Art of the Collectors VII

Reparations: Some Things are Just Owed and Some More…

Reparations: Some Things are Just Owed and Some More than Others

Solo Exhibition featuring Wesley Clark
September 22 – October, 31, 2019

artwork | artist statement | curatorial statement | about Wesley Clark

Curatorial Statement by Myrtis Bedolla
Through a revolutionary intellectual process, Wesley Clark (1979) in his first solo exhibition at Galerie Myrtis creates a fantastical world of interwoven history, Afro-futurists, coded messages and mechanisms for survival in his investigation of what America owes the descendants of slaves and most importantly, what they owe themselves.

In Reparations: Some Things are just Owed and Some More than Others Clark probes the vestiges of slavery by transporting viewers to the reconstruction era (1865-1877) where they discover Reparations & Co. (a. k. a. Rep & Co.), a company established by Rep. & Co. Brothers, Morris and Eugene. As protagonists in Clark’s fictional world, the Rep. & Co. Brothers deploy their carpentry skills and ability to see into the future to invent devices for coping with racial discrimination, social injustice, and trauma; while offering African Americans tools to navigate and survive in a society that deems them as “other.”

A history on the economics of slavery is deployed through what appear to be simply crossword puzzles. Left in the hands of the Rep. & Co. Brothers, the lessons are disguised as decorative wall hangings; Profiteers I: Enslavement reveals the names of corporations that profited from the transatlantic slave trade and continue to operate today, namely, Lehman Brothers and J.P. Morgan. In Profiteers II: Imprisonment those benefiting from today’s modern form of slavery —the prison industrial complex —are eerily connected as their names overlap on the puzzle board, among them, Walmart, General Motors, Verizon, and Chrysler.

When expanding the narrative to what African Americans owe themselves, Clark draws inspiration from Dr. Joy DeGruy author of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. In it DeGruy offers racial socialization as the key to confronting negative attitudes and behaviors that have plagued the black community for generations.

For Clark, the solutions lie in the creative genius of the Rep. & Co. Brothers who possess an innate understanding of the needs of the progenies of those once enslaved. Knowing that knowledge is power, they invent The Prophet’s Library a series of books informed by black scholars. Bound in wood are books that hold the unaltered truths of Black history, or is it? For coping with trauma the series Tell-All Earbox travels the country in a circus-like tent allowing all to come and bear their souls. The ear boxes are an early form of psychology. One is allowed to whisper in the ear on the box, for it holds all secrets without judgement or stigma attached. Black men and their sons can seek emotional healing in The Gift, a bearing of hearts. And in probing leadership, who we are led by and who we choose to lead, A Word Spoken is a Word Heard becomes the platform for an interactive performance on the subject.

In his artist’s statement, Clark shares the impulse for investigating the notion of reparations and creating the imagined Rep. & Co., “This fictitious narrative is the vehicle used to create a dialogue on ideas of racial socialization – as described in Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Dr. Joy DeGruy – as a means of expanding and internalizing the discussion of reparations to include what we as, Black Americans, owe ourselves.

Concepts around healing work — whether from present day or generational trauma — as a means of communal preparation and advancement, are at the heart of this body of work. While there are outside influences touched on around the idea of reparations, I’m focused inward…” Excerpt from artist’s statement

In Reparations: Some Things are just Owed and Some More than Others viewers will be challenged to discern fact from fiction. Clark’s confluence of mixed chronology, reimaged world, and brilliantly designed devices result in an experience that is culturally conscious, clever, and provocative.

artwork
Table of Contents
Oil paint on wood
47” x 89”
2017