October 29, 2021 - June 10, 2022
Lobby, Koger Center for the Arts
Columbia artist Tyrone Geter’s collection of charcoal collages,"Living In the Light of Hell’s Shadow," will be on display in the Koger Center from October 29, 2021 - June 10, 2022. Mr. Geter's artwork is incorporated as a visual element in conjunction with the Southern Exposure concert; At War with Ourselves - 400 Years of You that was performed at the Koger Center on Sunday, November 7, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. Get more information here.
Each Southern Exposure concert is paired with a local visual artist whose works relate thematically and visually to the evening’s musical program. This concert’s featured artist is Tyrone Geter, a Columbia-based artist who formerly taught at Benedict College.
In a career that spreads across two continents, Tyrone Geter has built an international reputation as a world-class artist, painter, sculptor, illustrator and teacher. Geter grew up in Anniston, Alabama, and received an Master’s of Fine Arts from Ohio University in 1976. In 1979, Geter relocated to Zaria, Nigeria, where he lived, drew and painted among the Fulani and local peoples of Northern Nigeria. Recently retired from his position of Associate Professor of Art at Benedict College in Columbia, SC, he lives in Columbia.
An exceptional draftsman, Geter’s portraits are sensitive, timeless and masterfully executed. Their power, displayed through their expression, gesture and adornments, seem often suspended in an otherworldly environment. Equal to the history his figures embody, they also speak of a spiritual world overflowing with compassions and empathy.
Geter’s work has been exhibited at the Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC, Florence Museum of Art, Florence, SC, WaterFront Gallery, Charleston, SC, Center for Afro-American Artists, Boston, MA; Butler Institute for American Art, Youngstown, OH; Hampton Institute College Museum, Hampton, VA; Museum of Fine Art, Boston, MA, to name a few. His honors include first place, Moja Arts Festival, Charleston, SC; first place Robert Duncanson Award from Taft Museum, Cincinnati, OH; an artist fellowship grant from Foundation for the Arts and Humanities, Boston, MA; and a grant from the Columbus, Ohio Arts Council.
The works on display in the Koger Center, “Living in the Light of Hell’s Shadow,” were selected by the artist because of their resonance with Nikky Finney’s poem “At War With Ourselves – 400 Years of You.” Finney’s 2019 poem, written for the 400th anniversary of the African American presence in the New World, serves as the text for a dramatic new work for adult choir and the legendary Kronos Quartet, set to music by composer Michael Abels. “At War With Ourselves” receives its first preview performance on Sunday, November 7, at 3pm on the University of South Carolina School of Music’s Southern Exposure New Music Series.