NATHANIEL DONNETT’s artwork acquired for permanent collection of Mattatuck Museum

 

NATHANIEL DONNETT, miniscule, mini-school, i meant two schools; keep watching, 51″x53″, conte, graphite, color pencil, plastic on paper bags

 

Congratulations to Houston based NATHANIEL DONNETT for the acquisition of his piece, miniscule, mini-school, i meant two schools; keep watching, for the permanent collection of the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut.  The piece has been on display at the museum during NATHANIEL DONNETT’s current solo exhibition Alone in My Four Cornered Room which runs through early January 2014. The artwork measures 51″x53″ and is comprised of conte, graphite, color pencil, plastic on paper bags.

 

Nathaniel Donnett
Alone in My Four Cornered Room
October 23, 2014 – January 4, 2015

The title of the show, “Alone in My Four Cornered Room,” references a lyric from the 1991 classic hip-hop song, “My Mind’s Playing Tricks on Me,” by trio The Geto Boys. The song, like Donnett’s works explore isolation, paranoia, and identity in which perception of self and self-knowledge do not always match. In this way, Donnett takes up a strategy that has fortified hip-hop: referencing back to others in order to assemble links and connections. Both The Geto Boy and Donnett are exploring self-doubt, safety, and psychological well-being in the face of “double consciousness.” The works in this show represent Donnett’s investments in examining the entangled relationships between society, the art world, and identity. By exploring experiences of isolation, loneliness, and social stigma, and self -determination, Donnett restores and reclaims the humanity of African Americans living complex emotional lives.

Donnett’s layered works defy singular description, rather they are purposefully resistant to either/or interpretations or linear narratives. Donnett’s work is presenting us with both/and narratives in which as viewer we have a small window in which to glimpse the vertinginous experience of being both erased and highly visible – to be forced to know oneself based on the fears others might have of you. Donnett refers to this entangled interaction between the self and society as projections, noting that many of the notions we have about each other are based on narrow narratives or misinformation. Donnett’s work suggests that none of us are safe from internalizing misperceptions of others – even the misperceptions of our own identities and selves – and he explores how very challenging, complicated, and tangled such experiences can be. His carefully crafted work plays with the distance between self-knowledge and self-perception, while investigating the spaces where art, music, identity, history, the Black imagination, culture, the self, and standards of beauty may be explored – and even challenged. Donnett’s use of such diverse materials gestures toward the improvisation he highlights as part of African American culture.

Mattatuck Museum
144 West Main Street
Waterbury, CT 06702
(203) 753-0381 ext. 130

Museum Hours:
Monday: Closed
Tuesday – Saturday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Sundays: 12 noon – 5:00 p.m.
OPEN LATE the first Thursday of the month until 7:30 p.m.

NATHANIEL DONNETT : 100 CREATIVES 2014

100 Creatives 2014: Nathaniel Donnett, Artist

 By Olivia Flores Alvarez Wed., Dec. 24 2014 at 7:00 AM

Categories: 100 Creatives

Photo by Cipher

The Dark Imaginal by Nathaniel Donnett

It’s been a stellar year for visual artist Nathaniel Donnett. During 2014, he had his first ever solo show at a major museum with “Nothing to See Hear.” It was part of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, “Right Here, Right Now: Houston” ongoing series of exhibits and events. In support of “Nothing to See Hear,” Donnett received a 2014 Harpo Foundation grant, one of fewer than a dozen awards for the year. (By the way, the Harpo Foundation was founded by Edward Levine. Its name was inspired by Harpo Marx. It’s not related to Oprah Winfrey or her company, Harpo Productions.)He also had a solo show at the Mattatuck Museum, “Alone In My Four Cornered Room,” which closes in January 2015.

He was the subject of Rhythm & Black, a documentary by Rice University film students Paige Polk and Lydia Smith.

And most recently, Donnett was awarded a 2015 Idea Fund / Andy Warhol Foundation grant to develop his blog, Not That This, into a website supporting the critical discourse related to African American artists and other groups whose work is largely overlooked, ignored, or misunderstood by the mainstream arts press. (Donnett previously won an Idea Fund / Andy Warhol Foundation grant in 2011.)

Photo by Nathaniel Donnett

The Hair Piece by Nathaniel Donnett

What he does: “Normally, I say I’m an artist. I don’t talk much about it but if I do, I say I’m an artist and I’m interested in observing people and how people interact. I personally like to critique and comment on those interactions, especially some of the more nuanced ones that people may not be paying attention to.”

Of the two actions – observing and commentating – Donnett says observing is the more important. “Observation is not only the intake of that information, whatever the information is, but it’s also the reflection on that information, the editing and determining how I want to present my take on it, how I want to reveal what I’ve got to say.”

Donnett says the act of observation isn’t an exact science. “I’m observing a person or people. I’m human. They’re human. What I think I’m seeing may not be the truth, it’s my perception of the truth and my perception is influenced by my experiences. But even if I end up commenting on something that I really didn’t see, that comment can still be relevant. It’s still real.”

Why he likes it: “I like the attention,” he laughs. “Actually I like having a voice. I like the communicative aspect of it. I like the process of observing and understanding and reflecting and communicating on something. I most enjoy when I’m in the process of creating. I’m inside this space or this zone. Being in tune with the idea is the most interesting part, it’s just me and my idea. When the work is done, it’s always a relief so I guess I could say that I like that part, too, but mostly I like finding a zone.”

What inspires him: “There’s the idea that there’s something in front of you, something beside you and something behind you. There’s a social context, an emotional context, form, instrumentation, layers and layers. When you look at a piece, you may see one thing but there’s a multitude of things going on, a multitude of layers of ideas and concepts that went into that one work.”

If not this, then what: “If I had to do something else, I would be a drummer. My ideal band would be a mix of jazz, funk and rap. When I was younger, I really liked music. I couldn’t really sing, but I liked music. I liked dancing, I liked drawing and I liked people. Those things have all resurfaced in my work but somebody else may look at a piece and not see those things.

If not here, then where: “So I have to realistic when I answer that question. There are five major art markets – LA, New York, Chicago, Texas and Miami. In LA and Texas, there’s lots of space. In New York, there’s not lots of space. So that’s one thing. The other thing is affordability. On the other side of that, I don’t have a big system of collectors here in Texas. I have it outside of Texas, but not here. So, realistically, I think I would go to California.

“On the fantasy side, I would want to go to Saturn. Sun Ra used to talk about going to Saturn; for me it would be Mars.”

What’s next: “I’ve got a group exhibition at the Arkansas Art Center. That will close out this year. After that I’ve got a few more group shows coming up, including a show called “Heart of Darkness.”

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2014/12/100_creatives_2014_nathaniel_donnett_artist.php

NATHANIEL DONNETT’s solo exhibition opens Oct 23rd at the Mattatuck Museum

Alone in My Four Cornered Room – A Solo Exhibition of Artwork by NATHANIEL DONNETT

October 23, 2014- January 4, 2015

Mattatuck Museum, 144 West Main Street, Waterbury, CT

mattatuckmuseum.org

 

Context & Reflection: The Art of Nathaniel Donnett

In this exhibition, Alone in My Four Cornered Room, Nathaniel Donnett navigates the crossroads between the self and perception by others. His drawings, paintings, and sculpture suggest the transitional and unstable nature of perception. Donnett’s work is richly conceptualized and steeped in a deeply reflective, witty, and theoretically grounded history of race and difference in the United States. His work references the landmark scholarship of historian and activist, W.E.B. Dubois, and attends closely to the concept of double consciousness – DuBois’ understanding of the complex and nuanced ways in which African Americans in the United States must negotiate and reconcile their identity as both American and Black – both part of and pushed away from the heart of national identity. Donnett, like DuBois, is wrestling with the “peculiar sensation” in which one has “this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.”

The title of the show, “Alone in My Four Cornered Room,” references a lyric from the 1991 classic hip-hop song, “My Mind’s Playing Tricks on Me,” by trio The Geto Boys. The song, like Donnett’s works explore isolation, paranoia, and identity in which perception of self and self-knowledge do not always match. In this way, Donnett takes up a strategy that has fortified hip-hop: referencing back to others in order to assemble links and connections. Both The Geto Boy and Donnett are exploring self-doubt, safety, and psychological well-being in the face of “double consciousness.” The works in this show represent Donnett’s investments in examining the entangled relationships between society, the art world, and identity. By exploring experiences of isolation, loneliness, and social stigma, and self -determination, Donnett restores and reclaims the humanity of African Americans living complex emotional lives.

Donnett’s layered works defy singular description, rather they are purposefully resistant to either/or interpretations or linear narratives. Donnett’s work is presenting us with both/and narratives in which as viewer we have a small window in which to glimpse the vertinginous experience of being both erased and highly visible – to be forced to know oneself based on the fears others might have of you. Donnett refers to this entangled interaction between the self and society as projections, noting that many of the notions we have about each other are based on narrow narratives or misinformation. Donnett’s work suggests that none of us are safe from internalizing misperceptions of others – even the misperceptions of our own identities and selves – and he explores how very challenging, complicated, and tangled such experiences can be. His carefully crafted work plays with the distance between self-knowledge and self-perception, while investigating the spaces where art, music, identity, history, the Black imagination, culture, the self, and standards of beauty may be explored – and even challenged. Donnett’s use of such diverse materials gestures toward the improvisation he highlights as part of African American culture.