Calendar of Events

The Arts & Culture Alliance is pleased to present five new exhibitions at The Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville from June 4-25, 2021. A free reception with the artists will take place on Friday, June 4, from 5:00-8:00 PM. All visitors to the Emporium are required to wear a mask and maintain physical distancing guidelines. Most of the works will be for sale and may be purchased through the close of the exhibition by visiting in person or the online shop at www.knoxalliance.store.

On The Road In Tennessee by Jacques Gautreau in the lower gallery

In this new exhibition of color photographs, Jacques Gautreau displays his ongoing project illustrating his exploration of the cultural landscape of Tennessee: a recurrent road trip radiating from the place I live, taking me to uncertain destinations within the state lines.

Since childhood, Jacques Gautreau has followed his instinct to get away and explore. When he was still in his teens, he inherited his grandfather’s Solex motorcycle, left his home in a Loire Valley village near Angers, France, and took off for Spain. Shortly thereafter, he bought his first camera; whether at home or in the countryside, he roamed on foot and recorded the depth and poignance of scenes other people viewed as ordinary. His travels took him to places as disparate as Ecuador and Hong Kong, and the drive to keep moving eventually landed him in Knoxville, Tennessee, around a pivotal time in its history. Downtown Knoxville was “changing fast,” he told the Metro Pulse a few years later in a story about his work, and he was there most mornings, walking through its streets and alleyways as desolate, industrial ruins were being transformed into something clean and prosperous. That change was incidental to something more interesting to his eye: the light, the lines, the textures of remnants left behind. He has since expanded his territory to venture out to the parts of Tennessee that people drive past without noticing. There is intimacy, empathy and humor in his embrace of this part of America that he now calls his home.

Jacques Gautreau began his career in photography as a teenager growing up near Angers, France. He has made photographs in locations on six continents, from Mexico to Mauritius to Tasmania. His career in medical imaging technology brought him from Paris to Knoxville in 2004. He has published his work in several anthologies, including Knoxville, Green by Nature (2013). He has shown his work in several exhibitions since his 2006 Knoxville premiere at the Emporium. Gautreau became a U.S. citizen in 2016 and lives in Knoxville with his wife, Julie Gautreau.

http://jacquesgautreau.com

The exhibitions are on display at the Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay Street, in downtown Knoxville. The Emporium is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. For more information, please see www.knoxalliance.com or call (865) 523-7543.