"Works by Tracy Stuckey" on Display During February
An exhibit of paintings called, "Works by Tracy Stuckey," will be on display in February at Fairmont State University.
An opening reception for the exhibition is planned for 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4, in the Brooks Gallery, located on the fourth floor of Wallman Hall on the main FSU campus. Admission to the exhibit is free and open to the public. The show will run through Feb. 26. Regular gallery hours are Mondays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tracy Stuckey has a B.F.A. degree in painting from Florida State University and an M.F.A. in painting from the University of New Mexico. He joined Fairmont State's Art Department as an adjunct faculty member in 2008. Stuckey also teaches as a part-time lecturer in West Virginia's University's College of Creative Arts. He taught previously at the University of New Mexico and, from 2002-2005, was Assistant Director of the John Summers Gallery at the University of New Mexico.
A figurative painter, Stuckey will speak about his work during the opening reception. He says he has been using images of the human body in his work for over 10 years.
"Early on, my paintings dealt with the physicality of the human form. I thought of the body as a piece of flesh and about paint's ability to describe that flesh. I explored this notion of the body's physical make up, painting the form like an image of a specimen," Stuckey writes in his artist's statement.
"More recently I have begun to address the human image in a different way, as part of a narrative. These new paintings are larger and more complex. They contain multiple figures, architecture, landscape as well as cultural and historical references. The narrative they create is a personal one; it reflects my experience as a transplant in the American Southwest for the six years that I lived in New Mexico. I use the cowboy/girl and other iconic themes coupled with pop cultural depictions of the region to reflect my own interpretations of the contemporary West. I am interested in, to borrow a phrase, the ‘Ralphlaurenization' of the iconic west and its characters."
Stuckey has won numerous awards, including the Raymond Jonson Prize, University of New Mexico; first place award, "Creative Tallahassee 2001," Juried Exhibition, City Hall, Tallahassee, Fla.; Rollin Award, "Rollin's Juried Show," Ogelsby Gallery, Tallahassee, and the Purchase Award, from the same show; and the Publication Award, Iconoclast, Valencia Community College, Orlando, Fla., all in 2000. In 1996, Stuckey was awarded a Proclamation of Appreciation by the Osceola County Commissioners in Kissimmee, Fla.
His work may be found in a number of publications, including "Land Arts of the American West," Christ Taylor and Bill Gilbert, University of Texas Press, 2009; "The Higher the Marble Content, the Better the Meat," Exhibition Catalog, Bivouac Artspace, Albuquerque, N.M., 2006; and William Fox, "Land Arts of the American West," Sculpture Magazine, October 2005.
Stuckey's paintings are in the permanent collection of the Ogelsby Gallery, Tallahassee, and Theodore R. Aronson, Aronson+Johnson+Ortiz, Philadelphia, Pa. The artist has a 10-year solo and group exhibition record.
For more information or for special viewing arrangements beyond the regular gallery hours, call Curator Marian J. Hollinger at (304) 367-4300 or e-mail her at Marian.Hollinger@fairmontstate.edu.
"New Pool" is a painting by Tracy Stuckey.
ArtTracy StuckeySchool of Fine Arts
