Lain York is a native of Nashville. His work can be found in the permanent collections of EMI Los Angeles, the Savannah College of Art, The Tennessee State Museum, and the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission. His work has been published in New American Paintings, New York Arts Magazine, Number, Inc. and Art Papers.

York currently serves on the board of Fugitive Projects and is the gallery director of Zeitgeist Gallery in Nashville. He has served as an exhibition coordinator with The Metropolitan Arts Commission, the Summer Lights Festival, The Greater Nashville Arts Foundation, and the untitled artist group. He continues to work at the Kennedy Center on Vanderbilt Univeristy campus and spent more than 15 years on the staff of Arts at the Airport.

Artist Statement

“My work continues to deal with masks and ritualistic figures. I think of the images as portraits that exist somewhere between an interior landscape and assumed identity. The idea of the lost record or unidentified museum piece is also a great inspiration.

These are paintings of sculpture and are also influenced by documentary photography found in museum and auction catalogues. The surfaces carry the record of the many stages the paintings go through and follows an African tradition of burying and applying elements in order to activate their potential. This is an attempt to deal with the intangible through physical and ordered means.”

Shown Right: Family Grouping (detail from ensemble), 24" x 16" x 5," mixed media on panel.

Arts at the Airport receives funding for the visual arts from the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA) and the Tennessee Arts Commission (TAC). The Flying Solo Exhibition Series is supported by the MNAA, the TAC, and is funded under an agreement with the State of Tennessee. Music performances are sponsored by the MNAA. For more information about Arts at the Airport, please call (615) 275-1614.