OKC VeloCity | Visit John Newsom: Nature’s Course in its' last week at Oklahoma Contemporary

Visit John Newsom: Nature’s Course in its last week at Oklahoma Contemporary

By Erick Perry / Lifestyle / August 9, 2022

Oklahoma Contemporary is hosting John Newsom: Nature’s Course through August 15.

The free exhibition serves as a mid-career retrospective of the Oklahoma-born, New York City-based artist. Incorporating billboard-sized artworks built around nature and its patterns, the artworks also speak to humanity through allegories.

The exhibition opened in March with an artist talk and reception and is housed in the Eleanor Kirkpatrick Main Gallery on the Contemporary’s second floor.

The work encourages viewers to compare what they see with how they think about what they see, helping to increase our understanding of the world, and our relationship with it.

Although much of Newsom’s work is made up of painted flora, fauna, and animals we often see; the large presentations of these natural elements in unnatural orders shift viewers perspectives, prompting them to further investigate.

Newsom left Oklahoma as teenager to attend Interlochen Art Academy, a premier boarding school for artists. He then continued his studies of fine arts at Rhode Island School of Design and New York University.

Since beginning his career in the arts, Newsom has taken part in hundreds of international and national shows and been featured in publications like Maxim magazine.

You can view John Newsom: Nature’s Course at Oklahoma Contemporary through August 15. All exhibitions at Oklahoma Contemporary are free for the public. You find more information at oklahomacontemporary.org.

This article originally appeared on The Better Life blog.