PLUS GALLERY UNVEILS THE "CHARNIVAL" AND OTHER EXQUISITE, AFFORDABLE ARTWORKS TONIGHT FOR "MERGE" 11 YEAR ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION

Join Plus Gallery tonight from 7-10pm to celebrate our 11 year anniversary with the unveiling of the exhibition "Merge," one of our most unique endeavors to date, a show that surrounds the viewer with a major massing of small-scale artworks by three distinct artists.  Matt O'Neill delivers a set of sketchbook drawings that are odd and intricate, merging a contemporary vibe with the influence of some of the artists European painting heroes. Eric Shumake unleashes his "Charnival" series of study paintings on the public for the first time, a body of work with deep philosophical and social implications, and one of the more fascinating we've had the pleasure to watch unfold to date. New Zealand artist Shannon Novak surrounds both artists with works from his experimental installation "One Song, Three Composers," a mind-blowing interpretation of sound through form and color that was first presented at CentralTrak gallery in Dallas earlier this year.

Each artist has over 40 works on view in the space, the installation of which has been designed to weave the artists works together in its own distinct way.  The scale and nature of the artworks lend them to being some of the most affordable we've ever presented in one exhibition, providing a little something for every pocketbook. Novak has sent us multiple copies of his two music cd's "Semitone shift" and "My mending heart," which will also be available for purchase. There is much to take in with this singular experience that closes out the summer calendar at Plus Gallery, on view through August 17th.

Susan Froyd with the Westword previewed the exhibition on her Show and Tell Blog yesterday, which can be viewed at

http://blogs.westword.com/showandtell/2012/07/merge_plus_gallery_shannon_nov.php?fb_action_ids=3962952365105&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

The statements about each artists works for the exhibition are as follows:

Eric Shumake - The Charnival

"My current artistic practice is a series of paintings mixing ash and acrylic entitled Charnival: a carnival where everyone is on fire, painted in the style of old carnival posters. They poignantly bring to light the burning ephemera of our existence from our mortality, our identity, our environment, to our yearning for spiritual truth. In life everyone walks around like everything is fine, but often are secretly on fire with fear, jealousy, passion, anger, or whatever. Things that seem like harmless fun turn into addictions. It's like candyland after adolescence. Just as global warming takes time to appear, painting them as turn of the century carnival posters makes them like warning signs from 100 years ago, ironically painted with the very ashes from the apocalypse they predict."