“The Fiddler’s Tale” Concert Reception

The Florence County Museum Waters Gallery
135 South Dargan Street
Thursday, May 11, 2017
6:30pm – 8:30pm

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Join the Florence County Museum for an evening with Robert Garey and the Riverbank Problem Solvers. Garey, whose exhibition of narrative paintings The Fiddler’s Tale: Recent Works of Love and Loss is currently on exhibit, will be performing many of the traditional Appalachian ballads and other selections of Old Time music which served as the inspiration for his paintings.

The event will be held at the FCM Waters Gallery, 135 South Dargan Street, on the evening of Thursday, May 11, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm. Refreshments will be served by the by Florence County Museum Hospitality Committee and by the Clay Pot. Admission is free and open to the public.

Garey’s vocals will be accompanied by guitar, fiddle, banjo and cajón. The Riverbank Problem Solvers are:

Robert Garey – VOCALS/ GUITAR / FIDDLE
Robert Garey is the artist behind The Fiddler’s Tale. He is performing as the infamous Bobby G, from Florence, SC. He’s a rambler and a gambler who at a young age rolled the dice and they came up with the designation of artist. He’s been one ever since.

Dawn Larsen – GUITAR
Dawn grew up in the Ozarks singing mountain ballads (death and dyin’ music) and continues to perform regularly. She is thrilled to join her friends in celebration of Robert Garey’s beautiful work!
DawnLarsenMusic.com

Allen Johnson – FIDDLE
Allen Johnson is one of Florence’s best known multi-talented musicians. For many years Johnson has performed with the Florence Symphony Orchestra as well as in local bands. He has taught music in Florence public schools and continues to offer private music instruction.

Gary Lyons – BANJO
Gary Lyons is a retired custom home builder and musical instrument maker from the South Carolina Lowcountry. He currently spends his time making music with his friends & neighbors and granddaughters.

Jason Norris – CAJÓN
Jason Norris is a Florence native. He has been a musician for most of his life. He is the son of Joe and Kay Norris and father of two sons; Cameron and Karson. Jason’s loves are people, music, water & life.

Garey has spent the past five years drawing upon the lyrics of this music to create darkly-toned allegorical imagery, rendered with a high degree of technical familiarity in the medium of oil paint.

Although he began creating and exhibiting art in the 1970s, his instruction in the atelier style of realist painting first came in 1989, as a student at the New York Academy of Figurative Art. The school was a late career project of the Pop Art protégé, Andy Warhol, who founded the Academy as a safeguard against the potential loss of such skilled lineage in American art instruction. The result of the school’s immersive and demanding curriculum can be seen in Garey’s masterful details and in the rich surfaces of many of the paintings in the exhibit.

The show’s title is taken from one of its larger paintings, which depicts a verse in the popular Appalachian murder ballad, Pretty Polly. Although fans of the genre may recognize familiar scenes from a diversity of other song lyrics, Garey’s images are often connected by the appearance of the “fiddler” character, who narrates their fateful events from a nearby corner of the stage.

Although reminiscent of the Regionalist style of paintings by 20th century American artists like Thomas Hart Benton, Garey confides, “This series of work is really inspired by the narrative paintings of the Renaissance, which depict the great tales from the Bible and Roman myths.”

Florence County Museum Curator, Stephen W. Motte, has this to say about the exhibit, “The artist’s inspiration and his intent are readily apparent in the final product, which is not an easy thing to achieve. The museum is always looking for artists who can express complex ideas in demanding media, and produce bodies of work which are as cohesive and formally well executed as Garey’s.”

Garey’s many other artistic accomplishments include his work for the film industry, Sotheby’s Auction House, public murals projects, interior trompe l’oeil, as well as historic preservation.

The Fiddler’s Tale will be on exhibit at the FCM Waters Gallery until Friday, June 16.

For more information, visit flocomuseum.org.

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