Tennessee S Curve

A painter turned sculptor, Charles Rogers “Red” Grooms was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago; the New School for Social Research, New York; and the Hans Hoffman School in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Grooms is best known for his extravagantly scaled “sculpto-pictoramas,” which are highly theatrical, three-dimensional installations that allow the viewer to walk through and interact with an environment completely created by the artist. He is also a prolific painter, printmaker, sculptor, performance artist, and filmmaker. Often combining elements from fine art and mass culture, Grooms treats his subjects with wit and satire, depicting them in an animated, cartoon-like manner, while incorporating exaggerated perspectives and vibrant colors.

In Tennessee S Curve, a combination painting and sculpture, or “stick-out” as Grooms calls these works because they jut out from the wall, he fashions a playful caricature of a Tennessee country road. Carved out of Styrofoam and coated with enamel and epoxy, the undulating surface of the relief sculpture extends the boundaries of the conventional picture plane. He pays homage to his home state with a brightly painted mountain highway complete with a rushing river, pine trees, wildflowers, a slithering snake, and a log truck. The curving road, which moves the viewer through the image, creates a sense of chaos in the sinuous bends of winding asphalt, the haphazard placement of vehicles, and the pattern of skid marks. Grooms humorously captures the typical country man in his pickup truck plastered with bumper stickers, a toolbox and a hunting dog in the back, raising his finger in a friendly gesture to each passerby. The natural beauty of the mountains is juxtaposed with the crudely made signs dotting the roadside: “See Rock City,“ “Thrills for the Whole Family at Lake Sequatchie,” “Prepare to Meet the Lord,” and “Ole’ Time Tent Revival.” With his unique mixture of materials, his unusual composition, and his sense of humor, the artist encapsulates the essence of the rural roads of eastern Tennessee.