Last Sunday, The Tennessean did a feature on Zeitgeist’s 25th anniversary, which takes place this summer. Read the full article by Melinda Baker with images here: https://www.tennessean.com/story/life/arts/2019/07/18/nashville-art-gallery-zeitgeist-celebrates-25-years-xanadu/1753478001/ What makes an art gallery great?  The answer may be as subjective as art itself.  The best ones, however, seem to share three traits: they represent great artists; enrich the cultural, intellectual and aesthetic life of their communities; and always reflect the spirit of the times.&nbs ..read more

untitled (props for pictures) Zeitgeist: Your current Zeitgeist show, Split Ends, represents two bodies of work. Are you still working on both of them? Which came first? Douglas Degges: I am still working on both bodies of work. The props for pictures work came first, but both projects share overlapping conceptual concerns. Both groups of paintings explore the relationship between the painted image and the painted object. The image, the immaterial thing we can hold in our mind, is both separate from and part of the physical material that contains or supports it. It is this complicated relatio ..read more

In honor of Lars Strandh’s first solo exhibit at Zeitgeist since 2014, we sat down to chat with our favorite Scandinavian painter about his work. How would you describe your artwork? I work with the paintings in a reduced way. I don't like calling them minimalistic but more reduced paintings that consist of many layers (usually 25), and every layer in a different color or color shade or different quality of the color, like matte or glossy or very translucent or opaque. How did you come up with the concept for your new show, Spectrum Line? Last time, in 2014, when I showed paintings here I mad ..read more

We talked to local artists, Abraham Lara, Levi Morales, and Sebastian Lara about their upcoming show, Keep Dreaming, opening at Zeitgeist on August 6, 12-6pm. Together they make up Barbarian. Question: How would you describe your work?  Abraham (Abe) Lara: I approach my paintings as a songwriter would a song. I think it’s about being honest and about seeking truth at some capacity. Sometimes it’s found in beauty, and other times being reflective of the world. Curiosity and play are big factors to how I approach it.  Abraham Lara, Too Much Information Levi Morales: My work is the acc ..read more

Jeremiah Ariaz’s newest exhibit, We Hold These Truths is a selection of photographs made across the U.S. during the Trump presidency. Drawn from the Declaration of Independence, the title implicates “We” the viewer as an active participant, acknowledging the collective responsibility shared in our democracy. The photographs reveal the anxiety felt across the nation and speak to this historic moment, as tensions run increasingly high in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election. Below he shares the stories behind some of the images that appear in the show. Gary, Main Street, Great ..read more

Alex Blau’s current exhibit at Zeitgeist, Chasing the Sun, examines gesture, color and complex abstract space through painting. Read our conversation with her about the new show below. Alex Blau in her studio, points out a detail in her painting, Signal. How does the work in this show relate to your earlier work?  These paintings are an exploration of the spatial discoveries implied by the looseness of my last body of work, Night Swimming. I was particularly excited about the imposition of a variable grids/plaids on amorphous liquid pools and spills with super electric colors. It has all ..read more

Caroline Allison’s current exhibit at Zeitgeist, A History of Snow, attempts to preserve our quickly changing landscape through photography and cyanotypes. Read our conversation with her about the new show below. Caroline Allison in her home studio What inspired you to seek out snow covered landscapes for this body of work? Landscape has always been a focus in my work.  For roughly the past ten years, I have been at work on a specific type of image-making and mapping of our landscape.  Photographs from A Common Place and Underground Again looked at the deep socia ..read more

Zeitgeist’s current exhibit, Land Derived Sentiments: Poems and Responses was curated by artist Patrick DeGuira. Each piece is a response to his new book of poetry inspired by nature, Land Derived Sentiments. The exhibit is on view through April 27, 2019. There will be a poetry reading in conjunction with the exhibit at The Bookshop on April 7. More info on the show and the reading here. Patrick DeGuira Zeitgeist: What inspired you to start writing poetry? Patrick DeGuira: My process is open and I often work in a variety of mediums concurrently. That said, creative writing has always been an ..read more

See their show at Zeitgeist opening July 7, with dance performances August 4 and 18.   Pitch Night Nashville Winners to Install Exhibit Exploring Dance and Architecture at ArtPrize 10. Learn more about their winning pitch at artprize.org ..read more

Associate Professor Jeremiah Ariaz has garnered critical acclaim for his photographs, Louisiana Trail Riders, a five-year project documenting Creole trail riding clubs in Southwest Louisiana. For the work, Ariaz was named the 2018 Louisiana State Fellow ($5000) and awarded the Southern Arts Finalist Prize ($10,000) from South Arts. On May 10th at a ceremony in New Orleans, Ariaz received the 2018 Michael P. Smith Award for Documentary Photography from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. Ariaz also received an ATLAS grant to support a series of national exhibitions of the work. The pho ..read more