Four decades of work by East Carolina University School of Art Professor Emeritus Mel Stanforth meld together to provide a new spin on the concept of a retrospective. The exhibition is designed as an installation and employs old through new works to create an experience that doesn’t find a neat timeline at its core, but rather a room-sized assemblage that emotes in the viewer a notion of what this artist’s life has been all about. Visitors will experience works in a variety of media including watercolor, prints, mixed media, and computer based imagery – in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional formats. New pieces in the exhibition explore the transformation of works as they are passed onto patrons or exposed to the environment for alteration or decay.
Stanforth has been a participant in anti-elitist art movements for the last twenty-five years. He has exhibited in over 100 solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe. His honors include a North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship and the North Carolina Museum of Art Triennial. The artist works in computer-generated photomontage, painting, correspondence art and collage. Visitors of the exhibition will not merely be observers, but will quickly become participants in the varied works. Organized and originally installed by the Rocky Mount Art Center, the current installation was drawn from components including works spanning a 45 year career. The artist received his BFA from the University of Alabama, and his MFA from Wayne State University, and holds the position of Professor Emeritus with the East Carolina University School of Art. His work is held in numerous public and private collections. In addition to his studio work, Stanforth has continued writing and presenting papers about the work of other artist who capture his imagination.
Mel Stanforth, Sandwich Board on Cart: La Belle Dames Sans Merci, circa 1995. Inkjet print on paper in sandwich board frame on a small cart. Image courtesy of the artist.