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FLINT INSTITUTE OF ARTS TO OPEN “ED MCGOWIN: NAME CHANGE”

(Flint, MI: July 3, 2008) Flint Institute of Arts (FIA) opens the summer temporary exhibition titled Ed McGowin: Name Change to the public on Saturday, July 12 through September 28. A members-only preview will be held on Friday, July 11 at the FIA with a lecture presented by the artist.

Ed McGowin legally changed his name twelve times and has continued to create distinct artwork for each persona over the past three and a half decades. The Name Change project, started in 1970, challenged the concept that an artist’s work should develop as a “linear chain-link model with each creation leading logically to the next.”

McGowin believes this theory, under different identities will allow for a broader approach to receiving this body of work without tying them to the past history or future expectations. This exhibition will feature a survey of his paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings and installations.

A native of Mississippi, the artist has lived and worked in New York since the 1970’s. He has exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States, Europe and Asia including numerous public outdoor commissions. McGowin is a Professor at State University of New York, Old Westbury and former Chair of the Department of Sculpture at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.