An exhibition titled “Gloria Victis: Three Artists Respond to War” is on view through Sept. 15 at the Piedmont College Mason-Scharfenstein Museum of Art in Demorest. The exhibition features the work of painter Temme Barkin-Leeds of Atlanta, sculptor Jim Buonaccorsi of Farmington, and ceramic artist Richard Notkin of Vaughn, Washington.
A panel discussion with the artists, led by Lizzie Zucker Saltz, founder of the Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, will be held at the museum at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 15, followed by a reception from 5–7 p.m. For more information, contact MSMA director Rebecca Brantley at [email protected] or 706-778-8500, ext. 1011.
Brantley said the artists share an interest in art as a vehicle for social commentary. “Their subjects mostly come from conflict, violence, and politics of the postwar era through the present, and their responses range from satire to mournful lament,” she said. “Often, they are calls to action warning viewers of possible dystopian futures.”
The exhibition’s title references Marius-Jean-Antonin Mercié’s “Gloria Victis,” a prominent work in the MSMA’s permanent collection. The bronze sculpture was made to honor the defeated French forces of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71).
“It gains new context in the proximity of these three contemporary artists and serves as a reminder of art’s long engagement with warfare and its effects on humanity,” Brantley said.
Click here to read more about the artists and their work.
