Opening Reception: Saturday, March 12th from 6pm – 8pm

Octavia Art Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition by guest-artist Irby Pace during FotoFest International 2016.  The exhibition will focus on Pace’s Explosions in the Sky series which features void spaces inhabited by disconcerting yet beautiful colorful puffs of smoke.  The artist will be in attendance for the opening reception on March 12th and the exhibition will continue through April 9th.

Pace’s current body of work is rooted in his fascination with negative space and its secondary role in the visual world.  In some ways Pace believes the void can represent what is lacking in the human experience, and to explore this concept, he brings empty spaces to the forefront of his photographs.  The colored smoke inhabiting each place further pushes the alien nature of Pace’s found voids, transforming what might normally be seen as an ordinary environment into something extraordinary.

Pace was born in Odessa, Texas and completed his MFA at the prestigious College of Visual Art and Design at the University of North Texas.  He has exhibited across Texas and California, and has exhibited internationally in Germany.  Pace’s work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Wired Magazine, and many other regional and national publications.  Pace currently lives and works in Alabama where he is an Assistant Professor in Photography and Video at Troy University and is represented by Galleri Urbane Marfa + Dallas.