AVERY LAWRENCE: LIVE IN JACKSONVILLE
SEPTEMBER 8, 2015 - NOVEMBER 22, 2015
Live carries with it two different pronunciations and meanings in spoken language. Written, it is just live. The indeterminacy of the (lv)/(liv) homograph creates a space for exploration in meaning-making. Live can be a declaration. Live can be a promise. Live can describe an event. Live is a verb, an adjective, an adverb.
- Avery Lawrence
In 2011, I visited the Miami Art Fairs with UNF art students and faculty members, seeing so much art that our eyes burned. Afterward, colleagues inquired about significant work I encountered. My reply: “Most of it was the usual, nothing very exciting, but there was one artist whose work stood out. This guy moved a tree up a hill.” Lawrence combines performance, video, sculpture, and imagery to encourage visitors to observe, explore, experience, inquire, and derive their own meanings.
- Jim Draper
UNF Art Galleries Director and Exhibition Curator
ARTISTS
AVERY LAWRENCE
Avery Lawrence was born into a loving, supportive family in Charlottesville, Virginia. Growing up in Charlottesville had a significant impact on his artistic career. He participated in multiple arts programs in the Charlottesville City School system, including a five-week Virginia Governor's School residency art program at the University of Richmond. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008 with a degree in visual studies. After graduating, he illustrated a fine press edition of The Iliad and The Odyssey. He learned how to screen print wallpaper at Flavor Paper. In November 2011, he designed and painted a 5,000-square-foot mural in Charlottesville. He received his MFA from California Institute of the Arts in 2015. He lives in New Orleans with his partner Emily Nelson Lawrence and Sophie the dog.