Floyd D. Tunson: SON OF POP

September 27, 2014 – December 31, 2014

September 27 – December 31, 2014

516 ARTS presented Floyd D. Tunson: Son of Pop, a solo exhibition of Colorado-based, African American artist Floyd D. Tunson, who for over four decades has been among the most highly regarded and influential artists in the Rocky Mountain region. He has achieved a rich and diverse body of work via painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking and mixed media. The exhibition included various series through which Tunson has addressed concepts of cultural identity, American social history, race and class relations in the United States and abroad, pop culture, art history and the beauty of pure abstraction.

This survey of Tunson’s work “offers an explosion of ideas and emotions, unhindered by any single stylistic mode… His practice is informed by not only mid-century Pop luminaries but also by later strains of political artmaking.” (Artforum) “Tunson uses photo-based methods to explore racism and the damage it has done to the African-American community… An enormous and sweeping exhibition, Son of Pop highlights Tunson’s relentless visual intellegence and thoughtful political views.” (art ltd.)

Over his career, Tunson has earned a reputation as one of the region’s leading art teachers while simultaneously creating his own work and exhibiting nationally. Tunson’s art is included in the collections of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, the Denver Art Museum, the Kaiser-Permanente Corporation, the Walter O. Evans Collection of African-American Art, and many private collections nationwide.

This exhibition was organized by the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and curated by Blake Milteer. It occupied both floors of 516 ARTS and had an accompanying full-color catalogue published by the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center with an essay by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa.

​Press

Kathaleen Roberts, “516 Arts’ exhibit focuses on Floyd D. Tunson’s fun, introspective view at the world” Albuquerque Journal