Topic: The complexities of gender inequality, sexual harassment, female empowerment, and feminism as a tool for social change are themes Anna U. Davis addresses in her current exhibition Damsels in Distress. Join us for a conversation with the artist as she delves into these topics, shares her personal experiences, and expands upon the drive to create this body of work.
The discussion with Anna U. Davis will be moderated by Myrtis Bedolla, Founder & Director of Galerie Myrtis. And include guest panelists Saida Agostini, poet, advocate and movement builder, and Chief Operating Officer for FORCE; and Khadija Nia Adell, multimedia artist, curator, arts administrator, and Assistant to the Director, Galerie Myrtis.
Black Man in a Black World features works by Wesley Clark, Larry Cook, Johnnie Lee Gray, and Arvie Smith. Through internal ruminations and visual explorations of historical perspectives and contemporary realities of blackness this exhibition offers individual and collective visions of the multi-faceted intersections of black male identity. Through multimedia presentations of painting, sculpture, printmaking, and photography Black Man in a Black World aims to center the black male perspective through the agency and distinctiveness of their own voices. The reclamation of ownership of the visual representations of black male consciousness and identity, by black male artists, requires the kind of boldness, passion, and honesty that has the power to viscerally ignite the soul and spark a transformation of self and community.
Artwork
The God Seed, Oil paint on wood, acrylic and barbed wire, 11"H x 7"W x 3/4"D, 2017, by Wesley Clark
Factualism, Oil paint, shellac, and wood, 37"H x 34"W, 2017 by Wesley Clark
Dark Matter, Oil paint on wood, rusted metal hinges, 2017 by Wesley Clark
Found, Oil paint, shellac, and plywood, 62"H x 48"W, 2010 by Wesley Clark
Face Off 1, Archival Ink Jet Print, 40" x 30", unframed 2/3, 2014 by Larry Cook
Face Off 2, Archival Ink Jet Print, 40" x 30", unframed 2/3, 2014 by Larry Cook
The Call, Direct Polymetal Print, 40" x 50", 1/3, 2017 by Larry Cook
Do For Self, Installation with fragrance oil, wood display and velour wall shelf, 24" x 5.5" x 10" inches, 2017 by Larry Cook
Johnnie Lee Gray, The Revolution: Separate But Equal - Jim Crow Series, N.D., Acrylic on plywood, 1 of 3, 20 5/8"H x 27 5/8"W (framed), Provenance: Collection of Mrs. Shirley Sims Gray
Johnnie Lee Gray, The Revolution: We Shall Overcome - Jim Crow Series, N.D., Acrylic on plywood, 2 of 3, 20"H x 26 5/8"W (framed), Provenance: Collection of Mrs. Shirley Sims Gray
Johnnie Lee Gray, The Revolution: Separate But Equal - Jim Crow Series, N.D., Acrylic on plywood, 3 of 3, 20"H x 23 5/8"W (framed), Provenance: Collection of Mrs. Shirley Sims Gray
Minstrel's Guide, Monotype, 30"x 22", 2017 by Arvie Smith
Push Back, Monotype, 30"x 22", 2017 by Arvie Smith
Sampson Bring Down the House, Monotype, 30" x 22", 2017 by Arive Smith
Strange Tale, Monotype, 30" x 22", 2017 by Arvie Smith
The Fighter, Monotype, 22" x 30", 2017 by Arvie Smith
Sampson and the Lion, Monotype, 22" x 30", 2017
Tight Rope, Oil on canvas, 40″ x30″, 2014, by Arvie Smith
Crackers and the Eucharist, Oil on canvas, 52" x 44" by Eric Telfort
Programming Schedule:
Film Nothing But a Man (1964), 92 mins
October 8, 2017
2:00 – 4:00 pm
“Nothing But A Man” is the first of two films selected to screen in tandem with the exhibition “Black Man in a Black World.” Following the screening there will be a panel discussion with guest panelist Raél Jero Salley, and film curators Sterling Warren and Alexander Hyman, about the role of cinema in the historical and contemporary portrayal of black male identity.
Synopsis: A young black man in 1963 Alabama loves a minister’s daughter, works hard, and is put upon, oppressed, and called boy by everyone with whom he comes in contact; he wants to be nothing but a man. view trailer
Artists’ Talk
October 14, 2017
4:00 – 6:00 pm
Join Wesley Clark, Larry Cook and Arvie Smith for a lively discussion about their inspiration and thoughts about their artwork. view past talks in our video library
Film The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973), 102 mins.
November 11, 2017
2:00 – 4:00 pm
“The Spook Who Sat by the Door” is the second of two films selected to screen in tandem with our current exhibition “Black Man in a Black World.” Following the screening there will be a panel discussion.
Synopsis: The film tells a credible tale of a Black CIA agent who rebels against his role as a racial token and uses his training in counterrevolutionary tactics to organize a guerrilla group in Chicago to fight racism. The story proved so controversial that United Artists was content to let The Spook Who Sat by the Door sink out of sight, although it did attract an avid following among scholars and fans of African-American cinema. view trailer
Myrtis Bedolla, Curator; Khadija Nia Adell, Co-curator; Alexander Hyman and Sterling Warren, Curators of Film & Music.
David Carlson: Paradigms of Structure and Change - Black and White Version
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Working with the unique qualities of painting, drawing, and video, David Carlson engages the poetics of geometry and design through the collision of gestural lines, rounded forms, and layered imagery. Spanning over several years, the bodies of work featured in Paradigms of Structure and Change are in conversation with one another as investigations into the importance of experience and reflection within the process of intuitive creation. Khadija Adell, Curator
Other Side of Empty, 2016, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 60″ x 72″
Paradigms of Structure and Change: David Carlson
March 11 – April 23, 2017
Working with the unique qualities of painting, drawing, and video, David Carlson engages the poetics of geometry and design through the collision of gestural lines, rounded forms, and layered imagery. Spanning over several years, the bodies of work featured in Paradigms of Structure and Change are in conversation with one another as investigations into the importance of experience and reflection within the process of intuitive creation. Khadija Adell, Curator
Diving Board, 2015, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 36" x 36"
Shake a Snake, 2015, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 36" x 36"
The Intangibles , 2015, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 36" x 36"
Laughing, Uncertain, Tickle, 2015, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 40" x 40"
Magician's Forest, 2015, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 40" x 40", 2015
Other Side of Empty, 2016, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 60" x 72"
Motionless Wind , 2016, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 60" x 72"
Flying, Baby, Twister, 2011, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 72" x 60"
Fisherman, 2010, Oil and acrylic on wood, 28" x 25"
Heaven Ladder, 2010, Oil and acrylic on wood, 37.5" x 30"
Bow and Target, 2010, Oil and acrylic on wood, 28" x 24.5"
Tap on the Head, 2010, Oil and acrylic on wood, 30" x 30"
Quit Looking at Me, 2010, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 72" x 60", 2010
B & W Drawing #1, 1997, Chinese, Ink and acrylic on paper , 22"x19" (framed) ; 17"x14" (unframed)
B & W Drawing #2, 1997, Chinese, Ink and acrylic on paper , 22"x19" (framed) ; 17"x14" (unframed)
B & W Drawing #3, 1997, Chinese, Ink and acrylic on paper , 22"x19" (framed) ; 17"x14" (unframed)
video
Flow, 2014
High Definition Video
3 min. 32 sec.
Cyrcle, 2014
High Definition Video
3 min. 43 sec.
Confluence, 2014
High Definition Video
4 min. 03 sec.
Water in the Sky, 2014
High Definition Video
14 min. 03 sec.
One year, one month, one week, one day, one hour, one minute.
Through the act of abstract painting I merge time and energy into compositions that reflect unknown circumstance. This is important. I begin with a simple group of thoughts or perimeters that initiate the overall concept. (platform.) Totemic force, unidentified object, nature, music, poetry, diverse cultural experiences through travel define the process. Mine is not to dissect and explain but to experience and reflect.
Each painting has it’s own duration and this perception is automatically built into it through the process of exploration. This is something I have been working and struggling with for many years.
In my studio I ask myself, “What is the nature of reality?” This is my constant thought while I paint. The tension between opposing paradigms of structure and change continually challenge me to look for different ways to understand this question. By using abstraction, my paintings have an undertone of geometry, I use the word poetically. The aesthetic includes a painterly approach, precision handling and an underlying sense of design through collision, tension and opposition.
On the surface, there are recognizable shapes, mostly circles, but also rounded forms and lines that create movement and structure in the space. The physical nature of circles become fixed in space between the more gestural lines and layers that create movement and a sense of time. The painting’s layered surface include heavy texture, scraped areas, fresh paint and milky veils, which allude to the formation or destruction of random sequence. Without having specific objects or trappings of identifiable ‘real’ images, the paintings cross over perceptible boundaries locked to a specific meaning. This allows me to look directly at diverse ideas in an intuitive manner. The act of painting becomes the experience or ‘reality’ for the basis of the work. By combining abstract painting with concepts rooted in Taoist and Buddhist philosophy I have been constructing contemporary works that directly express the ever-changing quality of experience, time, and place. Zen
Film
Artists’ Talk
Film
