Artificial Afrika
dal 26/1/2006 al 16/3/2006
Segnalato da
Richard Admiral
Willie Birch
Guillermo Brown
Sonya Clark
Renee Cox
Stephanie Dinkins
Ze Frank
Victor Gama
Michael Harris
Satch Hoyt
Jack Kirby
William Parker
Patricia Payne
Vernon Reid
Alison Saar
Kevin Sampson
Eneida Sanches
Dread Scott
Accra Shepp
Yinka Shonibare
Xaviera Simmons
Charles Stone
Vernon Reid
C. Daniel Dawson
26/1/2006
Artificial Afrika
Gigantic ArtSpace, New York
An exhibition that considers contemporary artistic appropriations of African visual culture through mythology, religious traditions, musical forms, and other culturally-specific practices. Participating artists include: Richard Admiral, Willie Birch, Guillermo Brown, Sonya Clark, Renee Cox, Stephanie Dinkins, Ze Frank, Victor Gama, Satch Hoyt, Kevin Sampson, Vernon Reid, Yinka Shonibare and Charles Stone.
African visual culture
Curated by Vernon Reid and C. Daniel Dawson; Curatorial Advisors: Brooke Davis Anderson and Danny Simmons
Gigantic ArtSpace [GAS] proudly presents Artificial Afrika, an exhibition
that considers contemporary artistic appropriations of African visual
culture through mythology, religious traditions, musical forms, and other
culturally-specific practices.
The exhibition's scholarly and artistic
contributions deconstruct myths and inventions to challenge the validity of
images that continue to define the idea of Africa, an idea often rife with
thoughts of disease, poverty, and corruption. It is through this lens that
the exhibition will consider a variety of cultural and artistic forms that
not only represent ideas of the past, but more importantly, contribute to
the evolving social transformation of the present.
Two of the main techniques used by the artists in the exhibit are irony and
humor. For me this irony is the technique of using the tools and materials
of the ''Western World'' to tell the story of the ''African World'', two
supposedly separate technologies, even universes, that have, in the telling
of an accurate history, really cross-fertilized and enriched each other for
centuries. The humor that is used is borne out of the international African
experience. It is a humor that can be quietly reflective, subtly revealing
and ravagingly accusatory. C. Daniel Dawson
Participating artists include: Richard Admiral, Willie Birch, Guillermo
Brown, Sonya Clark, Renee Cox, Stephanie Dinkins, Ze Frank, Victor Gama,
Michael Harris, Satch Hoyt, Jack Kirby, William Parker, Patricia Payne,
Vernon Reid, Alison Saar, Kevin Sampson, Eneida Sanches, Dread Scott, Accra
Shepp, Yinka Shonibare, Xaviera Simmons, and Charles Stone.
A full-color, 32-page catalog with contributions by C. Daniel Dawson, Vernon
Reid, Robert Farris Thompson, and Greg Tate will also be available.
Panel discussion: Art-Official Africa. Thursday, February 9, 7pm at the
American Folk Art Museum. Moderated by C. Daniel Dawson, with panelists
Brooke Davis Anderson, Sonya Clark and Dread Scott. $10, $5 museum members,
seniors and students. Tickets are available through the American Folk Art
Museum: (212) 265-1040, ext. 160.
Image: Vernon Reid
Opening: January 27, 6-9 pm
Gigantic ArtSpace [GAS]
59 Franklin Street - New York
212 226-6762 | F. 212 226-6505
Hours: Tuesday Saturday, 11am 7pm, Mondays by Appointment