Lomax Named Artist-In-Residence at The Ohio State University's renowned Wexner Center for the Arts

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Ben Weiss
, Director of Strategic Partnerships
(614) 859-0276
bweiss@400anafrikanepic.com

From Linden Neighborhood to Prestigious Wexner Center’s Artist-In-Residence!

June 6, 2018—Columbus, OH—The Wexner Center for the Arts at the Ohio State University announces Columbus-based Mark Lomax, II as one of itsWexner Center Artist Residency Award recipients for 2018–19.

A product of Columbus City Schools, raised in the Linden community, Lomax realized early that he had the ability through music to engage people in a process of
change and growth even in negative conditions. “Music for me was the one thing that I had growing up that helped me see that I had power to affect that kind of change,” said Lomax. “I felt that I could have an impact that would make my neighborhood better.”

Each year, a total of $200,000 is invested in the work of contemporary artists across the center’s three program areas—visual arts, performing arts, and film/video. The center’s curators and director select the residency recipients for their commitment to exploring and advancing contemporary art.

The Artist Residency Award will support completion of 400: An Afrikan Epic. This ambitious 12-album project, focuses on the story of black America over the 400 years between the start of the transatlantic slave trade and today, but explores pre-colonial African history and pushes beyond the present with an Afro-futurist vision of community strength, union and healing over the next 400 years.

With 400: An Afrikan Epic, Lomax celebrates the resilience, brilliance, strength, genius, and creativity of a people who continue to endure while offering an inspired view of the future. Along with the release of the albums on January 23, 2019, Lomax will headline a live performance of compositions from the work at Columbus’s Lincoln Theatre on January 26, 2019.

Dr. Lomax holds a Doctor of Music Arts degree in classical composition and theory from The Ohio State University. He is in a very prestigious and elite group as one of a small number of African American composers in the United States that have terminal degrees in classical music.

An accomplished drummer, Lomax began performing professionally as a musician at the age of 12. Besides accompanying gospel choirs around the country, Lomax also boasts impressive jazz credentials. He has toured with the Delfeayo Marsalis Sextet and worked with notable artists such as Clark Terry, Marlon Jordan, Azar Lawrence, Bennie Maupin, Billy Harper, Nicholas Payton, Ellis Marsalis, and Wessel Anderson, among others. Lomax and his ensembles have released 25 albums.

Lomax adds that he is grateful to have the support of the Wexner Center to market his project globally. “This allows us to engage the world in a different way, so that’s exciting. And then the implications of having a high profile relationship with an arts organization, like the Wexner Center, that has an international reputation, and what that means on how we are then able to present the work, is awesome!”

ABOUT THE WEXNER CENTER
The Wexner Center for the Arts is The Ohio State University’s multidisciplinary, international laboratory for the exploration and advancement for contemporary art.

Click HERE to learn more about 400: An Afrikan Epic.