Philip Laber's "Visitatore Straniero (Foreign Visitor) at the Quad City Arts Center -- February 5 through March 20.
Exhibit: Friday, February 6, through Friday, March 20
Opening Reception: Friday, February 6, 6 – 8 p.m.
Quad City Arts Center, 1715 Second Avenue, Rock Island IL
With the works of both Iowa-based artists boasting vivid colors and expressive storytelling qualities, the dual exhibition Laber & Mullins will be on display in Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center from February 6 through March 20, this showcase of local talent boasting evocative, thrilling paintings by Phillip Laber and Rachael Mullins.
Philip Laber, of Long Grove, is a former college art professor who is now a full-time artist. Laber states: “My work has naturally evolved throughout my extensive career in the visual arts. In the past, it has been predominately issue oriented and has involved multiple art materials and art making processes. However, within the last decade, I have been freed from career objectives and external expectations. I have become increasingly aware of the brevity of one’s life and the importance of practicing mindfulness, including intentional attention on the present, using my senses to enjoy and creatively observe the smaller moments.
"This has led me to simplify my artistic process and exclusively focus on drawing and acrylic painting. My marks continue to be expressive and colorfully vibrant, figuratively abstract, playfully imaginative and sometimes whimsical. My subjects are composed synthetically and extracted from personal experiences or relationships, and more often than not, influenced by international travel, by nature and the act of being curious ... day by day.”
Rachael Mullins, of Davenport, presents Ashes to Ashes, an evolving body of work that began in 2024 with a move south and the loss of her cherished mother. Mullins explains: “The individual pieces serve as artifacts of a personal journey of grief and displacement, including the trauma and inevitability of the dying process, atonement and the reconciling of grief, and, more recently, the recounting of memories and our shared family experience.”
"The work uses a variety of water-soluble media to depict the stages of life, disease, decay, and rebirth that are all part of the natural cycle in the environment. Much of the motif is inspired by botanical specimens and the beauty and complexity of the southern ecosystem in the springtime."
An opening reception for Laber & Mullins will be held in Rock Island from 6 to 8 p.m. on February 6, with patrons invited to meet the artists and enjoy refreshments as they explore the gallery. The exhibit itself will be on display through March 20, regular gallery hours are Mondays through Fridays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and admission is free. For more information, call (309)793-1213 and visit QuadCityArts.com.
