Come to Nine Muses Art Gallery on June 23 to get a glimpse of where Nathan Prebonick is headed. “Span” takes a look at this exciting local artist and his work from the last 6 months. One of two solo shows this June, this may be your last opportunity to see Nathan’s work before he leaves for graduate school at the Rhode Island School of Design in the fall.

There will be an opening reception on Friday, June 23, 5-8 pm during Barberton Fourth Friday. The show is free and open to the public.

“You will see a variety of approaches. As a painter I am forced to constantly reinvent myself. I have been challenging my own ideas of how a painting can be made and how it can function. I make paintings about space and ways of seeing. They make you think. I would rather you leave with questions than answers,” Prebonick relates.

Artist Statement ~ Nathan Prebonick

Growing up in Akron, Ohio, I experienced a landscape in a state of transition. My friends and I explored the local historic sites that developed out of many additions and revisions. Time changed the meaning of this landscape. Exploring these canals, quarries and old factories brought me to the ideas of history, repurposing, navigation and spatial perception that now guide my studio practice.

My early paintings and drawings densely assembled architectural fragments among an abundance of horizon lines and vanishing points. I used thick acrylic paint to build layers of objects into structural images with diverse surfaces. I became interested in the various notions of how to construct space in a painting.

Overtime, my focus shifted from describing the accumulation of time with the weight of paint to experimenting with more ephemeral and translucent qualities of time, space and visual perception. I began shaping a world in terms of accumulated residues, hazy atmospheres and symbolic replacements. Now working with a flatter, more geometric language, my paintings came to deal with compressed spaces, like relief sculptures. Forms appear to function tectonically and topographically, shifting, stacking and interlocking. In these paintings I employ forms evocative of sensations; projecting, receding, sliding, to give visual form to a mental decision making process. These mental and physical landscapes represent cross sections of time, or compressed experiences. They explore how ways of seeing relate to ways of thinking, challenging the viewer to establish a sense of place in a shifting world; a place in both space and time.

The exhibition is free and open to the public. Nine Muses Gallery hours are Mondays, 7 a.m.-4 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 7 a.m.-8 p.m.; Thursdays, 7 a.m.-9 p.m.; Saturdays, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Closed on Sundays. The gallery is open for Barberton Fourth Friday. Nine Muses is located at 584 W. Tuscarawas Ave., Barberton.

Nine Muses is operated by Summit Artspace, the community arts center for Summit County and surrounding areas. For information about Nine Muses Art Gallery go to summitartspace.org or call 330-376-8480. Find Nine Muses, the Art Center on Tuscarawas and Summit Artspace on Facebook. Summit Artspace is on Twitter @AkronAreaArts, Snapchat and Instagram.

Nine Muses is operated by Summit Artspace. Click here for a map.

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The main image is entitled Plan. 90x77in, Acrylic on fabric, 2016

For information about Nine Muses Art Gallery go to summitartspace.org or call 330-376-8480. Find Nine Muses, the Art Center on Tuscarawas and Summit Artspace on Facebook. Summit Artspace is on Twitter @AkronAreaArts, Snapchat and Instagram.