RELEASED: April 15, 2004

DANVILLE, KY—Ten years of paintings and pastels by Sheldon Tapley will be presented in a major retrospective exhibition in Indiana.

"Sheldon Tapley: The 2004 Martha and Merritt deJong Memorial Artist-in-Residence" will be displayed from April 25 to July 4 at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science. Tapley, Cantrell Professor of Art at Centre, has been selected as the 2004 deJong Foundation Artist-in-Residence. The residency has been held in the past by some of America's most celebrated realist painters.

Thirty of Tapley's distinctive still lifes will be exhibited, including recent works and works loaned from collections across the country. Seven of the lenders are private collectors in Danville.

Tapley is a nationally recognized artist whose paintings are in museum, academic, corporate and private collections across the United States. His painting Volcano and Mirror is in the Evansville Museum's permanent collection.

The exhibition is organized in cooperation with the Tatistcheff Gallery in New York City, which displays his work. The New Yorker, reviewing Tapley's work at Tatistcheff, has commented that the "works are intelligently composed and executed with polished skill."

American Artist magazine published one of his large still-life paintings on its cover in November 1999 along with a feature article about Tapley inside. In that article the writer noted that Tapley "masterfully blends hard-earned classical technique with a vision that is thoroughly modern and personal."

Tapley began his career in the early 1980s as a printmaker and abstractionist working with bold colors and textures. Gradually, he returned to the direct observation that made his first experiences in art exciting and shifted his attention to landscape painting. For several years, he concentrated on creating expansive panoramic scenes.

In 1995, Tapley changed his focus and began to create complicated, multi-layered still life arrangements infused with exuberant texture and color. Working from objects that hinted at personal connections, the artist created images that convey abundance, mystery and a sense of intimacy.

"The best objects are ones that are a delight for the senses as well as having an aura of meaning," Tapley says. "The viewer's first impression—and one that should continue to last no matter how many other responses are added to it—should be one of visual delight. I hope by satisfying my appetite for the material and sensual to make something that nourishes the intellect and spirit. There is no end in trying to make a meaningful response to the world."

Born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, in 1959 to British parents, Tapley was raised in Europe and North America. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate with a bachelor of arts degree from Grinnell College in Iowa, he received his M.F.A. in printmaking at the University of Nebraska.

Tapley is the chair of Centre's art program and in 2002 was awarded the Cantrell Professorship at Centre in recognition of his work as an artist and teacher. He is also a past recipient of an Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council.

In addition to the exhibit, Tapley will lead a workshop at the museum June 7-11. For more on the Evansville Museum, go to http://www.emuseum.org/.

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