KNOXVILLE, TENN.- The Knoxville Museum of Art recently added a Stuart Netsky work, titled Hard, Fast and Beautiful, and a Lisa Norton sculpture, Lazy Susan, to its permanent collection.

About the Netsky Acquisition - Hard, Fast and Beautiful was purchased with funds from KMA’s Collectors Circle in memory of the late Knoxville artist Betsy Worden. The piece is painted in sign enamel and resin on aluminum, measures 60 by 60 inches and is part of Netsky’s series of abstract paintings on aluminum.

“Netsky pours sign painter enamel paint on aluminum surfaces, referencing historical figures such as Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler, and others, as well as 1960s Pop Art,” said Dana Self, Barbara W. and Bernard E. Bernstein Curator of Collections and Exhibitions. “His series of paintings on aluminum is a synthesis of his entire body of work that has dealt with gender, histories, surfaces, beauty and the body.”

A nationally known Philadelphia artist, Netsky’s abstract works emerge from his experimentation with cosmetics. He has used them as art material, literally painting with lipstick, nail polish, hair dyes, and other cosmetics. He uses these materials to discuss the literal surfaces of things and a superficial vanity implied in their use.

Netsky received his B.S. from Drexel University, his M.A. from Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts), and his M.F.A. from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa. His work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at the Locks Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Art, and The Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia, Pa; Grand Arts, Kansas City, Mo, and others. His work is in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Kimmel Center for Performing Arts, Philadelphia, Pa; the Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, N.J., and others.

About the Norton Acquisition - Lazy Susan, a sculpture in steel and glass jars, is a gift from the Chicago-based artist herself.

Norton studies mechanical and mnemonic functional objects. She is interested in how things are made, what they are made of, and how they function in our environment.

“Norton is particularly interested in vernacular forms of metalworking such as handcrafted metal objects made by tinsmiths, because many of these objects have origins in early industrial societies,” Self said.

With Lazy Susan, Norton borrows from sheet metal projects typified by the magazine Popular Mechanics. The magazine’s patterns stressed utility and thrift as basic requirements.

“Sheet metal patterns function as parody in Norton’s work, because they refer to a ‘workshop project’ aesthetic,” Self explained.

Norton has exhibited her work at John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wis.; SECCA, Winston-Salem, N.C.; Atlanta College of Art Gallery, Ga.; and at many other institutions. Her work is in several public collections in China; the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, N.C.; Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.; and many others. She is currently working on collaborative projects in China.

Norton is an associate professor, department of sculpture, at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Ill., and a well-known artist and writer.