BWW Preview: BENTLEY MEEKER Solo Show at National Arts Club, 10/26 to 11/7

The National Arts Club and its Fine Arts Committee present New York artist Bentley Meeker's solo exhibition, "186,282." The exhibition will showcase 24 light frames of varying sizes displayed alongside three uniquely contemporary chandeliers made of repurposed hand blown glass marijuana pipes entitled "Bongoliers 1, 2 and 3." Each piece explores the space between our visibility and sensibility through the use, or absence, of spectrum in variously used light sources.

The exhibition is a follow up to its predecessor, "186,281," and will celebrate its opening with a reception for the public on Wednesday, October 28th between 6pm and 8pm.

Throughout Meeker's long and distinguished career of creating spectacular light installations and environments for his commercial enterprise, his work, both commercial and artistic, has inspired a heightened awareness of the viewer's relationship with light, and by extension the necessary properties of said light for our daily existence.

At this commemorative exhibition, the collection is a juxtaposition of light sources, one full spectrum, one distinctly lacking in spectrum, that converge on a single point within a very recognizable frame to remove unfamiliarity from the otherwise highly conceptual sculptures.

Bentley has shown at The Whitney, has created large-scale public works (most notably the "H" in Harlem) and created the lighting for three Temples at Burning Man in Black Rock City, Nevada. He is consistently commissioned by The White House to design private and state events. Most recently, he returned to Burning Man this summer to create the lighting at the Temple of Promise.

Through his lighting design company, Bentley Meeker Lighting & Staging Inc., he has worked with influencers including numerous presidents, Rudy Giuliani, The Clinton Family, Robert DeNiro, Michael Douglas, Katherine Zeta Jones, Harvey Keitel, Liza Minnelli and Joan Rivers, who gave him one of his first high profile jobs when she hired him to light her daughter's Dr. Zhivago extravaganza wedding in the Terrace Room of the Plaza Hotel in 1997.

The National Arts Club is located at 15 Gramercy Park South, New York, NY 10003. The Bentley Meeker's solo exhibition, "186,282." is free and open to the public Monday through Sunday from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm from October 26th through November 7th. For more information, call 212.475.3424 or visit www.nationalartsclub.org.

Image: Courtesy of National Arts Club