Pappas Featured In Solo Exhibit At University of Rochester

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- James G. Pappas of Buffalo, associate professor of African American studies at the University at Buffalo, is a recognized regional artist whose latest works of abstract expressionism are featured in a solo exhibition, "Inner Space Continuum: The Next Generation," in the University of Rochester's Memorial Art Gallery.

The exhibition will run through Sept. 7.

Pappas, a member of the UB faculty since 1969, describes the paintings and drawings in this show as "an exploration of the ideas of time and space" developed through improvisations on themes and motifs suggested by various sources and marked by an interiority of reference that defy easy interpretation. His influences include his extensive knowledge of jazz masters from swing and bebop artists to expressionists like Charlie Parker, Sun Ra, Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk.

The works reverberate as well with the interplay between nature and technology, spontaneous aural cues and idiosyncratic references to the history of blacks in film, one of Pappas' academic specialties. Pappas says his art also is influenced by his observations of every-day matter -- water on a car window, tattered billboards with abrupt endings, life's detritus.

In his catalogue essay on the exhibit, Jack Quinan, chair of the UB Department of Art History, notes the spontaneity with which the artist approaches the pictorial surface and the confidence with which he works to "maximize the flow of impulse between the unconscious or semi-conscious mind and the hand" -- characteristics, Quinan notes, that inform not only the jazz idiom and abstract expressionism, but surrealism as well.

Pappas has garnered acclaim for his innovative style and has presented his work in some 50 exhibitions in North America and abroad during the past 25 years.

Pappas served as chair of the Department of African-American Studies from 1977-88, and has been active in university affairs for nearly 30 years.