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Weaverville Artist to Exhibit at Weizenblatt Gallery
Weizenblatt Gallery, in the Moore Fine Arts Building on the campus of Mars Hill College, will host an exhibit of the works of Taiyo la Paix, from March 22 through April 18.
The exhibit will begin with an opening reception on March 22, from 6 until 8 pm. The reception, and the exhibit are free and open to the public. Weizenblatt Gallery is open each weekday from 9 am until 5 pm.
La Paix, who lives in Weaverville, was born in the U.S., but spent most of his childhood in Tokyo, Japan. He has been featured in Bold Life: Western North Carolina’s Arts and Culture Monthly, Mountain Xpress, the Asheville Citizen-Times, and other regional publications. His work has also been part of exhibitions throughout North Carolina and in a gallery in Los Angeles, CA.
La Paix’s work centers on paintings and drawings of Papilla la Paix (such as "Teardrops," shown at right), who he describes as a “a sweet, empathetic, caring effervescent, fun and sexy girl.” During a difficult time in La Paix’s life, he said he began to imagine Papilla and create images of her as part of “a fun, stylish world, inhabited only by kind people.”
Though La Paix’s life circumstances have changed, his art continues to center on Papilla.
He said: “I have made very dear friends. I’m an artist—what I always wanted to be. But my obsessions have stayed with me. They’re all I’ve known, and I can’t seem to let go. Though I deeply value my real life and the people in it, there is a part of me that has never been able to come home. Papillia and her world embody everything that is good in us, everything that we aspire to, everything that is sweet, empathetic, caring, effervescent, fun and sexy.”