A series of large paintings with carved wooden frames and a sculptural installation created by artist Steve Banks will be on display in the Cortona Art Gallery at Ashford University from October 20 through November 8. A reception for the artist is scheduled for 3-5 p.m. on Tuesday, November 18 in the gallery.

The exhibit, “A More Refined Mayhem,” uses graffiti and comic imagery to make satirical commentary.

“My work is about finding meaningful identity and individuality within popular culture. I strive to make energetic images that explore our relationships and interactions with what is precious, beautiful, necessary, serious, sensual, and nonsensical through juxtapositions of disparate materials, clashing iconography, pungent color schemes, contrasting textures, and scale and simplicity versus clutter,” Banks said.

“With the visual feel of an erratic archeological dig into pop culture, these recent painted constructions are composites of several layers of imagery which reference accumulated cultural ‘deposits,’” he said. These ‘deposits’ include images and motifs from antiquity, Sub-Saharan Africa, pre-Columbian cultures from Central and South America, as well as folk artists, German Expressionists, old notebook doodles, and bathroom graffiti.

Banks, who has taught classes at Black Hawk College, received his BFA from Northwest Missouri State University and his MFA from Florida State University.

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