Exhibition Information

Exhibition view

(Source = leeahngallery)

Exhibition view

(Source = leeahngallery)

Exhibition view

(Source = leeahngallery)

Exhibition view

(Source = leeahngallery)

			Leeahn gallery Daegu is excited to present Color of the Times, a group exhibition curated by Hoojung Lee featuring Annan Affotey, Reginald Armstrong, Cornelius Annor, Serge Attukwei Clottey, Chaz Guest, Monica Ikegwu, Demarco Mosby, Collins Obijiaku, Zéh Palito, Umar Rashid and Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr.

 

Color of the Times presents an in-depth understanding of the art as a connective force and vehicle for Black empowerment while introducing a contemporary generation of African Diaspora. These artists create visual metaphors that reflect their own self-image, their existence in society, or perceptions of others through their visionary practice. The artists’ engagement with colors and methods in figuration and portraitures presented in this exhibition convey not only artistic expression and introspection, but also invites us to interrogate one’s own identity. Furthermore, it opens a conversation about various perspectives of global African-diasporic and black identity which is relevant today. The word, “color” has versatile meanings including moods, emotions, behaviors and race. While an individual’s response to color can stem from personal experience, the science of color along with color psychology gives the subject a wide spectrum. Works in the show range from figurative portraitures to abstraction, each artist’s aesthetic endeavors foster their unique mark-makings, mediums and methods to disseminate congruent messages, “The Black Voice”. Black is bold, powerful, versatile and infinite. It is essentially a color that blends well with any other colors. The subjects of diaspora and segregation challenge this notion.

 

Color of the Times introduces over twenty of newly created works by 11 black artists in high demand including painting, sculpture, video and installation. Each of the artists is a storyteller and cultural observer who shares their own unique life experiences and passion for the lives of other African-diasporic people through deep listening and keen observation.

 

Annan Affotey, Collins Obijiaku, Monica Ikegwu, Zéh Palito and Serge Attukwei Clottey investigate black identity by rendering the portraitures of people of color with vibrant dark skin on paper or canvas. These artists often paint people around them, including friends, family, or take inspiration from random strangers as well. The methods of portraying their models including their skin tone, color, texture, facial expression, body gestures set the mood and suggest not only their emotions and characters underneath, but also the diverse narratives of their home and the society around them.

Annan Affotey (b. 1985, Ghanaian) depicts his figures with luminous blue revealed underneath black skin with red eyes, which symbolizes misinterpreted identities, in negative space. Collins Obijiaku (b. 1995, Nigerian) renders his Black subject’s soft gaze directly at the viewers as pulling the viewer inward. Objiaju incorporates oil, acrylic, and charcoal to achieve alluring colinear black lines on the dark brown skin, soft inclines and texture within his composition. Monica Ikegwu (b. 1998, American) explores on depicting the perception of individual people with their own sense of self in their appearance. She depicts her Black sitters, who direct their own poses in extremely realistic, almost photographic quality. Zéh Palito’s (b. 1991, Brazilian) creative practice quests to celebrate a relationship between humans and natural environment with a corelative respect and gratification. In addition, his highly saturated vibrant colors and whimsical narratives transcend the primary element of his practice by inspiring marginalized communities and poorly represented voices.

 

Serge Attukwei Clottey (b. 1985, Ghanaian) is well known for employing repurposed plastic Kufuor gallons as a medium in his work, which is conceived as his concept, “Afrogallonism”. Examining the influences of colonization in Africa, Clottey perceives the commonly found plastic, oil bearing jerrycans as its byproducts and explores the issues of water scarcity, migration, global warming, and other environmental concerns. Clottey recently gave birth to the “duct-painting portraits” series of which is a natural development of his sculptural installations with plastics. His profound interest and observation of fashion, African photography, gender, and sexuality in African historical viewpoints have contributed the formation of identity. Clottey utilizes duct tape, acrylic, oil, charcoal on cork boards as the base. His Black figures in the center are rendered with charcoal as showing the raw texture of cork board surface, and/or often collaged with vividly colorful patterns on their clothes. The negative space around his model(s) is commonly painted with monochromatic color and/or amalgamated with flattering patterns of wallpaper in minimalistic composition to achieve his ideas of image making and identify construction.

 

Reginald Armstrong (b. 1984, American) is a Los Angeles-based artist who was born in West Berlin of Panama and raised in El Paso, Texas along the US-Mexico border. Armstrong investigates activities of his family, cultural community life and familiar scenes of quotidian routine existence. His recent works extend a reflection on his nostalgic childhood memory, relationships, and solitude. His oeuvres are painterly depicted with a vibrant palette and a timeless view point. Cornelius Honor (born 1990) also aims to develop his work around the reconstruction of our shared memories. Departing from photos taken by his ancestors, Honor recreates some of the most memorable moments of his life.  His paintings can be viewed as fictional historical writings, merging elements from archives of family and friends of the past and present.  Another important factor is the separation of depth and perspective within the painting through the use of fabric transfer and textile and photo collages.  Honor seeks to present this past history through his work as a way to transport his audience to a specific moment in time and create a memory room where they can reflect themselves.

 

Chaz Guest (b. 1961, American) strives activism as the artist’s impetus in his work. In the partially fictionalized narratives, Guest implies figurative abstraction in his integrated works on the disguised and misrepresented African American culture, colonialism and historiography. By channeling their lives in the African diasporic emplacement of the time, Guest luminates the subjects’ vibrant spirits in the intimate quietude. His calligraphic brush strokes connect them with his creative force as the catalyst of his art, which are often improvisational and painstakingly executed. Furthermore, Guest transcends his poignant metaphor, “humanity”, by re-contextualizing the historical cannon, and portrays his subjects to emanate their pride despite the forces of oppression.

 

Demarco Mosby (b. 1991, American) observes the complex adversity of life and portrays the accumulated emotional scars, afflictions and the ramifications of life’s sequences on human nature, as individuals, collectively and as a society.  His narratives, which may seem disruptive in a contemporary sense of morality, are juxtaposed with classic tales of heroism and disaster.

 

Umar Rashid (b. 1976, American) is a multidisciplinary artist who applies writing, illustration, painting, and sculpture that are referenced from notable cultural and historical resources such as cosmological diagrams, historical maps and hieroglyphs. The trajectory of Rashid’s work journeys back into colonial times and challenge history written by the victors while telling a new narrative expressing how events could have turned out. By championing untold stories, his works provide delineative paradox and challenge the viewer to question and contemplate the convoluted emotions. Rashid is based in Los Angeles and he is scheduled to have a solo exhibition at MoMa PS1, New York, in September of 2022.

 

 

Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr. (b. 1964, American) is an original innovator of art and animation using discarded gum wrappers since his age of 11. His socially and culturally driven sculptures and their deeply rooted stories that bring to life thousands of miniature figures (less than 1”) created meticulously by hand and then assembled to stop motion animation. “Seoul Sistas” (2022), created especially for this exhibition, is a Sportrait homage to Olympic champions Jackie Joyner Kersee’s and Florence Griffith Joyner’s triumphant gold medal wins in the Summer Games of 1988 in Seoul. It’s set on a landscape of 5 gold records, depicting the 5 gold medals they collectively won, in the shape of the 5 Olympic Rings. Miniature Sportraits of the women dash across the albums in a myriad of track and field events from sprints and hurdles.

 

Color of the Times brings together an exhilarating group of contemporary black artists’ artworks in-demand from Africa, Brazil, and America. This intimate survey exhibition gives a voice to generations of the voiceless. It is extremely meaningful to present this diverse exhibition with a strikingly powerful presentation in the historical city of Daegu, South Korea. This exhibition reminds us to trust our inner voices and to celebrate humanity, fortitude, and identity. Lastly, this will enable us to embrace each other with compassion and appreciation.

 

Hoojung Lee, curator

(Source = leeahngallery)