Preview of Morton Fine Art’s Booth at Prizm Art Fair in Miami

 

 

Sneak Preview of Morton Fine Art’s Booth at Prizm Art Fair in Miami Contact the gallery for complimentary passes.

Visit our Website

Morton Fine Art will be closed 12/5-12/8 during our time in Miami, however we are available by phone (202) 628-2787 or mortonfineart@gmail.com if you need to reach us!

OSI AUDU THE TANGIBLE AND INTANGIBLE I explore the light sheen of graphite, the matte, light absorbing quality of black pastel, the white of paper and canvas, as well as the visually affecting interactions of colors to investigate form and its evocative potential to suggest or hint at something about the shape of the head. I am interested in the dualism of form and void, and the ontological relation between the tangible and intangible, something and nothing, light and dark, body and mind, the dual nature of being – the self in portraits. The construction of a sense of self is a very complex process, perhaps even more so in our increasingly global age, in which the boundaries between race, nationality, gender and sexuality are getting more and more blurred. I am interested in issues of self identity, and in concepts of the self rooted in my cultural experiences growing up in Nigeria, as well as global metaphysical, scientific, and social concepts of the self. There is a Yoruba thought that consciousness, referred to as the “head”, has both a physical dimension called the “outer head” and a non-physical one: “the inner head”. It is the visual implications of concepts like this that I find intriguing. The title, Self-Portrait, in my work, is more about the portrait of the intangible self, rather than a literal portrait of the artist. – OSI AUDU COLLECTIONS Smithsonian Museum of African Art The Newark Museum The British Museum Horniman Museum Wellcome Trust Gallery Available Artwork by OSI AUDU

OSI AUDU, Self-Portrait after Dogon Bird Mask II, 2018, 15″x22″, graphite and pastel on paper mounted on canvas OSI AUDU, Self Portrait after Igbo Mask, 2018, 11″x15″, acrylic on canvas

KESHA BRUCE

KESHA BRUCE, The Sky Opened for Her, 2016, 60″x48″, mixed media on canvas KESHA BRUCE, Fight Fire with Fire, 2017, 40″x30″, mixed media on canvas

Artwork is spiritwork. When I pray, I ask my ancestors for the bravery to follow and make manifest the deepest truths and longings of my heart. Every artwork I create is an answered prayer. In this current political and social moment my prayers are especially urgent: Where can Black women feel safe? Where can we feel free? How do we protect our spirits from those who mean to destroy us? As an artist, these questions always lead me back to my work.  In my experience, the most powerful weapon for spiritual warfare is joy. I’m not being hyperbolic when I tell you that the process of making artwork has saved my life many, many times. Art is a refuge for the spirit. It offers us a way to understand and heal ourselves. I am of the mind that something absolutely prophetic can be revealed in both the act of making and the act of looking at art. Art objects embody spiritual power. I believe this so firmly now, that it seems almost surreal to think back to a time, not so long ago, when I was afraid to speak about my work in spiritual terms for fear of being called less serious or less intellectually rigorous. It’s clear to me now that often our fears show us the parts of ourselves that are desperately waiting to be revealed. To be set free. So, I present this new work with the firm knowledge that what I am creating is an important and worthy contribution to the current cultural dialogue. More importantly, I consider my work a part of a strategy for resistance. Even as we steel ourselves for battle ahead, we must remember to leave room for joy. Joy is sacred and so it is worth fighting for. Remember to fight. -KESHA BRUCE SELECTED COLLECTIONS Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (14 pieces), Washington, DC The Amistad Center for Art and Culture, Hartford, CT The Museum of Modern Art, Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection, New York, NY The University of Iowa Women’s Center, Iowa City, IA The En Foco Photography Collection, New York, NY The Museum of Modern Art/Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection, New York, NY Available Artwork by KESHA BRUCE

NATHANIEL DONNETT African textiles, Gee’s Bend Quilts, and the everyday aesthetic within the historic African American neighborhoods of Houston, Texas inspire “Boom”. This work acts as a reminder to the extrinsic value of these neighborhoods through the lens of its spatial geography and relationship to gentrification, along with objects and form in terms of cultural iconography, and the everyday aesthetic. Drum notations and Houston’s hip-hop car culture formulate the abstract patterns. These patterns act as a response to the marginalization of Black American identity, the black spatial imaginary, and contemporary art. During the times of American slavery, it was said that southern quilts communicated warnings to the slaves. Although this was found to be a myth, this contemporary makeshift quilt does communicate moments of neighborhood erasure and the silencing of its cultural contributions. It also simultaneously celebrates the neighborhood’s cultural socio- consciousness and overall complexity. -NATHANIEL DONNETT MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS The Ulrich Museum, Wichita, KS The McColl Center, Charlotte, NC The American Museum, Washington, DC The Kemper Contemporary Arts Museum, Kansas City, MO The Theresa Hotel, Harlem, NY Harvey B Gantt Art Center for African American Arts and Culture, Charlotte, NC The Community Artist’s Collective The Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury CT The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX Project Row Houses, Houston, TX The University Museum, Houston, TX The New Museum, New York, NY

NATHANIEL DONNETT, Boom, 2018, 40″x46″, duct tape, plastic and photographs on paper Available Artwork by NATHANIEL DONNETT

VICTOR EKPUK VICTOR EKPUK, Head 4, 2015, 45″x48″, acyrlic on panel VICTOR EKPUK, Mask Series 1, 2018, 24″x18″, acrylic on canvas

Victor Ekpuk is a Nigerian-American artist based in Washington, DC. His art, which began as an exploration of nsibidi “traditional” graphics and writing systems in Nigeria, has evolved to embrace a wider spectrum of meaning that is rooted in African and global contemporary art discourses. Guided by the aesthetic philosophy nsibidi, where sign systems are used to convey ideas, Ekpuk re-imagines graphic symbols from diverse cultures to form a personal style of mark making that results in the interplay of art and writing. Ekpuk’s art reflects his experiences as a global artist. “The subject matter of my work deals with the human condition explained through themes that are both universal and specific: family, gender, politics, culture and Identity” -Victor Ekpuk COLLECTIONS Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Smithsonian Museum of African Art Brooks Museum Krannert Art Museum Arkansas Art Center Fidelity Investments Newark Museum The World Bank University of Maryland University College Art Collection The U. S. Department of State Available Artwork by VICTOR EKPUK

MAYA FREELON Maya Freelon is an award-winning visual artist whose work was described by the late poet Maya Angelou as “visualizing the truth about the vulnerability and power of the human being.” Cosmopolitan Magazine featured her in June 2015 in “Art Stars” calling her one “of the most badass female artists in the biz.”  She was commissioned by Google to design original art for their OnHub router, by Cadillac to create a live-sculpture for their Dare Greatly creative campaign, and by the North Carolina Museum of Art to create a collaborative tissue paper sculpture celebrating the opening of their African Art wing. Her unique tissue paper art, praised by the International Review of African American Art as “a vibrant, beating assemblage of color,” has been exhibited internationally, including shows in Paris, Jamaica, Madagascar, and Italy. She was selected by Modern Luxury Magazine as Best of the City; by Huffington Post as “Black Artists: 30 Contemporary Art Makers Under 40 You Should Know”; and by Complex magazine as “15 Young Black   Artists Making Waves in the Art World.”  Maya has completed residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, the Korobitey Institute in Ghana, and the Brandywine Workshop in Philadelphia. She earned a BA from Lafayette College and an MFA from theSchool of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. COLLECTIONS U.S. State Department U.S. Embassy in Madagascar U.S. Embassy Swaziland U.S. Embassy Rome The University of Maryland (David C. Driskell Center) Johns Hopkins University Rocketship Rise Academy; The Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists The Reginald F. Lewis Museum The School of the Museum of Fine Arts The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Lafayette College The Brandywine Workshop The Experimental Printmaking Institute The Williston Northampton School The Kokrobitey Institute Lewis Tanner Moore Dr. Maya Angelou Available Artwork by MAYA FREELON

photo credit: Christopher Charles MAYA FREELON, Compression, 2017, 44″x34″, tissue ink monoprint MAYA FREELON, Intuition, 2017, 46″x44″, tissue ink monoprint

AMBER ROBLES-GORDON AMBER ROBLES-GORDON, Awakening the Matrilineal: Calling in the West, 36″x36″, mixed media on canvas AMBER ROBLES-GORDON, Awakening the Matrilineal: South and of the Fire, 2016, 34″x35″, mixed media on canvas

Awakening the Matrilineal “My artwork is a visual representation of my hybridism: a fusion of my gender, ethnicity, cultural, and social experiences. I impose colors, imagery, and materials that evoke femininity and tranquility with the intent of transcending or balancing a specific form. I associate working with light, color, and energy as a positive means to focus on the healing power found in the creative process and within us all. It is my belief that colors have both feminine and masculine energies and each color represents a specific aspect of nature.” -Amber Robles Gordon COLLECTIONS Judith A. Hoffberg Archive Library University of California, Santa Barbara, CA Masterpiece Miniature Art Exhibition, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Capital One Bank, Mc Clean,Virginia District of Columbia’s Art Bank, Washington, D.C. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY The Gautier Family Collection, Washington, DC Available Artwork by AMBER ROBLES-GORDON

NATE LEWIS In continuing my work with black figures I sculpt in unseen tensions of the past present and future on bodies with the idea of utilizing diagnostic lenses and contrast dyes to reveal erased and unknown histories and patterns. Through the use of presence, absence, distortion and illusion and while in a time when the digital world has severe control of our information feeds I aim to challenge our lens’, the powers that hold our attention, and create opportunities for questioning and perspective alteration. In my time working as a critical care nurse, we would use a multitude of lenses to gain a broad understanding of what is going on with any given situation to find homeostasis. While facts and diagnostic information can inform us of any given situation, without empathy and perspective alteration, our hearts will remain unchanged. – NATE LEWIS Nate Lewis grew up in Beaver Falls, near Pittsburgh, Pa. He graduated from VCU with his BSN and was a practicing critical care nurse for five years as well as professional fine artist. He has been awarded prestigious residencies at Pioneer Works and Dieu Donne in NYC, Agora Culture on Martha’s Vineyard and won a number of artist fellowship grants from the DC Commission of the Arts and Humanities. Available Artwork by NATE LEWIS

NATE LEWIS, Spirit Suite, 2018, 21.5″x26″, hand sculpted photo paper print NATE LEWIS, Traverse Suite, 2018, 26″x26″, hand sculpted photo paper print

About Morton Fine Art Founded in 2010 in Washington, DC, Morton Fine Art (MFA) is a fine art gallery and curatorial group that collaborates with art collectors and visual artists to inspire fresh ways of acquiring contemporary art. Firmly committed to the belief that anyone can become an art collector or enthusiast, MFA’s mission is to provide accessibility to museum-quality contemporary art through a combination of substantive exhibitions and a welcoming platform for dialogue and exchange of original voice. Morton Fine Art 52 O St NW #302 Washington, DC 20001 (202) 628-2787 mortonfineart@gmail.com www.mortonfineart.com For further information and images, please contact Amy Morton: mortonfineart@gmail.com #