LIFE

Artist Tom Pazderka’s new exhibit is a burnt biography

Carol Motsinger
cmotsinger@citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE –

Tom Pazderka’s new exhibit is a burnt biography.

“Twenty Years of Progress,” an exhibition of large scale drawings on burned book paper, looks at events from the past 20 years in his native Czech Republic and in the United States, where Pazderka emigrated at age 12.

The pieces, which address the concept of change, will also make their stateside debut right as Pazderka embarks on a major personal change.

After eight years in Asheville, Pazderka will move to UC Santa Barbara at the end of the summer to pursue a masters of fine art in interdisciplinary art. He will attend on a prestigious fellowship.

Most of the works in the show were made during an artist residency at Trafo Studios in Prague, where he spent a few weeks in April and May.

The exhibition will debut with a reception 6-8 p.m. Friday at Pink Dog Creative.

His work encompasses a wide range of disciplines and interests, from painting and sculpture to writing and performance, and he has exhibited at Asheville Art Museum, Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, Upstairs Arstpace in Tryon, The Push Gallery in Asheville and Grace Center Gallery in Mills River.

He often reclaims, burns and assembles found objects, discovered in Dumpsters and free bins.

For the latest show, he explored events “that were from 1994 to now,” Pazderka said in his West Asheville home studio. “All these events have to do with that 20 years, and have shaped histories over there or here.”

Some are more subtle demonstrations of change, such as a charcoal drawing of an old communist newspaper building being demolished in Prague. Another shows the demolition of the remains of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995.

The images are “a lot of things falling down, burning down,” he said. “I think that symbolizes change.”

The images, created with charcoal and erasure, are drawn onto burned pages of books. He collected encyclopedias and books by pundits such as Bill O’Reilly and Newt Gingrich.

He burned the pages and pinned them on a wall in his studio, usually in consecutive order, and then drew the images.

Pazderka could easily roll up paper pieces on his international travels, he said.

He was also interested in using the book material for both aesthetic and contextual reasons.

The 1970s encyclopedias “are so interesting to me,” he said.

“So much of the information we get now is on the net,” Pazderka noted. “I wonder if the idea of progress is true. If it’s true that we are always smarter than we were back then. You do find that information is different, but it may not be better or truer.”

IF YOU GO

What: “Twenty Years of Progress,” an exhibition of large scale drawings on burned book paper by Tom Pazderka.

When: Reception is 6-8 p.m. Friday. The exhibit will be on display through Aug. 31.

Where: Pink Dog Creative, 348 Depot St.

Learn more: Visit www.pinkdog-creative.com.