Sumter County Gallery of Art to hold conversation with artists Clarence Heyward and Juan Logan on Oct. 14

Sumter County Gallery of Art is inviting the public to be part of what is sure to be an interesting and deep conversation at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, between renowned artists Juan Logan, a great friend of the gallery, and Clarence Heyward.

Heyward, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, is best known for his dynamic and fresh take on figurative art. His subjects often include his wife and his two daughters. His paintings and collages explore the Black American experience, primarily focusing on how the use of media and historical documentation are used to shape perceptions of Black American culture. In response to the question a few years ago of why he and his subjects are painted green, Heyward said: "That's a reference to a green screen in the media. Whatever you project on it, it can be whatever you want. For me, it was shedding light on how Black people are portrayed in the media. Because of our skin, we basically walk around with a green screen; how we're viewed depends on their perception of Black people."

In Heyward's artist statement, he said: My early years were spent referencing the imagery of my "art idols" with no real connection to concepts or "why." Those years influenced the way I viewed myself, Black Americans and our identities. This has led me to critically engage image making and narratives regarding the contemporary Black American experience. My art practice creates dialogues all through the lens of the Black American male experience. As a Black man, husband and father living in America, my paintings draw from life experiences. It contains personal and collective narratives that position Black bodies in the forefront and examines the reinterpretation of Black existence in imagery addressing the notion of belonging and inclusion.

Juan Logan is an American artist who lives and works in Belmont, North Carolina. His artworks address subjects relevant to the American experience. At once abstract and representational, his paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations and videos address the interconnections of race, place and power. They make visible how hierarchical relations and social stereotypes shape institutional power structures in the South and the material and mental landscapes of contemporary life.

Logan has exhibited extensively throughout the world, including solo and group exhibitions at the Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans; Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston; and the Gantt Center for African American Arts and Culture, Charlotte, among others. Select public collections featuring his work include the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C.; the New York Public Library; and the Baltimore Museum of Art. Logan's work has been reviewed in Artforum, Art in America and Hyperallergic, to name a few. Logan is also the conservation manager at the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Project in Wilson, North Carolina.

The artists talk will be held Oct. 14 at Sumter County Gallery of Art, 200 Hasel St., Sumter. Light refreshments will be served.