‘African American Stories’ Exhibit
“African American Stories,” curated by artist Euphema Robinson, is a companion exhibit at the GCCA Catskill Gallery to “Uncle Remus Redux…” and is also part of the gallery’s celebration of Black History Month.
Robinson emigrated from Jamaica to Harlem, NY as a teenager, motivating an interest in works that reflect a range of creative responses to contemporary African American experiences in painting, sculpture, photography and multi-media forms. Selections for this exhibit include works by artists from many backgrounds and art traditions.
Figurative painter, Ajamu Kojo’s painting, “Hip Hop is Dead” uses the colors of the African national flag, incorporating Adidas and Mercedes logos, a quart bottle of malt liquor lurking in the background in this tragic comment about black culture. Kerry-Anne Brown-Louis’s video, “Dismembering” trains the camera on the sink while a chicken is cut up for the frying pan. It is narrated by the artist’s accented voice remembering cooking with her mother while dismembering the bird.
“Pour Pamela”, oil on canvas by Andre Badilla.
Lydia Daniel’s collage “Eat the Flour, Wear the Bag” tells the story of her mother who was born on the British Virgin Island of Jost Van Dyke. Abandoned as an infant on a cliff edge, the artist’s mother was rescued by poor relatives with whom she thrived. Later she moved to Harlem and then Catskill, New York where her daughter now works as a gospel missionary, singer and actress. This narrative piece is mounted on burlap with scenes inspired by the island’s tourist painting style.
Jason Talley’s beautifully rendered figurative painting “Brotherly Love 1” depicts Black men in symbolic homoerotic poses, showing the diversity of African American men’s sexuality while adding to the representation of Black men in art history.
Reginald Madison’s dimensional wall-hung, “Money Jungle” borrows its title from a rare recording by Duke Ellington, Max Roach and Charles Mingus whose faces are depicted abstractly in the piece. Unveiled for this exhibit, the piece includes wood scraps the artist collected from Hudson’s L&B Chair Factory. The layered strips are woven in a rhythmic, jazz inspired construction.
Filmmaker Leah Hamilton’s video, “Mary Mack” incorporates the rhyming song, Miss Mary Mack, considered the most common hand-clapping game in the English speaking world. “Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack/ All dressed in black, black, black/ With silver buttons, buttons, buttons/All down her back, back, back…” Wikipedia suggests Mary Mack may have originally related to “Merrimack”, a US Navy Frigate (1855) whose hull and steam engines were used to construct the CSS Virginia, the Confederate Navy’s first iron clad warship. In this interpretation, the lyrics refer to the armored black iron sides and silver rivets. The artist explained that the US Civil War battle would “ultimately affect the freedom of people like me.”
“Innocence Lost”, acrylic on canvas by Ajamu Kojo.
African drummer and visual artist Andre Badila creates lyrical, brushy figurative ink paintings with rhythmic dancers in traditional African costumes. On opening night performances include exhibitors: solo gospel singer Lydia Daniels and poet, Sparrow with an invitation extended to exhibitor/African drummer Andre Badila and his talented family as well as the RedNex Poetry Squad, a rap poetry troupe fromPoughkeepsie.
Curator/Exhibitor Euphema Robinson is self-taught, working primarily in oil pastels. She lives with her husband and two children in Phoenicia, balancing family life and her creative passions. Robinson’s work, deeply influenced by her past life in Jamaica, is expressed through an intense palette and the deep emotionality of her characters. Her 2002 portrait of Michael Jackson is included as an iconic remembrance of the African American celebrity’s lifetime struggle and achievements.
“Michael Jackson,” Oil on canvas by Euphema Robinson.
Robinson’s work has been exhibited at the Time Life Building in New York City, The Williamsburg Art and Historical Society in Brooklyn New York; Varga Gallery and WAAM Museum in Woodstock NY and the Limner Gallery in New York City and Hudson NY. She has worked as an assistant curator for Direct Art Magazine and curated the exhibition The Histories, a collection of contemporary African American artists from the Hudson Valley and New York City, presented February, 2009 at Limner Gallery.
African American Stories is part of a two-part exhibition including, Uncle Remus Redux: Contemporary Visions of How Time Goes by Turns a simultaneous exhibit co-curated by poets Randall Horton and Sam Truitt, provocative works in all media referencing the Br’er Rabbit folktales originally published in 1881. Both exhibits are open Jan. 21 through Feb. 25 at the GCCA Gallery, 398 Main St., Catskill, NY. The Gallery is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, contact 943-3400 or visit www.greenearts.org.
