TIGHTROPE Betwixt the Magical & the Macabre

Mar. 26 – May 30, 2015

A carnival of imagery held in conjunction with “Jest Fest!” — the City of Gainesville’s annual celebration of hilarity and derring-do.

TIGHTROPE – Betwixt the Magical & the Macabre features art balanced between the heebie-jeebies and the heroics we undertake to bolster our bravado against what goes bump in the night. What is a feat of daring if not a challenge to our own mortality, a thumbing of the nose at Death? What does masquerade provide us but an opportunity to be invisible as ourselves in order to revel in the role of the sinister things that otherwise frighten us?

TIGHTROPE cracks open the door into a world of fantasy and fear given form by artists. The viewer is invited to meander the fine line between dreams and nightmares, carnival and chaos, the terrifying moment of suspension between flying… and falling.

As always, we at the Thomas Center Galleries are grateful to be able to exhibit work on loan from contemporary artists as well as private collections, and to showcase the art of both established and emerging artists.

Anne E. Gilroy, Thomas Center Galleries Curator