‘Bluebird Cafe Dreams’ by Devin Crane
During the First Saturday Art Crawl in downtown Nashville (April 5 from 6-9 pm), The Arts Company ‘partners in art’ with the Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) for the eighth year to present the annual Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) official preview. A ‘red carpet experience’ will welcome crawlers to the festival’s 45th birthday celebration and VIP experience in the gallery’s Avant-Garage showcasing the ultimate sneak peek films. Walk into the collaborative world of art and film, including meeting Film Festival artistic personnel, hearing about this year’s exciting offerings, as well as viewing compelling trailers on the big screen of coming attractions. In addition, there will be photo opportunities, popcorn and refreshments, and more interactive surprises. The 2014 Nashville Film Festival takes place a couple of weeks later, April 17-26, at the Regal Green Hills Cinema in Nashville, along with various downtown events throughout the weeklong event.
For eight years, the Arts Company and the Nashville Film Festival have partnered to preview the upcoming prestigious film festival. As partners in art, they collaborate to design and unveil commemorative film posters, screen special highlights of the festival (past and present), offer interactive environments, and create distinctive art exhibitions focusing on the art of film.
“We are very excited to host the film festival folks and celebrate their 45th anniversary,” said Anne Brown, owner of The Arts Company. “The visual arts and the art of motion pictures merge for one evening to show how artistic and cinematic organizations can collaborate to offer an original Nashville experience.”
Also on exhibition after a triumphant Paris exhibition last year, acclaimed artist Devin Crane lends his extraordinary talents for three exquisite new paintings to be exhibited at The Arts Company Gallery during Nashville Fashion Week 2014, opening April 5. Cranes’ painting, ‘Road to Nashville’ depicts a beautiful young woman coming to Nashville to pursue her dreams of becoming a songwriter. The optimistic sunlit painting deals with the theme of new beginnings. ‘Bluebird Café Dreams’ is about the power of manifesting your dreams into reality. A young country singer gives her all at the famous café that spawned the careers of country music’s biggest stars such as Taylor Swift. Crane loves exploring oversized luxury items in many of his paintings to add a sense of fantasy as well reflect their importance in modern society and ‘Natalia’s Caviar Dreams’ personifies luxury at its best.
While at the First Saturday Art Crawl, be sure to visit the other galleries on the 5th Avenue of the Arts, especially The Rymer Gallery and Tinney Contemporary. The Rymer Gallery exhibition ‘As You Style It’ features new paintings from Celeste Rapone and Marcus Durkheim with new crayon sculptures from Herb Williams.
The work of Carlos Gamez de Francisco ‘Cactus Petals,’ ‘Fluctuating Asymmetry,’ and ‘Crimes of Passion’ will be brought to life at Tinney Contemporary with live models linked to his 17th century works. The Cuban-borne artist’s first solo exhibition in Nashville showcases his remarkable talent in a wide array of artistic mediums ranging from photography, oil painting, watercolor, and even video.
The characters portrayed by Gamez de Francisco are creations that, through archetypes patiently built by the artist, reveal the dark spaces where vital philosophical problems coexist beyond any historical reference, highlighting essential traits of human nature such as, arrogance, selfishness, greed, stubbornness and triviality.
