Bruce New: The Night Is Only a Dream' to open June 2 at KFAC

Morehead State University’s Kentucky Folk Art Center (KFAC) has announced its upcoming exhibition, “Bruce New: The Night Is Only a Dream.” The opening reception will be held Friday, June 2, from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m.

The exhibition presents more than 60 of the Somerset artists collages, drawings and paintings.

New was born in 1970 and raised in Somerset, about a 90-minute drive south of Lexington. After many years in Richmond, he recently moved back to his hometown.

 In an interview from the winter 2013-2014 issue of Raw Vision, the artist describes his childhood as “a typical middle class upbringing, with the adults working hard to provide everything we needed and a lot of what we wanted.” From an early age, New was interested in art, taking comic books and the work of an artist uncle as his introduction and inspiration.

He quit high school during his senior year to take a job working construction. He remained in that field until the age of 27. Then, while building a motel in Houston, Texas, he fell on scaffolding and severely injured his leg. During his recuperation, New decided to pursue his artistic interests with vigor. His wife, Robin, to whom he was married in 1996, is an art teacher in a local school system, and she was highly supportive of his efforts.

New has been working as an artist ever since. During the past several years, his work has been presented in dozens of exhibitions across the world in locales as varied as New York, Tokyo, Houston, Chicago, Santa Fe and Morehead.

“Bruce New has secured his place amongst a new generation of self-taught artists who may well render the division between folk and fine art as obsolete,” said Matt Collinsworth, KFAC director. “Bruce New is a self-taught artist, but he’s also simply a great artist, period. His work challenges our understanding of what self-taught art is, and it should leave us terribly excited about what it can become.”

Kentucky Folk Art Center is a cultural, educational and economic development service of Morehead State University. The Center is open Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Additional information is available by calling 606-783-2204 or by visiting the KFAC website.