Teenage girl in dress sitting on step #309, 1982 by Oraien Catledge
TGIF, the weekend is here! Get some of your workday yayas out at one of these art events. This week’s agenda is loaded with nostalgia, celebrity, and packs some artist punch … literallly. As usual, read on for the rundown.
Continue reading “Weekend Arts Agenda: Broadening your horizons” »
Vacant space at 479 Edgewood will host the Cheap Paper collective exhibition as part of AXIOM on Sat., Nov. 21.
The corner of Edgewood and Boulevard will be the epicenter of a vibrant arts district this weekend. The first project from the newly founded local non-profit Public Acts of Art, AXIOM: Baby Proof will exhibit art in the Old Fourth Ward from a staggering list of local talent on Saturday.
The Edgewood corridor doesn’t possess the wealth of galleries that neighborhoods like Castleberry Hill or the Westside Arts District can claim. That fact hasn’t stopped event organizers Alana Wolf and Danny Davis, rather, it’s encouraged them. “The whole reason I’m running around begging favors, building out spaces, and working late into the night is to see this neighborhood excel. I want to see what’s in this neighborhood put forward and given a lot of light,” Davis says.
Continue reading “AXIOM transforms the Old Fourth Ward on Saturday night” »
"Around the Whirl" from Whirl Trade, 2009.
Fahamu Pecou is an Atlanta-based artist with international acclaim. In 2009 alone, he has shown the solo exhibitions Coming From Where I’m From in Cape Town, South Africa, Black Presidential in Basel, Switzerland and New York City, and now Whirl Trade at Atlanta’s Get This Gallery. This latest exhibition of paintings “addresses the impressions, interpretations and misconceptions of blackness that African descended communities perform for each other.”
Performance is an integral part of Pecou’s work. He has developed characters like “Fahamou Pecou is the Shit” and videos that toy with the notions of image and celebrity that run throughout the paintings.
Fahamu was kind enough to answer a few of our questions about his time spent in South Africa and the process he uses to create these massive, magazine-styled paintings.
His answers and more images from Whirl Trade after the jump.
"Frame 18," from the Explosure series, 2008
In photographer Tierney Gearon’s latest series EXPLOSURE, currently on view at Jackson Fine Art, boulders are rendered lighter than air, shadows crawl toward the sun, and ghostly forms cheerfully mingle with the living. “Frame 18″ watches two worlds collide within a single image: A gray-haired businessman gasps as the sidewalk dematerializes into thin air, while a bikini-clad swimmer stands unaware that her local pool has just merged realities with Wall Street. Double-vision continues throughout the series as each photo unites two scenes shot in different locations ranging from Cape Town, South Africa, to Kanchipuram, India.
A busy single mother and internationally known artist, Gearon took a recess from her life traveling the globe to give a sold-out lecture at the High Museum during last month’s Atlanta Celebrates Photography festival. The Atlanta native caused a stir in 2001 with her exhibit I Am a Camera at London’s Saatchi Gallery. Some viewers bristled at the work, which included shots of her children playing in the nude, while other voices including the Guardian newspaper, launched campaigns to protect her from censorship.
Continue Reading “EXPLOSURE brings the world home”
(Photo Courtesy Tierney Gearon)
Role Model Citizen by Fahamu Pecou
As usual, here are a few arts events to add to your weekend roster. Also, don’t forget about the Hense exhibition at The Rail Yard and the Kvares show at Beep Beep. This weekend’s art scene is chock-full so enjoy.
FRIDAY (Today)
Head to Castleberry Hill’s tattoo parlor/art gallery City of Ink to check out John Hairston Jr.’s vivid, realistic graffiti-style art. His latest work, Hollywood Africans, celebrates the life and career of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Walk away with a unique perspective on one of the world’s first African American art greats and maybe even some new ink. Free. City of Ink. 404-525-4465. www.thecityofink.com/.
Fresh from the NYC fashion scene House of Diehl’s Style Wars hits Atlanta runways. Watch designers battle head-to-head and make killer creations in 5-minute knock-out rounds. It’s Project Runway on crack! $15-$20 7:30 p.m. Opera. 404-874-0428. www.houseofdiehl.com/stylewars.
SATURDAY
Eyedrum’s First Annual Ear Ball is sure to satisfy all your aural cravings. The event–originally conceived as a fund raiser–is a showcase of the works of a diverse pool of local sound artists. Whether you’re into jazz improv or are looking for some electronic soundscapes Eyedrum’s got you covered. Pay what you can. 12 p.m.-2 a.m. Eyedrum. 404-522-0655. www.eyedrum.org.
Get This! Gallery is housing Atlanta neopop artist Fahamu Pecou’s first solo show. Whirl Trade was inspired by Pecou’s travels in Africa and explores the interpretations and misconceptions of blackness in African-decended communities. Through images that are arranged as faux magazine covers he sends a powerful message about popular media and the power of influence. Free. 7-11 p.m. Get This! Gallery. 678-596-4451. Gethisgallery.com.
SUNDAY
It’s Pecha Kucha time! Volume 14–the last of the fall season–is titled Back to Basics. The diverse roster (including CL favorite Danielle Roney and former mayoral candidate Kyle Keyser) promises to provide some tasty food for thought and make for lots of candid conversation. Free. 7 p.m. Octane Coffee Lounge (Westside). www.atlantapechakucha.com.
Who is Etienne Abobi? Well, he’s from the small French/German border town Saint-Avold; he’s been a deputy consul at the French Consulate in Atlanta for the past two years; and he’s the man behind the AKA Photo Project — a small collective of “accidental artists” currently exhibiting its debut show, Face à Face, at Little Five Points’ Opal Gallery through Nov. 13.
I don’t think many people are aware that there’s a French Consulate in Atlanta, let alone a tight-knit French community here. Could you talk about the French presence in Atlanta?
We have had the consulate since 1989 and our last Bastille day was at the [International] school and the theme was the 20th anniversary of the French consulate in Atlanta. So far we don’t have a French school, we have the International School with the French section, but we have some different kinds of schools. You have International Community School, which specializes in refugees who are native French speakers. In the greater Atlanta area, almost 3,000 people are registered but we think we are really two times this number.
Good intentions don’t always make for successful realities. Atlanta based artist Alex Kvares explores those “moments of unfulfilled hope” in his solo show Oh So Fail, opening at Beep Beep Gallery this Saturday, November 14. Oh So Fail looks at abandoned cold war military bunkers, Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain, and other connections to “collapsed ideals, dilapidated utopias and various ruined promises.” Kvares often draws in colorful short, stitch-like strokes, referencing craft-making and psychedelic aesthetics. You can preview a few of the pieces from the show and listen to Kvares discuss his work in the video.
Oh So Fail runs from Sat., Nov. 14 until Sun., Dec. 6 at Beep Beep Gallery. 696 Charles Allen Drive. 404.429.3320. beepbeepgallery.com
Frame 18, from the Explosure Series, 2008
Tierney Gearon mostly takes photos of her family. The former Atlantan had a career as a model, followed by a career as a fashion photographer, but she settled down, had kids, and got “thoroughly bored with the whole fashion industry.” She did what a lot of mothers do – started taking photos of her children and relatives. Unlike most mothers, though, she had the experience of creating commercial work for Times Square billboards and the pages of French Vogue. Her first solo show in 2001, i am a camera, drew quite a controversy surrounding pictures of her children. The Mother Project followed by documenting the intense relationship between Gearon and her mother. Her new work photographs family vacations and domestic life through double exposures. Gearon’s photographs exude a surreal quality that autobiographical work can rarely maintain.
Her latest show, Explosure, runs at Jackson Fine Art until Jan. 16, 2010.
Her answers and a few images from the show after the jump
Howardena Pindell and others criticize the work of Kara Walker in this collection of essays.
GENRE: Collected criticism about a contemporary artist
THE PITCH: Written responses to Kara Walker’s art divided into three sections: “NO” presents arguments against it, “YES” collects favorable reviews, and “?” is more ambiguous.
BOLD PRINT: Former Atlantan Kara Walker is a phenomenally successful artist, being one of the youngest recipients of the MacArthur “genius” fellowship in 1997 and named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2007.
THE WORK: PBS says, “Kara Walker’s work explores the raw intersection of race, gender, and sexuality through iconic, silhouetted figures. Walker unleashes the traditionally Victorian medium of the silhouette directly onto the walls of the gallery.” A collection of her work and interviews can be seen at the ART:21 website.
AGAINST: Howardena Pindell sets the tone for arguing against the favorable reception of Kara Walker’s work, “Kara Walker’s work is being used as a weapon against the Black community in general to reinforce and maintain restrictions upon any visual dialogue with other artists of color and the wide range of work they produce.” Pindell and many of the contributors to this volume write that Walker’s work is racist and feel that their opinions have been silenced by “white privilege.”
Atlanta graffiti artist Hense will open his first solo gallery show at The Rail Yard this Friday, including a premiere of a short documentary about his work. TSL Films has been producing documentary shorts about graffiti artists for a couple years now under ‘The 7th Day Project’ title. The gallery show, Surface Strength, will feature works on wood, paper, and canvas in a style that’s quite different from the large blocked letters that you can see around town.
Breastplate by Flora Rosefsky
Add some extra excitement to this beautiful weekend by heading to these free art events. See what’s going on around town after the jump.
Photo by Flickr user silaslevi
If you really want to know what’s happening in the world of Atlanta graffiti, you probably should go get on a bicycle, ride around town very slowly, and stop often to check out the back side of buildings and alleyways. The next best option would be the Atlanta Graffiti Pool on Flickr. The collection has more than 6,000 images right now and a number of talented photographers documenting the hard work of Atlanta-based artists painting on walls. I’m particularly fond of the multi-shot panoramics that nda5150 has been posting. It’s also a good opportunity to search for individual artists like DOSE, ARSN, or HENSE.
Speaking of HENSE, his first solo show Surface Strength opens next Friday at The Rail Yard.
Euridice around town to promote The Atlanta Opera's production of Orfeo & Euridice
To garner interest in the premier of Orfeo & Euridice the Atlanta Opera is placing a living statue of Euridice in a different Atlanta neighborhood seven times between November 3 and November 18. The first person to take a picture with the statue each day she hits the streets gets a pair of free tickets to see the show. To win the contest just be the first to email your pic to cswint@atlantaopera.org. The winners will be contacted by e-mail and the photos will be posted to The Atlanta Opera’s Facebook page.
Euridice’s locations on upcoming dates from 11 a.m.–1 p.m. after the jump.
"Mistaken for Vision" 2009 oil on canvas
Monica Cook’s paintings are uncomfortably beautiful. Walking around her current show at the Marcia Wood Gallery, you might have the feeling that you’ve interrupted something very personal and very real. Her nearly-life-size, photo realistic portraits stare back at you from curiously debaucherous scenes. The effect is as disquieting as it is mesmerizing. In Seeded and Soiled, women gorge on a feast of octopus, pomegranates, fish and watermelon. Hundreds of identical women brawl with one another and attack a giant person that gives them a Lilliputian scale.
Ms. Cook was kind enough to respond to a few questions about the show. Her answers, some images, and info from the gallery after the jump.
