Inaugural art exhibit to be held at Arts Center

Simpsonville Arts Center is hosting the Ed Cascone Art Exhibition in August

Simpsonville, S.C. — The Simpsonville Arts Center is hosting the Ed Cascone Art Exhibition in its lobby gallery on Aug. 2 at 6-8 p.m.

Sponsored by the City of Simpsonville, Frazier Engineer and Countybank, the Art Exhibition will feature artwork by visual artist, writer and musician Edward Cascone, who mixes media such as watercolors and acrylics and utilizes unconventional media like insulation foam. Wine and light hors d’oeuvres will be served at the Exhibition.

Cascone’s artwork derives from a reality-based world where one sees things as they are and abstract surrealism where reality is lost.

“My obsession with painting is a quest for the unreachable perfection that burns within,” Cascone said. “I wish to express the human condition with no limitations. I have committed myself in this way to continue experimenting with different media and color techniques to create works of art that will distinguish me as a fine artist.”

The Ed Cascone Art Exhibition follows the unveiling of the newly renovated Simpsonville Arts Center last winter and hiring of Arts Center Manager Melissa Sturgis in the spring. Sturgis, who moonlights as an actor in the evenings, said she is very excited to have Cascone as the first featured artist at the Simpsonville Arts Center.

“Cascone’s work includes the new painting technique ‘dimensional surfacing’ that he developed himself,” Sturgis said. “I love the range of emotions conveyed in those works.”

In addition to the “disorganized entropic landscapes” that Cascone paints, Cascone paints the jazz saxophonists of the bebop era that have inspired him for decades. The musical expressions of Cannonball Adderley, Dexter Gordan, Charlie Parker, Ben Webster and Lester Young even inspired Cascone to learn the saxophone.

“This is the music of abstract and surreal landscapes that reverberate in my mind as I work,” Cascone said. “It is the voice of entropy that expresses chaos and order, joy and sorrow and birth and death.”

“When I find myself admiring Cascone’s jazz series, I feel like I'm back in New Orleans at Preservation Hall,” Sturgis said. “Having an artist of Cascone’s caliber for the opening of the inaugural season of the Simpsonville Arts Center is wonderful.”

Tickets to the Ed Cascone Art Exhibition are free but limited and must be reserved on Eventbrite.

Artwork by Ed Cascone can be found at edcasconesaxman.com.