrick Swayze and featured in Swayze's blockbuster Dirty Dancing.  Featured on the movie's wildly successful soundtrack, it reached no. 3 on Billboard's top-40 chart (no. 1 among adult-contemporary radio listeners).  Widelitz received two BMI awards for the tune as among the most-performed songs of that year, as well as a 4-million airplay award from BMI in 2009.  He has scored features, more than twenty made-for-TV movies, written the end-title song for Disney’s Pocahontas II, has received four Gold Addies for music he composed for advertising and was nominated for an Emmy for ABC's World of Discovery.  Widelitz scored and composed much of the dance music for the film One Last Dance, which garnered him a Best Music Award at the Nashville Film Festival.  He is currently the board president of Nashville Opera, past president of Leadership Music, and is a Commissioner in the City of Oak Hill.

Bob Durham

Raised in Gallatin, Tennessee, Bob Durham graduated from Vanderbilt University magna cum laude with a degree in English literature.  Soon after, he began developing his interest in visual art.  He worked as a freelance illustrator in New England from 1979 to 1994, then returned to Nashville to concentrate on his painting.  In 1998 Durham earned his MFA with distinction in drawing and painting from the University of Georgia.  Since that time he has resided in Nashville and has taught drawing and painting at Watkins College of Art and Design, Sewanee, Vanderbilt University, and Middle Tennessee State University.  Durham’s fine art paintings have been exhibited both nationally and internationally and are part of many corporate and private collections.

For more information, please visit www.TheArtsCompany.com.

The Arts Company has become a cornerstone on 5th Avenue of the Arts in Downtown Nashville since 1996.  The gallery’s mission is to maintain the presence of distinctively fresh, original, and contemporary artwork in the middle of the downtown marketplace, welcoming individuals, businesses, and guests from around the world.  Known as a prime destination for photography, painting, and sculpture, The Arts Company offers an eclectic mix beyond the typical gallery model.  Our welcoming environment of over 6,000 square feet in a historic building provides customers with a distinctive Nashville experience.  The Arts Company maintains a series of partnerships with commercial and non-profit businesses and presents 12 inventive exhibitions a year that premiere during FirstBank First Saturday Art Crawl every month.

FirstBank First Saturday Art Crawl, under the management of Nashville Downtown Partnership, is a free event that occurs every first Saturday, 6—9 p.m., with approximately 20 galleries opening their doors to approximately 2,000 Art Crawlers. For 12 years, Art Crawl has featured art galleries on and around 5th Avenue of the Arts — founded by The Arts Company, The Rymer Gallery and Tinney Contemporary. The appeal is generated by the chance to meet and converse with the artists, view artwork in a welcoming environment with a variety of entertainment options and complimentary refreshments; as well as ride the free Gray Line Art Crawl Trolley—hopping on and off at other art stops such as Art at the Arcade, the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Hatch Show Print and Haley Gallery, Music City Marketplace, 21c Museum Hotel and other boutique lodging, Studio 208 and the Downtown Presbyterian Church.  

The Arts Company
(615) 254-2040, art@theartscompany.com
Images for press available upon request