Frank Poor, an artist and professor in Rhode Island, has returned to the Carolinas once again to find inspiration in the expansive cotton fields and rich architectural history of the South.
Every year or so, Poor travels through the South, camera in hand, to document the landscape and find inspiration for his sculptural projects. In October 2014, Poor was invited for a three month residency at the 701 Center for Contemporary Art, a visual art center that seeks to promote understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of contemporary art and artists in the Columbia community.
His solo project, “Displaced,” formed during an artistic residency in Columbia, is on display until Feb. 22 at 701 CCA on Whaley Street.
Poor spent three months exploring the indigenous architecture of South Carolina and recreating the structures from memories and photographs. He uses wood and digital printing to create the sleek structures that represent the difference between what we remember and what actually exists.
“We take what we see for granted, and I don’t think we look at it very carefully,” he said. “The process of making these buildings is a moment to look very carefully at them.”
The show’s title is an expression of the strong connection Poor feels with the South and the physical distance that separates him from the Carolina region.
“I’ve been up here (in Rhode Island) for 25 years, almost,” he said. “I am sort of displaced from that location, but still drawn to it.”
Poor’s solo exhibit raises the question of memory and reality. One of Poor’s sculptures, the church steeple, is an image that he has made over and over again in different ways, playing with the delicacy of the physical structure and the memory of small experience in his childhood.
“The things we remember from our childhood and the things we see don’t really match, but we always look for things that rhyme,” Poor said. “Look at things more carefully and consider the relationship between the world we live and the way we remember it.”
No matter how long Poor lives in Rhode Island, he knows he'll never be a “yankee.” After growing up in Woodstock, Georgia, Poor moved to Rhode Island to earn his masters in fine arts at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. And 25 years later, he's still in Rhode Island, living with his family and teaching at Rhode Island College in Providence.
But his ties to the South are as strong as ever.
“That’s where I grew up, and certain things make sense to me down there,” Poor said. “I miss the landscape, the cotton fields and the peach orchards and the way that the people are slowed down a little bit.”
But Poor won't be away from the South for long. He is returning to Columbia to speak at the show's closing at 3 p.m. on Feb. 22.
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