Kalup Linzy: in her video projects are almost feature length narrative series that mimic soap operas and inhabit similar qualities of melodrama, suspense and cliffhanger endings. Through his video projects and works on paper, Charles Huntley Nelson tackles issues of race, gender and personal identity. This exhibitions are participants in the 2006 National Black Arts Festival.
Kalup Linzy
Romo gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition featuring a selection of videos and works on paper by New
York based artist Kalup Linzy. This exhibition is a participant in the 2006 National Black Arts Festival.
“A star is born," remarks Holland Cotter for the New York Times in response to Linzy. Awarded “Best of 2005"
by Artforum magazine and recognized as one of the ‘hottest’ black artists living and working in the U.S. by The
Studio Museum in Harlem in 2005.
Kalup Linzy has emerged onto the scene as a witty, stylish and charming artist bringing video, performance art and works on paper to his audiences. Mr. Linzy’s video projects are almost feature length narrative series that mimic soap operas and inhabit similar qualities of melodrama, suspense and cliffhanger endings.
Using popular culture as his starting point he explores issues related to gender, sexuality, race, class, sex,
family and stereotyping. Mr. Linzy plays the majority of the roles in the soap operas and is aided by supporting
artist-actors. Ultimately, the final product is entirely Mr. Linzy’s he not only directs, but also writes the scripts,
composes the scores and overdubs the entire production. A performer above all else Linzy often stages public
performances bringing his soap opera characters to life. Critics have commented that his work suggests a new
form of portraiture in which visual self-perception and artistic production are combined as one. Kalup Linzy’s
work consistently presents the notion of shifting between self-observation and self-representation in relation to a
commercial culture of television soap operas.
In 2005, Mr. Linzy was a recipient of Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant and awarded artist residencies by
the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation and by the renowned Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.
Mr. Linzy has been featured in solo exhibitions at Taxter & Spengenmann and Le Petit Versailles in New York.
He has also participated in group exhibitions at prestigious institutions including the Museum of Contemporary
Art in Sydney, Australia, The Studio Museum in Harlem in New York, Capsule Gallery in new York, and
Champion Fine Art in Culver City, California. Later this year, Mr. Linzy will be exhibiting at the Museum of
Modern Art’s PS1 Contemporary Art Center in New York.
Mr. Linzy holds an M.A. in Studio Art and a B.A in Fine Arts from the University of South Florida, Tampa. He
currently lives and works in New York.
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Charles Huntley Nelson
The romo gallery is pleased to feature a selection of work by Atlanta based artist Charles Huntley Nelson. This exhibition is a participant in the 2006 National Black Arts Festival.
Through his video projects and works on paper, Mr. Nelson tackles issues of race, gender and personal identity.
His subject matter is rooted in kinds of identity issues, which he explains “are more issues of personal
identification- how people identify themselves, how they present themselves to the public, how public perception
can be shifted, and how art can play a role in that process." His use of translucent overlapping and layers in his
works allows viewers to explore the shifting terrain of personal and collective identities.
Both his works on paper and videos succeed in challenging the viewer to disentangle what is on the inside as
oppose to the outside of a person. Making it difficult to decipher where a scene or object begins and where a
cheek, eye or ear ends, Nelson’s portraits literally fuse together images within the heads of its sitters. Keeping
with his focus on personal identity Nelson also investigates the intersection of new technology with traditional art
making processes and public interaction.
Mr. Nelson was nominated in both 2003 and 2004 for the Program for Media Artists Film and Video Fellowship
and was awarded Artist-in-Residence at the Hammonds House Galleries in Atlanta as part of a cultural
exchange with South Africa called Step Afrika! Mr. Nelson has held solo exhibitions at CAS Gallery at the
University of Miami, Shedspace in Atlanta and the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center and will be featured in an
exhibition at Ingalls & Associates in Miami later this year. In addition he has exhibited in other prestigious
galleries including Triple Candy in New York, New Orleans Contemporary Art Center in New Orleans, Saltworks
Gallery in Atlanta, Chicago Cultural Center in Chicago, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art in Scottsdale
and Rush Arts Gallery in New York.
Mr. Nelson holds M.A. in Painting from Howard University and a B.F.A from Washington University in St. Louis
and currently lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia.
For press and visual requests, please contact Wassan Al-Khudhairi at 404.222.9955 or at walkhudhairi@romogallery.com
Opening Artist Reception,
Thursday July 13, 2006, 7-9 pm and
during the Castleberry Hill Arts District Gallery Openings: Friday Night Art Stroll, Fri July 14, 7-11 pm
Castleberry Arts in the Afternoon, Sat July 15, 2-5 pm
Romo gallery
309 Peters Street SW Atlanta GA 30313
in the Castleberry Hill Arts district