» By LORI PERKINS – lperkins@my.apsu.edu

Last week, APSU’s Trahern Gallery exhibited the artwork of Wes Sherman. Sherman visited APSU to help students reach new heights in creating paintings filled with personality.

Sherman began painting in 1992 and studied at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where he received his MFA. Recently, Sherman created a new painting named “Re-presentation: New Paintings.” “He’s comfortable to find his own voice in other people’s work,” said Paul Collins, gallery director and assistant professor of Art. With over 20 paintings on display, Sherman demonstrated his passion for history, brushstroke variety, abstracts, landscapes and “up cycled” paintings.

“I believe that in many ways abstraction owes a lot to landscape genre, with its application of paint and interest in the nature of color and light,” Sherman said. “I believe that we have always borrowed from the past to redefine our existence.”

Sherman showed his beliefs and dedication to his artwork, which took about a year to complete due to the oil paints and brush strokes used.

Several students observed Sherman’s work in the Trahern Gallery. Students who viewed the work may better understand Sherman’s meaning of “Art is not a decoration, but a declaration of one’s self-understanding of place in this world.”

For more information about “Re-presentation” or Wes Sherman, contact Paul Collins at 221-7790 or visit www.apsu.edu/art. TAS