Greetings, Art Lovers!
SUMPIN' COOKIN'
Dalton Brown and I are whipping up some visual vittles for Chicago Artists Month.
I will unveil works from my new series of paintings, The Brothers. These works arose from a conversation with Patric McCoy about the dearth of images of black males in "mainstream" art. A recent trip to one of Chicago's high-profile art expos yielded largely images of black males in thug poses. Poster-size police mugshots of Snoop Dogg and Michael Jackson. Is this adequate representation in the Age of Obama?
Patric has created a digital archive of his photography. His subjects range from landscape to architecture, but what caught my attention were his images of black men. Frankly open and candid shots of regular brothers just being themselves.
Patric has generously loaned me some images from his archive, from which I am composing paintings and works on paper.
All the black men I see aren't thugs, so why settle for just thug art?
Notes from Dalton Brown
Regarding his work, collaborator Dalton Brown has this to say: "I need to create. But not without first acknowledging the Creator of All Things...my works reflect a world experiencing sudden and critical shifts, physically, spiritually and morally.
Honing my craft in this environment calls for intense sobriety; a kind of over-reality. What's perceived is so saturated, so noisy, that silence occurs and suddenly I'm navigating a juvenile melody that becomes classical jazz with a common denominator. Rhythmism (a term coined by artist Turtel Onli that gives a sensory explanation to the absurd in reality). Do I paint, medicate, or run for my life? Elevate!"
SUMPIN' COOKIN' Artist Reception:
October 11, 2008, 6-10 pm
Gallery Talk:
October, 17, 2008, 6-10 pm
Closing Reception:
November 7, 2008, 6-10 pm
Floyd Atkins' Underground Studio
2215 S. Michigan Ave., 2nd Floor
Chicago, IL
Chicago Artists Month Info:
312.744.6630
www.chicagoartistsmonth.org
See us at the Hyde Park Art Center!
Not Just Another Pretty Face Exhibition
Oct 18, 2008 - Jan 11, 2009
www.hydeparkart.org
See more of our work online:
www.myspace.com/juareztheartist
www.artbarge.com
www.daltonbrownart.com
www.artmajeur.com/floydatkins
photo by Patric McCoy
