Gregory Warmack , better known as Mr. Imagination (March 30, 1948 in Maywood, Illinois - May 30, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American outdoor artist. He works in various forms and his work often uses sandstone and bottlecaps.
Video Mr. Imagination
Biography
Third child in a family of nine, Warmack grew up in the Chicago area and has no formal training as an artist, although he started making art objects in his childhood. In the 1970s he made and sold artworks at street shows. While in Chicago in 1978, he was shot in the stomach during mugging and coma. During her hospitalization, she had a spiritual vision that she described as "very peaceful, almost as if I was traveling through history and seeing ancient civilizations." The incident prompted Warmack to renew his focus on art and expand his scope, and shortly after he began using the name Mr. Imagination.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Imagination works extensively in sculptures carved from industrial sandstone and combines thousands of bottlecaps that are tied to the surface of sculpted objects. He uses paint, wood, nails, putty, and cement, and also includes objects found in his work, including vintage commercial items and discarded items such as appliances, appliances, and mirrors. Many of his works are thematically influenced by the masks and clothes of Africa and Egypt.
Mr.'s first solo exhibition Imagination was assembled in 1983 at the Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago. He lived and worked in Chicago until 2001, when he moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. There he donated pieces to the Lehigh University campus and the Zoellner Art Center, worked with the Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission, and organized workshops for children. In January 2008 his home was destroyed in a fire, and soon he moved to Atlanta, Georgia. He continued to work and exhibit in Atlanta until his death from a blood infection in 2012 at the age of 64.
Maps Mr. Imagination
Work and exhibit
Mr. works Imagination is showcased in performances across the United States, in places like the Dallas Art Museum, the American African Museum in Dallas, the Halsey Gallery at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina, William Benton Museum of Art. at the University of Connecticut, and at the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh. He is also exhibited internationally, including in Venice and Paris. Some of his works are part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection, and he is also exhibited at the American Visionary Art Museum, the American Folk Art Museum, and the High Museum of Art. He was commissioned to make rendering eleven bottles of Coca-Cola for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and decorate the space for House of Blues venues in Orlando, Las Vegas, and Chicago. Among other major works are the installation of parks at the National Botanical Gardens, a globe at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and a wall display for transit buildings in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Absolut Vodka commissioned the rendition of their bottle in his style.
In 2009, Mr. Imagination was assigned to decorate the urban planters in Salina, Kansas, but the city council halted the completion of the project and issued a finished exterior with jackhammers.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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