“Auto – Graphics : Work by VICTOR EKPUK” opens at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth

Please contact Morton Fine Art for available artworks by VICTOR EKPUK.

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

(202) 628-2787, mortonfineart@gmail.com, http://www.mortonfineart.com

 

AUTO-GRAPHICS

   

Works by Victor Ekpuk

April 18–August 2, 2015

Nigerian-born artist Victor Ekpuk is best known for his improvisational use of nsibidi, a form of writing with symbols associated with the powerful Ekpe men’s association of southeastern Nigeria. Ekpuk’s aesthetic engagement with nsibidi emerged during his fine art studies at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ife, Nigeria, where students were encouraged to explore the logics of pattern and design in indigenous African art forms. His fascination with nsibidi during these years—its economy of line and encoded meanings—led to his broader explorations of drawing as writing, and to the invention of his own fluid letterforms. As a mature artist, Ekpuk has so internalized the rhythm and contours of his “script” that it flows from his hand like the outpouring of a personal archive.

This exhibition was organized by Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and curated by Allyson Purpura. It was partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. The exhibition’s presentation at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, was generously supported by the Leon C. 1927, Charles L. 1955, and Andrew J. 1984 Greenebaum Fund and the Cissy Patterson Fund.

Hood Museum of Art
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755
603.646.2808
hood.museum@dartmouth.edu

RELATED EVENTS

23 April, Thursday, 12:30 p.m.
MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
Tour and Lunch with Artist Victor Ekpuk
Join artist Victor Ekpuk and Curator of African Art Smooth Nzewi for an intimate look at the artist’s installation in Lathrop Gallery, followed by lunch and discussion in the conference room. Registration is required. $25.00 per person. Open to current members. To register, call (603) 646-0414 or email Julie.Ann.I.Otis@dartmouth.edu. Space is limited.

24 April, Friday, 4:30 p.m.
ARTIST LECTURE
“Excavating Memories”
Victor Ekpuk, artist
Ekpuk will discuss how he mines historical, cultural, and social memories to shape his aesthetics.

25 April, Saturday, 11:00 a.m.
Second-floor galleries
SPECIAL TOUR
Auto-Graphics: Works by Victor Ekpuk
Allyson Purpura, Curator of African Arts at the Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and curator of Auto-Graphics, will lead a tour exploring the works on view and ideas behind the exhibition.

25 April, Saturday, 1:00–2:30 p.m.
FAMILY WORKSHOP
Experimenting with Line
Explore the expressive power of Victor Ekpuk’s line in his collages, digital prints, and supersized drawings. In the studio, make large drawings filled with your own symbols and line designs. For children ages 7–12 and their adult companions. Enrollment is free, but limited. Please register through the museum’s online calendar by April 23.

29 April, Wednesday, 6:00–8:00 p.m.
ADULT WORKSHOP
The Hand-Drawn Line: Works by Victor Ekpuk
Join this discussion-based workshop to explore how Ekpuk uses rhythm, pattern, scale, composition, and the hand-drawn line to create works that are at once bold and restrained. In the studio, experiment with materials to create your own work inspired by the exhibition. No previous art experience necessary. Participation is limited. Please register through the museum’s online calendar by April 27.

16 May, Saturday, 2:00 p.m.
INTRODUCTORY TOUR
Auto-Graphics: Works by Victor Ekpuk

26 May, Tuesday, 12:30 p.m.
LUNCHTIME GALLERY TALK
“Marks and Mark-Making in Afro-diasporic Art”
Michael Chaney, Associate Professor, Vice Chair, English Department, Dartmouth College
This informal presentation links both the contemporary artwork of Victor Ekpuk and traditional ukara cloths to an unlikely analog in the hybrid production of nineteenth-century slave artisan Dave the Potter. As with the strange writing inscribed on the sides of Dave the Potter’s jars, the coded writing system known as nsibidi opens up our understanding of diasporic art and the principles of communication embodied in it.

13 June, Saturday, 2:00 p.m.
SPECIAL TOUR
Auto-Graphics: Works by Victor Ekpuk
Smooth Nzewi, Curator of African Art

16 June, Tuesday, 12:30 p.m.
LUNCHTIME GALLERY TALK
“Memory and Victor Ekpuk’s Wall Drawings”
Smooth Nzewi, Curator of African Art

“Auto-Graphics : Works by VICTOR EKPUK” at Hood Museum, Dartmouth

Spring will bring variety of arts events to the College

By KOURTNEY KAWANO March 29, 2015 0 Comments

From the visually-engaging and thought-provoking exhibitions at the Hood Museum of Art to the enchanting melodies performed by student ensembles and unique performances that will be shown at the Hopkins Center for the Arts, the 2015 spring arts season is primed to be another term full of celebration for music, film, dance and the visual arts.

Aside from the ongoing events for the current exhibitions such as “About Face: Self-Portraiture in Contemporary Art,” which is on display through August 30, the Hood Museum of Art will open three new exhibitions in April.

“Water Ways: Tension and Flow,” which will open on April 4, will feature more than 24 landscape and portraiture photographs depicting the delicate balance between water’s effect on human life and vice versa. Although most of the works in the exhibition are drawn from the Hood’s permanent collection, the audience will be able to see these works in a new light as they all provide commentary about different aspects of water’s significance for sustaining life. While many of the photographs are from the 20th and 21st centuries, “Water Ways” will also include depictions by Roman and Egyptian artists in conjunction with the Nile Project— a group of musicians, educators and activists who are set to perform a blend of African and Arab music on April 17 in Spaulding Auditorium as a part of the group’s residency from April 13-18. The exhibition will also include the screening of the documentary “Watermark” (2013) on May 20.

Two exhibitions, “Auto-Graphics: Works by Victor Ekpuk” and “Ukara: Ritual Cloth of the Ekpe Secret Society,” will open at the Hood on April 18. “Auto-Graphics” will combine several works by Nigerian artist Victor Ekpuk, including his graphic and pastel print Composition No. 13 (Sante Fe Suite) (2013), which features Ekpuk’s characteristic use of nsibidi, a Nigerian writing form of the Ekpe people. On April 24, Ekpuk himself will give a lecture titled, “Excavating Memories” to share how his cultural and social experiences influences his art.

Hood Museum head of publishing and communications Nils Nadeau said that Ekpuk will create a large-scale drawing in the second-floor galleries, in tandem with the exhibition that is devoted to his recent work, beginning on April 20.

“Anyone can stop in and witness his progress live as he creates a new wall drawing,” Nadeau said.

The exhibition focused on ukara, a traditional cloth that represents the prestige of the Ekpe society, will also explore African culture through the ukaras’ designs and use. Each ukara includes a specific pattern and dye, as well as nsibidi symbols to convey a deeper meaning for the owner. Many of the ukaras featured in the exhibition were given by Eli Bentor, an art history professor at Appalachian State University, who will be leading a panel discussion about the collection on May 15.

To read the article in full, please visit: http://thedartmouth.com/2015/03/29/spring-will-bring-variety-of-arts-events-to-the-college/

Contact Morton Fine Art for available artwork by VICTOR EKPUK.

(202) 628-2787

mortonfineart@gmail.com

http://www.mortonfineart.com

Victor Ekpuk, Composition 7, 50″x50″, pastel and graphite on paper