AT YOUR SERVICE
Curated by Daniel Jones
November 30 - January 20
To make an appointment to see this exhibit outside the existing performance times, contact Manager of Artistic Programming Daniel Jones at daniel@ozartsnashville.org.
FEATURED ARTISTS
OMARI BOOKER
OMARI BOOKER, a visual artist based in Los Angeles and Nashville, began his journey as an artist his senior year of high school at Montgomery Bell Academy. While attending Belmont University, Omari studied Mathematics and other more traditional curricula before he finally focused on studio art and graphic design. He later earned his B.S. in Graphic Design from Tennessee State University.
Oil paintings are Omari’s predominant medium, but mixed media including charcoal, ink, and found objects are essential building blocks of his work, and are used to create finished pieces. Large scale work has been a constant creative outlet for Omari, and murals have also become a consistent part of his creative practice.
Omari takes a process-oriented approach to his art, embracing it as a therapeutic modality through which he is able to express his passion for the freedom and independence that the creative process allows him to experience. His art is his personal therapy, and his desire is that those viewing it will have personal experiences of catharsis. The philosophy that undergirds Omari’s work is FREEDOM THROUGH ART and he aspires to create work that communicates to his audience their unique and intrinsic ability to be free. See more work at omaribooker.com
MARLOS E’VAN
MARLOS E’VAN (b. 1988 Tupelo, MS), a Nashville-based artist, interweaves different mediums such as painting, performance, and filmmaking to create worlds in which their art recollects black histories: joy, pain, celebration, sorrow, and complex emotions from reenacted scenes of American histories. A subtle vernacular in expression has caught recognition from such publications such as Hyperallergic and Native Magazine. In addition to their work as an artist, E’van co-founded/co-designs M-SPAR, McGruder Social Practice Artist Residency out of the McGruder Center in North Nashville. Working as an educator in a hard-hit redlined Nashville neighborhood, E’van actively listens to their pupils, gathering stories that also inform E’van’s paintings. Their own life creates first-person narratives in paintings targeting marginalization, stemming from a queer black history rooted in their home state of Mississippi. Marlos E’van’s work is included in Southern collections, has been shown in VA, TN, GA, and NY, and is represented by Red Arrow Gallery. They have been awarded the Mellon Foundation for McGruder, and the Metro Arts Thrive Grant. Marlos received their BFA from Watkins College of Art in Nashville, TN.
ANNIE BRITO HODGIN
ANNIE BRITO HODGIN (b. 1983) is a largely self-taught artist who paints figuratively in oils. She was born in Poughkeepsie, NY, and bounced around the Southern U.S. growing up. She now lives just outside Nashville in Hendersonville, TN. Hodgin’s paintings are often suggestive and rich in allusion. Though technique and mark-making vary from thickly laid to thinly scrubbed, the colors are vivid and the imagery bold. Her current work is a meditative exploration of trauma, ambiguity, absurdity, repression, and control. Hodgin considers her figures avatars for exploring these realities, and the tensions they create. Her loose symbolism is drawn from literary and mythical references, memories, and the subconscious. She is represented by Red Arrow Gallery.
WILL MADDOXX
WILL MADDOXX is a Nashville-based artist working with 2D media. His work deals with the figure, iconography, and sexuality. He says, “My artwork comes from a ‘garden,’ a safe space in my mind where I find power in being shameless.” His figurative work is the opposite of the sublime. Where the sublime makes a viewer feel small in the presence of an immense spectacle, his portraits make the viewer, the model, and the artist feel big, bold, and empowered. Learn more at willmaddoxx.com
VADIS TURNER
VADIS TURNER’s work transforms gendered materials into abstract paintings and sculptures. Connecting generations of women, her work re-contextualizes domestic textiles and other gendered materials. Her first solo museum exhibition was at the Frist Art Museum in 2017, followed by the Huntsville Museum of Art in 2022, and the Abroms-Engel Institute for Visual Arts at the University of Alabama in Birmingham in 2023. She was awarded the Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant in 2016.
Turner’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, 21c Museum, Kentucky Museum of Arts and Crafts, Tennessee State Museum, Huntsville Museum of Art, and the Hunter Museum of American Art. She has exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, Andy Warhol Museum, The Bunker Artspace, ICA Portland, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Islip Art Museum, Knoxville Museum, Susquehanna Museum of Art and Cheekwood Museum. Residencies include Yaddo, Museum of Arts & Design, Materials for the Arts, Hambidge Center and a Fellowship at Vermont Studio Center. Selected press includes Artforum, Art Papers,The New York Times, Hyperallergic, Widewalls, Two Coats of Paint, Burnaway, Wallpaper*, Vanityfair.com, Observer, Artnet, and White Hot Magazine.
Her projects have been funded by the Barbara Demming Memorial Fund, South Arts, Tennessee Arts Commission, and The Current Art Fund, a regranting program through the Andy Warhol Foundation. Turner received a BFA and MFA from Boston University. She teaches at Vanderbilt University and is represented by Geary in Millerton, NY. Learn more at vadisturner.com
DONNA WOODLEY
DONNA WOODLEY’s works discuss the relationship between Black culture and American culture. Exploring Black significance, presence, and navigation within American spaces is what primarily represents her themes. Informed by stereotypes, cultural similarities and differences, perceptions of beauty, mental and physical health, and esteem, Donna’s work often includes humor representing her use of the coping tool to manage trauma.
Donna was named Nashville’s “Best New Artist” in 2016 by the Nashville Scene. She was a featured artist for the Representative John Lewis Mural project installed in downtown Nashville, TN. Donna has exhibited nationally and internationally. Her achievements include the award-winning group exhibition We Count: First Time Voters at The Frist Art Museum. She has commissioned works in the Vanderbilt University’s Trailblazers Initiative collection and the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center collection. She is a resident of Nashville, TN where she teaches at Tennessee State University and maintains her studio practice. Learn more at donnawoodley.com
