The Washington City Paper reviews Charles Williams’ ‘Swim’

Charles Williams’ ‘Swim’ at Morton Fine Art, Reviewed

Posted by Beth Shook on October 9, 2015 at 12:14 pm

You can be forgiven if your eye wanders in “Swim,” Charles Williams’ current solo show at Morton Fine Art. Between the clutter of the gallery and the works themselves—closely hung bursts of contrast in black and white—there is a lot to digest. But it’s impossible even for passersby to miss the centerpiece of the exhibition, Lost and Found #1, an immersive six-by-eight-foot canvas depicting frothy waves at night in photorealistic detail. The painting, mostly in black, simultaneously beckons and unnerves. 

Williams’s interest in water as a theme derives from his lifelong fear of swimming. He attributes the phobia both to his experience of nearly drowning at age 11 and to the racial stereotypes surrounding swimming that he faced growing up black in South Carolina. In the handful of fragmented self-portraits on view, Williams, who still doesn’t know how to swim, depicts himself variously in goggles, pool floaties, and wearing a towel draped over his head.

While the towel-as-hoodie is Williams’ most overt reference to the idea of swimming pools as sites of racial tension, race permeates the exhibition in other ways.  In some portraits Williams’ face floats disembodied, fracturing at its edges into individual brushstrokes in black and brown. It’s a literal deconstruction of the artist’s skin color—and the various tones and associations, including fear, that come with it.

The exploration of black is further developed in nearby paintings from theNighttime series, in which Williams has painted waves in a heavy black impasto over backgrounds of the same color. These smaller paintings, as well as the artist’s closely cropped monochrome seascapes on Mylar, deserve a closer look. Unfortunately, the installation gives them little room to breathe. Viewers are better off focusing on the large-scale work; the tide will carry you from there.

“Swim” runs until Oct. 13. 1781 Florida Ave. N.W.

Charles Williams, Lost and Found 1, 72″x 96,” oil on canvas, Courtesy of Morton Fine Art

KATHERINE HATTAM’s Exhibition “Desire First” opens at Deakin University Australia

Desire first: Exhibition surveys work of Katherine Hattam

18 September 2015

The doctor’s dilemma, 2007. Book pages, fabric, charcoal and mixed media on paper. 130 x 120 cm image. Collection of the artist. Image courtesy the artist and Daine Singer. Photography: Clare Rae

The career of Melbourne-based artist, Katherine Hattam, is surveyed in the latest Deakin University Art Gallery exhibition.

Katherine Hattam: Desire first: 1978–2015 showcases works from Hattam’s entire career to date, including paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture.

In a practice that has extended over five decades, Hattam has developed a distinctive register of recurring motifs, in particular the chair and other domestic objects, which she combines with references to literature, feminism, art history and modern psychoanalysis in the creation of beguiling and personally symbolic works. A psychological charge is manifest in much of Hattam’s work, as anthropomorphic chairs stand in for a range of family members and a strong presence of the artist herself is evident in the spaces she depicts.

Deakin University Art Gallery Manager Leanne Willis said it was an honour to present the survey exhibition.

“Katherine Hattam is a contemporary Australian artist of great merit and has been a valuable contributor to the Melbourne visual culture since the late 1970s,” Ms Willis said.

“Deakin University has a long relationship with Katherine as she completed her PhD here in 2003, so it seems fitting that we are the venue to present a survey of her work.”

Exhibition curator Emma Busowsky Cox said Hattam’s work “tantalises with suggestive references”.

“Hattam uses personally symbolic materials, such as deconstructed Penguin classics from her late mother’s collection, or unfinished paintings by her artist father, alongside references to family politics, art history and psychoanalysis which hint at hidden meanings and unresolved relationships,” Ms Busowsky Cox said.

Supporting the exhibition is a catalogue including an essay by exhibition curator Emma Busowsky Cox, with a preface by Patrick McCaughey.

Hattam has exhibited widely throughout Australia. Her work is included in numerous major public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, Heide Museum of Modern Art, the Bendigo Art Gallery and Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art. She is represented by Daine Singer, Melbourne and Morton Fine Art, Washington, DC.

Katherine Hattam: Desire first 1978–2015runs to 16 October at the Deakin University Art Gallery, Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Tuesday to Friday between 10am and 4pm, or by appointment on Monday for groups over 10. Entry is free.

Free floor talks with the artist and exhibition curator will be held on Wednesday 30 September at 12.30pm and Friday 16 October at 12.30pm.

Visit Morton Fine Art for available work by KATHERINE HATTAM.

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

(202) 628-2787, mortonfineart@gmail.com

http://www.mortonfineart.com

 

Exhibition Photos of GA GARDNER’s GETTHRU in Cologne Germany

GA GARDNER’s GETTHRU, Thru Contemporary Arts exhibition in Cologne, Germany

At the opening reception for “People Textures Environment” in Cologne Germany, the first exhibition by Thru Contemporary Arts.

www.getthru.org

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“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

KESHA BRUCE’s (Re)calling & (Re)telling series in permanent collection of The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

KESHA BRUCE’s entire 14 piece series, (Re)calling & (Re)telling, enters the permanent collection of The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

 

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A huge congratulations to MFA artist KESHA BRUCE for the placement of 14 artworks in the permanent collection of The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. 

 

Please contact the gallery for artwork availability from this renowned series.

About (Re)calling & (Re)telling:

For several years Kesha Bruce’s work has used photography as a means to explore new ways of conceptualizing cultural and ethnic identities and histories. Inspired by a collection of old and damaged negatives given to her by her grandfather, (Re)calling and (Re)telling is essentially the next step in the progression of those ideas.

Each photograph in (Re)calling and (Re)telling begins with a single large-format negative. Once a print has been made from the negative, fragments of maps, drawings, or other found imagery are
manually manipulated directly in front of the camera lens, on a delicately lit three-dimensional set, in order to arrive at a final image.

Each image in the series is composed and created “in camera”
without the aid of photo-editing software. (Re)calling and (Re)telling is part history, part personal mythology, and part homage. Each image contains narratives and histories, both real and invented, that give voice to individuals who remain marginalized by the commonly accepted meta-narratives within Western culture.

Please contact Morton Fine Art for pricing and acquisition information.

mortonfineart@gmail.com

(202) 628-2787

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