ART IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

This January, NPT will bring viewers season 4 of the acclaimed series ART IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, the only primetime national television series to focus exclusively on contemporary art and artists. You don’t have to wait until January to see the series, though. NPT and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts are coming together to present advance screenings of all four new episodes. Episodes one and two, “Romance” and “Protest,” will be screened on Sunday, Nov. 11 from 2–4 p.m. Episodes three and four, “Ecology” and “Paradox,” will be screened Sunday, Nov. 18 from 2–4 p.m. Screenings will take place at the Frist Center Auditorium and are free and open to the public.

ABOUT ART IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Captivating and intriguing, contemporary art is admired and appreciated by many in museums and galleries. Yet few are given access to the creative processes behind the work—the inspirations and ideas that translate into compelling finished objects. ART IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, the award-winning biennial television series, reveals the inspiration, vision and techniques behind the creative works of some of today’s most accomplished contemporary artists, including Nashville native Robert Ryman.

Traveling across the country and abroad to film 17 artists, from painters and sculptors to photographers and filmmakers, in their own spaces and in their own words, the series is a rare opportunity for viewers to experience first-hand the complex artistic process—from inception to finished product—behind some of today’s most thought-provoking art. Artists speak directly to the audience, describing their passions, impulses and methods; viewers are invited behind the scenes to see artists at work in their studios, homes, communities and in sites as diverse as an old-growth forest near Seattle, a military base in California, a theater academy in Warsaw and a film set, in addition to galleries and museums.

The New York Times, in its review of the series, found the segment on Ryman “the most gripping.”

“He speaks of growing up in Nashville and coming to New York to play jazz in the 1950s,” writes the Times. “But mainly he talks in clear and concrete terms about how and why he makes his pictures and what sort of impact he means them to have on viewers.”

Here’s the trailer for the series:

These screenings are going be a lot of fun, and a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.