Background
Pinkney Herbert was born in 1954 in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States.
2000 North Pkwy, Memphis, TN 38112, United States
Rhodes College where Pinkney Herbert received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1977.
3720 Alumni Ave, Memphis, TN 38152, United States
The Center of the University of Memphis where Pinkney Herbert obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1982.
Pinkney Herbert in his studio.
Pinkney Herbert and Jenny Lynn McNutt.
Pinkney Herbert discusses students' paintings. Photo by Sky Shineman.
Pinkney Herbert was born in 1954 in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States.
Pinkney Herbert developed an interest in painting at an early age. He learned finger paint in the nursery school. Then, he attended Episcopal High School where he was taught art by John James Lisanick.
In 1973, Herbert came to Memphis where he entered Rhodes College. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1977, he pursued his education at the University of Memphis which provided him with a Master of Arts three years later.
Pinkney Herbert began his way to the profession of the artist in New York City where he relocated with his wife in the 1980s. While in the city, Herbert attended avidly its museums and art galleries.
The first solo show of the artist in the Big Apple was organized at the end of the decade. Since then, Pinkney Herbert has widely exhibited in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Southern Asia. In 1992, he co-founded an alternative art space in Memphis, Marshall Arts, which he directs as the French branch of the Virginia Center of Creative Arts residency program in Auvillar beginning from 2009.
Pinkney Herbert has tried his hand as an educator as well. In 2012, he taught painting and drawing at the University of Georgia Study Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. He has served as a professor at the University of Tennessee, the Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts, Penland School of Crafts, Arrowmont School, the University of Memphis, and the Memphis College of Art. He has served as a visiting artist at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts, Hanoi University of Fine Arts, and the Oberfalzer Kuntzlerhaus, Schwandorf, Germany.
Nowadays, the artist shares his time between New York and Memphis where his art is represented by David Lusk Gallery. He also has representatives in New Orleans and Little Rock, Boyd Satellite and Greg Thompson Fine Arts respectively.
Pinkney Herbert draws inspiration for his whimsical paintings in the places he comes across trying to capture the energy and the melody of a concrete sight. He also hangs upon the history of art, architecture, music, and digital technologies in his art.
Quotations:
"A lot of great work comes out of a sense of anxiety or a sense of need, and that creates an edge."
"You don't have to be an artist or an art historian or a rocket scientist or an art lover to respond to my work. You can just be who you are. I really appreciate and welcome all kinds of interpretations. [...] That's what art is about. Making connections."
"As artists I think it's important to have a sense of imbalance so that we can try to put things into focus or back into balance. A sense of duality creates a sense of tension, and every great work of art has a sense of tension to it."
"I'm not out to make pretty pictures. I always promised myself I wasn't going to look over my shoulder, I wasn't going to pander or make work just in order to sell. I've never wanted to give my audience something that's easy."
"Broken Time is a jazz term used when musicians do not establish a set beat which allows for improvisation to happen. I like to paint and draw in similar ways responding to the flow of intuitive gestures. The sounds of Memphis Blues and Soul, New Orleans Jazz, and the energy of New York City stimulate the pulse for the lines, colors, and forms in my work. This musical language made visual is filtered through other influences like Japanese prints, flags, spheres, and personal symbols."
"I've had some dry spells. I've had those moments, and that's when I like to change medium. I'll do sculpture, work three-dimensionally. I'm not very good at it, but it's a different behavior. You've got to change your behavior. Sometimes I'll practice some yoga, or I'll put on a different kind of music."
"I still love the Woody Allen saying, 'Eighty percent of success is just showing up.' We all make excuses. If all you do in the studio is sit and look, that's productive, that's good. Just look."
Pinkney Herbert joined American Abstract Artists in 2018.
Pinkney Herbert is married to a woman named Janice. The family produced two daughters, Suzannah and Waverly. The first is a moviemaker who specializes in documentary, and the second is a fiction writer.