“Abstract Minded” Curator Soiree with OSI AUDU & LAURIE ANN FARRELL at N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art

Next Saturday, November 18th join us at a special reception for Abstract Minded.   ​ Abstract Minded Curator Soiree with Osi Audu, exhibition curator & Laurie Ann Farrell, curator of contemporary art at the DIA  Date:  Saturday, November 18, 2017 Time: 2:00pm – 5:00pm Location: Detroit, MI – The N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, 52 E. Forest Ave. Abstract Minded curator and artist Osi Audu and the Detroit Institute of Arts’ curator and department head of contemporary art, Laurie Ann Farrell discuss the artists, exhibition, and influence of the African Diaspora on contemporary art at this intimate afternoon event. Refreshments will be served. Abstract Minded: Works by Six Contemporary African Artists” showcases explorative works by Osi Audu, Nicholas Hlobo, Serge Alain Nitegeka, Odili Donald Odita, Nnenna Okore, and Elias Sime that thematically or conceptually connect to the continent of Africa by pursuing the use of abstraction as a way of engaging the broader conversation about art. The exhibition will be on display through January 6, 2018. Osi Audu Osi Audu is a Nigerian born artist whose work explores the intersections of scientific, cultural and philosophical ideas about the nature of consciousness. His work, which has been shown in numerous international exhibitions including the Kwangju Biennale in Korea, the Africa Africa exhibition in Japan, and the Museum of the Mind exhibition at the British Museum in London; has also been collected by a number of public institutions such as the Newark Museum in New Jersey, The National Museum of African Art in Washington DC, the British Museum, and the Horniman Museum in London. He has presented papers and talks about his work at several international conferences such as the 16th ACASA International Triennial Symposium on African Art at the Brooklyn Museum, New York; The Human Image conference at the British Museum in London, Conversations with a Continent: FIVE AFRICAN ARTISTS at Columbia University in New York; and Next Wave Nigeria: Artists Dialogue at the Newark Museum. His article –Yoruba Concept of the Mind was published in the 2nd edition of The Oxford Companion to The Mind, edited by Richard Gregory. He was a lecturer in Painting and Drawing at the University of Benin for 9 years, and the Head of Art and Design at Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School in the UK for 11 years. He received an MFA degree in Painting and Drawing from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.  He lives and works in New York. Laurie Ann Farrell Farrell came to the DIA in 2016 in from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) where she was executive director of exhibitions initiatives. She directed exhibition programming for the SCAD Museum of Art and SCAD FASH, its museum of fashion and film, as well as the university’s galleries in Atlanta, Hong Kong and Lacoste, France. Farrell is currently an art consultant for the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium Art Collection in Atlanta and curator of the first Rolls-Royce art program in North America. Farrell has curated exhibitions of work by a diverse group of prominent contemporary artists, among them Marina Abramovic, Doug Aitken, Carrie Mae Weems, Yinka Shonibare, Alfredo Jaar, Michael Joo, Sigalit Landau, Stephen Antonakos, Cao Fei, Kader Attia and Yeondoo Jung. Farrell was curator of contemporary art at the Museum for African Art in New York City from 1998 to 2007, where she curated the exhibitions “Personal Affects: Power and Poetics in Contemporary South African Art” and “Looking Both Ways: Art of the Contemporary African Diaspora.” In 2006, Farrell organized American participation at Angola’s inaugural Trienal de Luanda with support and funding from the U.S. Department of State. Farrell received the Abraaj Capital Art Prize with artist Kader Attia in 2010, the ArtTable New Leadership award in 2011 and the Southeast Museum Conference 2015 Museum Leadership Award. Farrell is widely published in art journals and has lectured throughout the Americas, Africa and Europe. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in art history from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Master of Fine Arts in art history and theory from the University of Arizona. Osi Audu’s curatorial abstract:  “Abstraction is as indigenous to African visual culture as it is to other parts of the world. The exploration of purely formal elements is not only readily evidenced in the rich traditions of textile designs and other decorative practices from the continent, but is also present in the stylizations of much figurative work from Africa. The six artists in this exhibition, all born and, or raised in countries in Africa, produce work thematically or conceptually connected to the continent by pursuing the use of abstraction as a way of engaging in a broader conversation about art. In our increasingly global existence of the 21st century the world is becoming less and less exotic, and is being experienced more as a sphere of commonalities of being, dreams, fears and aspirations. Cultural ideas once thought as discrete are now being understood as archetypical, having resonances across the wider world. Aesthetic engagement with form is as important a part of the content of these artists’ works as is their symbolic, historical, socio-political, or conceptual significance. Among the many questions raised by this exhibition, the overarching one must be the dialectical question: what is contemporary African art? Abstract Minded: Works by Six Contemporary African Artists is not simply about looking for the African in African art, it is also about taking a look at what some African artists are doing today in order to get a fuller sense of the current ‘state of things’ in contemporary African art.”  – Don’t miss the Curator Soiree happening next Saturday, beginning at 2:00pm at the N’Namdi Center! The N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art presents diverse, multi-disciplinary and engaging art experiences. It serves to promote and perpetuate the cultural legacy of African-American and African diasporic art, along with art from diverse cultures. Since its conception in 2010, the N’Namdi Center has contributed to the Detroit arts scene by presenting art exhibitions by nationally and internationally renowned artists as well as local and emerging talent. The N’Namdi Center’s work is based on two core beliefs: that the arts can play an integral role in the revitalization of Detroit, and that a thriving creative community depends upon the participation of a diverse group of artists, organizations and individuals. The N’Namdi Center builds on these beliefs by acting as a catalyst in the development of Detroit’s creative ecosystem, with a continuing focus on African American art and community engagement through the arts.

Introducing German painter ASTRID KOHLER to Morton Fine Art’s roster

Morton Fine Art is thrilled to introduce German artist ASTRID KOHLER to our roster.

“‘You see, what you see’

Astrid Köhler could have been a marvellous art forger also. Her technical competence, as well as the capability to capture different genres, themes, styles and making them her own is obvious to the less professional observer even at first glance. Her pictures are painted in such a perfect manner, that nobody would ever come up with the idea to get a child to copy her work like a painting by Picasso.

However, Astrid Köhler is not content with simple reproduction – neither with deceptively real imitations of works of art nor with the most realistic representation of drapery or the heads of matches, baby animal fur or plumage. Instead, persons portrayed by her wear paper bag hats, the fruit in her still life wear bandages – and from time to time, she also chooses ironic titles for her work. Such a break with artistic tradition because of a subject, the subversion of a beautiful depiction, perfectly executed to the last detail, through an incongruent, resistive element, and the combination of maximum virtuosity and shoddy objects can be found in many of her works – for instance, in the wrinkled handkerchiefs on old paper or wallpaper, which equally remind one of mannerism or … a flat iron.

This restoration of art to everyday life, the repatriation of la objet trouvé back into the daily routine of the kitchen presumably is one reason for the accessibility of her pictures and – with all respect for the virtuosity – makes them so very much likeable. They are instantly appealing and one can imagine them in one’s own living room as well as on display in a grand museum or art gallery. However, her work is anything but merely cute and innocuous. It is always full of tension, ranging from vague ambiguity to candid surrealism. Thus, something violent adheres to the graffiti bar in the  Crossed-out group of works; the energetically sprayed red drops over delicate and pretty birds could provoke thoughts of blood as well. Nevertheless you have good reason for being just enraptured by Astrid Köhler’s paintings. Albeit you won’t get disappointed if you are looking for more than exceptional skill and pictorial intelligence.”

If you would like to learn more about Astrid Kohler or if you would like to see her work in person, please contact the gallery.

Morton Fine Art, 1781 Florida Ave NW, Washington, DC, 20009

http://www.mortonfineart.com

(202) 628-2787

mortonfineart@gmail.com

Click HERE to view available artwork by ASTRID KOHLER. 

ASTRID KOHLER, Frau mit Kanarienvogel, 2017, 12″x12″, oil on canvas

 

ASTRID KOHLER, Madchen mit Schleife, 2017, 9.5″x7″, oil on canvas

 

ASTRID KOHLER, Schlechtes Pferdebild 2, 2017, 20″x16″, oil and mixed media on paper

 

ASTRID KOHLER, Gruenes Portrait 2, 9.5″x12″, oil on canvas

 

ASTRID KOHLER, Schlechtes Pferdebild 3, 2017, 16″x20″, oil and mixed media on paper

 

ASTRID KOHLER, Juengling mit Kardinal, 2017, 9.5″x7″, oil on canvas

 

ASTRID KOHLER, Porzellanhaut, 2017, 9.5″x12″, oil on canvas

 

ASTRID KOHLER, Frau mit Vogel 3, 2017, 9.5″x7″, oil on canvas

 

Morton Fine Art’s “Handmade” reviewed in the Washington Post

In the galleries: Tales that unfold from the folding of paper

By Mark Jenkins November 11 

 

 

 

Natalie Cheung’s “Finding Anna 1,” 2016, four 12″x12″, watercolor and gouache on paper, at Morton Fine Art. (Natalie Cheung/Morton Fine Art )

Handmade

All six artists in Morton Fine Art’s “Handmade: Made by Hand” are showing works on paper, yet not all of them give a sense of handicraft. The surface appears pristine in Avi Gupta’s muted photographs of home interiors, which focus on light and shadow, and in Natalie Cheung’s blue-on-white renderings of leaves, which intentionally resemble cyanotypes. The skin is harder worked in Rosemary Feit Covey’s large, mysterious pictures of bone piles, which are partly engraved and partly painted, and layered with glue and polymer.

Julia Mae Bancroft’s “Beyond the Pale,” 2016, 10″x10″, collage, mixed media and hand-stitching on photograph. (Julia Mae Bancroft/Morton Fine Art)

Julia Mae Bancroft literally stitches together her “Mending Moments” collages, sewing wool, hemp and bamboo fibers into the photo-based compositions. Nigerian-born Victor Ekpuk draws and paints on paper, but his imagery employs symbols from an African writing system once incised into wood, metal and ceramics. Nate Lewis literally cuts and scrapes, transforming black-and-white photos of black men with a range of patterns and textures. These vivid, almost sculptural portraits suggest ritual scarification and the tufts of woven fabric. They also signify possible metamorphoses that are more than skin deep.

 Handmade: Made by Hand On view through Nov. 17 at Morton Fine Art, 1781 Florida Ave. NW. 202-628-2787. mortonfineart.com.

THE GUARDIANS, a solo exhibition of new work by artist KESHA BRUCE. December 14th, 2013-January 8th, 2014.

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About the Guardians:

In the winter of 2011, Kesha Bruce awoke in the early morning hours to see a figure hovering silently at the foot of her bed. This brief moment of fascination, terror, and eventually wonder, has beenthe obsessive focus of her work for nearly three years. To date, Bruce has completed nearly 200 works based on The Guardians – a group of solemn, mysterious figures who act as watchers, keepers, and protectors.

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About Kesha Bruce:

Sidestepping the weight and implications of formalized religion forthe better part of her career, Bruce’s work has explored the fertile territory of memory, mythology, African-American folklore, and magical-spiritual belief. With The Guardians her work makes a shift towards questioning not only the place of spiritual practice in contemporary culture, but also the place of genuine spiritual experience in contemporary art making.

Introducing artist JASON SHO GREEN

Jason Sho Green (heavy impasto painting, Brooklyn, NY, b. Japan):

Born in Japan and raised in Georgia, Jason Sho Green’s cultural wires have been crossed since birth. His primary medium is sculptural painting with a heavy and expressive impasto surface oftentimes including dried and balled up acrylic paint to construct a 3D surface. Jason lives and paints in Brooklyn, NY. He recently earned his MFA from the New York Academy of Art.

Currently on display at MFA’s NYC NOW exhibition located at:

Gallery B

7700 Wisconsin Ave Suite E (courtyard side of building)

Bethesda, MD 20814

Wed – Saturday, 12pm-6pm

*Show closes Saturday, 3 December at 6pm.

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