The very first exclusive survey of the video work by acclaimed artist and Illinois State University graduate Terry Adkins is on view at the University Galleries in Normal.
*Senior Curator Kendra Paitz said it was time to focus on Adkins' deserving video works. The artist works in many media, but this is his first exclusively video survey.
*Adkins believed art could be a force for change.
*Soldier, Shepherd, Prophet, Martyr: Videos from 1998 - 2013 shows Adkins as a multifaceted artist who used video to explore historical figures whom he felt were immortal, such as Beethoven, John Brown and Jimi Hendrix.
*Adkins liked to focus on lesser known aspects of his subject's history, delving into surprising facts and spinning them into art.
*Many of the videos produced by Adkins were specific to a particular art exhibition and were used in conjunction with other media, such as sculpture.
*Some of Adkins videos contain little or no sound, but contain compelling imagery. Paitz said the artist was a deft editor of his works.
*Adkins was inspired by Jimi Hendrix and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., both were pacifists and putting them together in a piece was a natural fit. That work is called Flumen Orationis.
*The exhibition remains up at the University Galleries through April 3rd.
