Carl Gombert: The Real Me

by Mac B
(Knoxville)

Carl Gombert, a Knoxville-area artist and Maryville College art professor whose work has been shown with the likes of Andy Warhol, has a show titled The Real Methis month through the end of February at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Gallery.

The show consists of 24 pastel and acrylic self portraits depicting essentially the same individual, except for variations in costume, hair style, and eye, skin or hair color.

The size and tilt of the head, the facial expression, and the background are identical in each image. The intended effect is to present a room of people who at first glance are extremely different, representing a wide range of races, ethnicities, lifestyles, occupations, and so on, but who are nevertheless easily perceived as the same person.

Each is labeled, however, with a different, often ethnically suggestive, name (for example, Sean, Josef, Jamal, Ahmed, Carlos, etc.). Displayed between the images are framed text panels posing a series of provocative questions such as: who loves his country? who fears his government? who believes in God? who is happy? and who is gay?

The show asks viewers to consider whether we are more different or more alike and challenges viewers to confront both personal and public attitudes about race, ethnicity and class.

Mr. Gombert will also be showing the first eight images from a companion series entitled "The Real She" which raises similar questions about feminine identities.

Opening Reception: Friday, January 11, 6-8 p.m. Artist's talk at 7.

Carl Gombert was born in Brimfield, Ohio in 1959. He started taking painting lessons at the age of 14 with money he earned delivering newspapers. He earned a BFA in Drawing from the University of Akron and an MFA in Painting from Kent State University. He worked as a stagehand before pursuing a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts at Texas Tech University. His work is in numerous public and private collections and he has exhibited in more than 130 shows throughout the country. Since 1993 he has taught painting, drawing and art history at Maryville College in Tennessee.