Cause We Be Complicated: Dialogues of Black Artists
Melissa Dvozenja-Thomas, Director, Development & Marketing, Arts Mid-Hudson
Every February, the United States honors the contributions and sacrifices of African Americans who have helped shape the nation with Black History Month. Throughout our region, the community can participate in discussions, attend concerts, and visit galleries all honoring these individuals. The Art Design Spirits Gallery in Newburgh is currently presenting a multi-media art exhibition through the beginning of March called, Cause We Be Complicated: Dialogues of Black Artists curated by Jonette O’Kelley Miller and Karen E. Gersch.
This show is so beautifully titled as all of humanity is complicated and nuanced although we often stereotype. Viewers are invited to explore through the artists’ work how they express themselves.
Melissa Small Cooper’s piece, “Embrace Euphoria” oil on canvas, at first glance appears light-hearted in nature as the light blue background contrasts with the deep reds of the five lipsticks, four of which are standing at attention and one on its side. Calligraphy writing fills a third of the space with words that could be names of the lipsticks or expressions of feeling. The makeup could also be used as a metaphor for the masks that we all wear within society, a rainbow of choices of what we are choosing or what has been chosen to be presented to the public.
“Love (What’s Inside?)” a multi-media assemblage by Auguster D. Williams, Jr. uses found materials that outlines a person with their hands reaching for the sky with the shape of a heart suspended between the forearms. He works with the idea that, “beauty is resilient and can be found in unusual materials.” Viewers could spend hours looking at this piece, finding parts of things they recognize like pieces of playing cards, quotations, smiley faces and glitter to name a few. Williams, a US Navy veteran, found his artistic expression while participating in Veterans Administration’s Art Therapy Programs.
“All Eyes On Me” by Emmanual Ofori is created with wood, fabric oil, and acrylic. This 28” X 24” wooden frame with eyes all around it, contains a fibrant individual cramped inside a box. Contorted to fit into the frame, the individual gazes directly into viewers’ eyes. It dares to ask the question, what boxes have you put yourself in and what constraints have you put upon others?
F. Geoffrey Johnson’s “Identity Theft: Scars” is a multi-media piece that has incredible complexity built within. A circular dish covered in fabric, caged in wire with tire rubber strips and bracelets hanging from it. The I.D. bracelets with no names on them are symbolic of the institution of slavery where all of the individual’s names were taken away. Two alcohol bottles caged within the piece represent what was used to take the individual’s power away. Johnson also uses found materials to create his works.
Other participating artists include Lillian Alberti, Carol Bash, Khalidah Carrington, Gerardo Castro, Ted Dixon, Stevenson Estime, Colette V. Fournier, Oluwafiropo Margaret Ibitoye, Paula Mans, Ransome, and Yvonne P. Lamar Rogers.
The works of the fifteen artists represented in this show are so impactful that the curators have offered to host weekday tours to regional schools, cultural centers, libraries, youth and arts organizations. This exhibition allows viewers to investigate the dialogues we have with each other, the stereotypes we hold in our communities and acknowledge the continual need for growth of our society.
If you go:
Cause We Be Complicated: Dialogues of Black Artists
February 3 - March 3, 2023
Open Friday - Sunday, 12:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Art Design Spirits Gallery, 105 Ann Street, Newburgh, NY 12550
www.adswarehouse.org/events
