Local Artist Ben Edwards Exhibits Work at Faulkner Performing Arts Center

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Ben Edwards

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. –  Northwest Arkansas artist Ben Edwards is exhibiting one of the paintings in his Redacted series –  Redacted (An American Quilt) – from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays through Oct. 12 at the Faulkner Performing Arts Center in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas.

Edwards will discuss the painting and his art from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26, in the lobby of the Faulkner Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Edwards describes the paintings in his Redacted series as an ongoing autobiographical performance that provides evidence of the artist’s complicit, perpetual consumption of a variety of products marketed in the United States. 

Each box, scrap, and item comes from the home of the artist or the immediately adjacent commercial environment. The packaging, clothing, and other consumer waste generated by providing for a large family’s necessities, is purposefully selected by the artist over a period of time to build the paintings in this ongoing series begun in 2014.

Neither simple recycling, nor random juxtaposition, the waste used for this series is carefully compiled to structure a new identity for the objects. Essential to the series is the obscuring of brand images and marks. Every effort is given to erase, or cover any evidence of a manufacturer’s brand using found acrylic paints. The resulting paintings in the series are a contemporary iteration of anti-corporate pop art.

For more performance times and ticket information, visit faulkner.uark.edu or email faulkner@uark.edu — or stop by the Box Office, open from 1:30-5 p.m., Monday to Friday.

About the Jim and Joyce Faulkner Performing Arts Center: The newest performing arts center at the university of Arkansas — a renovation of the old Field House—is named the Jim and Joyce Faulkner Performing Arts Center, in honor of the couple’s major gift to the project. Completed in September 2017, this world-class performance venue is 39,400 square feet, with seating for 587, and a stage that can accommodate as many as 250 performers. The center is the main performance venue for the university’s J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Department of Music and hosts guest musical activities for the university and Northwest Arkansas community.

About the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences: The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is the largest and most academically diverse unit on campus with 19 departments and 43 academic programs and research centers. The college provides the core curriculum for all University of Arkansas students and is named for J. William Fulbright, former university president and longtime U.S. senator.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.