The Artist's Eye
Celia Eberle, artist, Ennis, Texas
Moderated by Nancy E. Edwards, curator of European art/head of academic services
What does the art of the past mean to the artist of the present? In this ongoing program, moderated by Kimbell staff, artists and architects discuss works in the museum’s collection, share the special insights of the practicing professional, and relate older art to contemporary artistic concerns, including their own.
Celia Eberle is best known for her sculptural works steeped in mythology and paradox. The artist often explores themes with ominous dichotomies, such as nostalgia and naivety, past and future, man and nature, and worship and destruction. She uses various materials and mediums, ranging from carved wood, bone, and precious stones, to ceramics, sound and animatronic components, and found objects. Eberle's work has been exhibited and collected extensively in Texas. Her exhibition Reanimation Project at Cris Worley Fine Arts, Dallas (through May 29) illustrates the fears and potential consequences of the rise of artificial intelligence. Her mid-career retrospective, In the Garden of Ozymandias, was held at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas in Beaumont in 2014. Recently, she was awarded grants from the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation and, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, among others.