Open Reception—Al Harris-Fernandez: Abstracted

October 9, 2021—January 9, 2022

This exhibition will be the first one-person museum exhibition of paintings by Al Harris-Fernandez in Iowa. Having recently retired from his nearly eighteen-year tenure as the Sioux City Art Center’s director, Al Harris-Fernandez has had more daylight to devote to painting than ever. Al's stated creative goal is “to create images that I find absorbing. By this I mean images that are ambiguous, not predictable, that are able to surprise me, and take on a life of their own. My methodology combines intuition and reflection and approaches the canvas from all directions. Literally, I paint, then rotate the canvas, then paint again, then rotate again. During this process I continually paint over areas, allowing parts of the previous image to remain, thereby creating unexpected but intriguing new relationships. At some point during the process, I arrive at the final orientation of the painting, the top and bottom of the image." The Art Center is pleased to present the creative work of its long-time director, retired arts administrator, and full-time artist, Al Harris-Fernandez.