School of Art, Art History and Design Director and Cather Professor of Art Francisco Souto’s newest exhibition, “On beauty and displacement” opens Oct. 13 at Kiechel Fine Art.
The exhibition runs Oct. 13 through Dec. 1 at the gallery, which is located at 1208 O St. in Lincoln. An opening reception will be held from 5-8 p.m. Oct. 13. The reception is free and open to the public. Souto will deliver an artist talk at 6:45 p.m.
“The works in the exhibition continue my response to the reality affecting not just my native land, but the worldwide diaspora,” Souto said. “These drawings take a more poetic, symbolic and broader view of the dispersion of people from their original homeland. Now diaspora is affecting anyone in the world.”
Souto is a Venezuelan-born American artist known for his highly detailed drawings and prints. This exhibition will include 22 new drawings that Souto created in 2023.
“Making art objects with its aesthetic complexities takes time,” Souto writes in his artist statement. “There is an inherent power to this process that progressively embeds the content into the work. There is a symbiotic correlation between the act of making and the intimacy in the act of looking. These drawings are an attempt to offer a collective experience of struggle and perseverance. It is about people and their humanity in times of adverse reality. They address the shared vision of humanity through their meticulous execution and their material vocabulary. It is through this material presence that art should be experienced; as a way of thinking through an image, a testimony of a life lived.”
Souto began his career in printmaking and then switched to drawing following an injury. His work in both mediums is intricate and detail-oriented.
“I do think people still believe in beautiful objects and beautiful things,” Souto said. “There is a level of craftsmanship to the work that allows the object to have an intrinsic power because it’s so well constructed, and that sets the tone of the conversation with the viewer. Once you get there, I want people to really pay attention to what is happening around them. It’s about humanity. It’s not just about your particular situation. To me, if I can create a balance between those two, I think I’m pretty happy with the conversation because these are heartfelt sentiments.”
Souto received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Herron School of Art, and his Master of Fine Arts degree from Ohio State University.
He has participated in a wide range of national and international exhibitions, and his accolades include more than 45 national and international awards and honors. He was one of 61 artists nationwide selected for the “State of the Art 2020” exhibition at the Momentary and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas.
In 2019, he received the Lorenzo il Magnifico Award for works on paper at the XIIth edition of the Florence Biennale in Italy, for his work, “Little Bird (Pajarito).”
He became the director of the School of Art, Art History and Design at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2018. He joined the Nebraska faculty in 2004 and was named Cather Professor of Art in 2023.
