Kevin Isgett's "Other Selves" Reception and Lecture at Curtis R. Harley Art Gallery

Curtis R. Harley Art Gallery, located in USC Upstate’s Performing Arts Center, presents “Other Selves,” a selection of recent work by Greenville, S.C., painter, Kevin Isgett. The exhibition opens Sept. 30 and runs through Oct. 28, and an artist reception will be held at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 6.

“Other Selves” began as a curious foray into a mostly unexplored genre for Isgett – portraits. These head and figure portraits, depicting boys and teens, became a means of exploration, both artistically and personally. His use of multiple perspectives, lighting sources and even subjects creates multilayered, emotionally-gripping, metaphoric works that capture the awkwardness and uncertainty of adolescence.

“I’m interested in how altering the head and facial proportions can change the way they look and the way we perceive them,” Isgett said. “We are quick to judge from our perceptions. I paint mostly young men and boys as an extension of myself. While not self-portraits, they are tributes to the nerdy, creative and inward boys; the boys who could never quite fit in.”

“Other Selves” consists of more than two dozen portraits created between 2014 and 2016. A new piece, “Never Enough,” will be featured in the exhibit.

Based in Greenville, Isgett is an assistant professor of art at Bob Jones University. He received his Master's of Art degree in studio art from Bob Jones University in 2005 and his Master's of Fine Arts degree in painting from Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2013. He has won several awards, including first place in Artisphere’s Artists of the Upstate competition in 2015. Isgett’s work has been featured in Gallery 8o8o8 in Columbia, S.C.; the Greenville Center for Creative Arts in Greenville; Art & Light Gallery in Greenville; Pickens County Museum of Art and History in Pickens, S.C.; and Anderson Arts Center in Anderson, S.C.

For more information on Kevin Isgett, visit his website or email kisgett@me.com.