Disaster/Up Against It, a new show at Riverland Community College's James Wegner Art Gallery opens Monday featuring recent sculptures by Charlie Nestor. Nestor’s work demonstrates the creative and expressive potential of everyday objects when transformed by a creative mind. The artist’s materials are often the cast offs of industrial civilization- a stack of old mail, a rack of punch cards or a bench from a defunct factory- that seem to carry their histories with them. Reminiscent of the Italian sculptural movement, Arte Povera, the sculptures reveal the beauty of ordinary things. Nestor’s delightful interventions bring fresh insight to these objects, provoking thought with a characteristic humor.

Work in the show is representative of two series of sculptures, titled “Disaster” and “Up Against It”. According to the artist, his “Disaster” group reflects on the magnitude of Nature’s power, while the works in “Up Against It” hint at story lines related to the objects and their previous life.

Nestor received a Bachelors and Masters of Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina Greensboro in 1992. Exhibitions include “Dance of Words” at the University of Minnesota and solo exhibits at The Artery in Greensboro and Gallery 10 in Washington D.C.. The artist was included in 2006 in “40 under 40 leaders” by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.

The show opens April 8 and continues Monday through Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. until April 29.

A Closing Reception and Artist Talk will be held on April 29 at 10:30 a.m.