BLACK EYE, an exhibit focusing on the twenty-first century black experience, opens in New York this Friday. But unlike other exhibitions which bring together black artists, this one isn't supposed to be about race.
“I hope this comes across [as] an anti-discussion discussion,” BLACK EYE curator Nicola Vassell said this week as she oversaw the installation of works from Wangechi Mutu, Derrick Adams, and Steve McQueen. “We don’t want to talk about race anymore; we want to talk about the next step, the next quantum."
According to its press release, BLACK EYE seeks to show how factors other than race such as "gender, sexuality, transculturalism, and political proclamation have become far more fitting identifiers of self than the color." So yes, while the artists featured in BLACK EYE are black, the stories behind them are ever varied, and their identities are complex. Some artists are known to comment on advertising (Hank Willis Thomas), while others might draw on experiences in Kenya (Mutu), or sexuality (Jacolby Satterwhite). The idea is to explore complexities around the work and artists and examine how the dialogue around race is changing.
“It’s not fair to try to apply labels or definitive slots to the self,” Vassell said, sitting amidst the works of art in a casually elegant sweater dress. “The fragmented self speaks to splintering, and when something splinters, it’s almost as if you couldn’t dare put it back together. The message here is really about embracing that and not feeling that one must put Humpty Dumpty back together again.”
To add more depth to the exhibit (and develop the artists' identity within the show), Vassell commissioned filmmaker Danilo Parra to create video portraits of three artists: Mutu, Willis Thomas, and Satterwhite. The two-story gallery space will exhibit works upstairs, and feature installations and projections, including the Parra videos, in the dimly-lit basement.
“It’s interesting that the videos are being shown down here because visitors are going to see some of the artists upstairs first,” Parra said, slightly distracted by his videos playing across the room from NICK CAVE’s Blot projection. “And then they’ll come down, see this, and have a different perspective. Or, I hope they’ll have a bigger impression.”
Scroll down to check out Parra's video of Mutu in her studio discussing her latest inspirations, ahead of this Friday's opening.
BLACK EYE opens FRIDAY, MAY 2, AT 6:30 PM | Exhibition through May 24, 2014
57 Walker Street
New York, NY 10013
MAP
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“I hope this comes across [as] an anti-discussion discussion,” BLACK EYE curator Nicola Vassell said this week as she oversaw the installation of works from Wangechi Mutu, Derrick Adams, and Steve McQueen. “We don’t want to talk about race anymore; we want to talk about the next step, the next quantum."
According to its press release, BLACK EYE seeks to show how factors other than race such as "gender, sexuality, transculturalism, and political proclamation have become far more fitting identifiers of self than the color." So yes, while the artists featured in BLACK EYE are black, the stories behind them are ever varied, and their identities are complex. Some artists are known to comment on advertising (Hank Willis Thomas), while others might draw on experiences in Kenya (Mutu), or sexuality (Jacolby Satterwhite). The idea is to explore complexities around the work and artists and examine how the dialogue around race is changing.
“It’s not fair to try to apply labels or definitive slots to the self,” Vassell said, sitting amidst the works of art in a casually elegant sweater dress. “The fragmented self speaks to splintering, and when something splinters, it’s almost as if you couldn’t dare put it back together. The message here is really about embracing that and not feeling that one must put Humpty Dumpty back together again.”
To add more depth to the exhibit (and develop the artists' identity within the show), Vassell commissioned filmmaker Danilo Parra to create video portraits of three artists: Mutu, Willis Thomas, and Satterwhite. The two-story gallery space will exhibit works upstairs, and feature installations and projections, including the Parra videos, in the dimly-lit basement.
“It’s interesting that the videos are being shown down here because visitors are going to see some of the artists upstairs first,” Parra said, slightly distracted by his videos playing across the room from NICK CAVE’s Blot projection. “And then they’ll come down, see this, and have a different perspective. Or, I hope they’ll have a bigger impression.”
Scroll down to check out Parra's video of Mutu in her studio discussing her latest inspirations, ahead of this Friday's opening.
BLACK EYE opens FRIDAY, MAY 2, AT 6:30 PM | Exhibition through May 24, 2014
57 Walker Street
New York, NY 10013
MAP
