MAYA FREELON ASANTE in Artforum

“Material Girls: Contemporary Black Women Artists”

SPELMAN COLLEGE MUSEUM OF FINE ART
350 Spelman Lane SW,
September 6–December 1

Sonya Clark, Seven Layer Tangle, 2005,plastic combs, glue, 7 x 30 x 30”.

Maren Hassinger’s Love, 2005–12, in the far corner of the gallery, displays inflated hot pink plastic shopping bags gathered in the shape of an obtuse triangle rising up to the ceiling. It is impossible to see Love and not think of the collective progress made by the gay rights movement that has used this symbol of a pink triangle since the 1970s, as well the individual acts that went into shaping the movement. The allegorical use of materials continues in Sonya Clark’sPlain Weave, 2008—a simple, elegant grid of gold-colored thread and black plastic combs held together in the royal kente cloth pattern––elevating throwaway objects by using them to represent this coveted textile.

Such are two instances of the ways in which Chakaia Booker, Maya Freelon Asante, Martha Jackson Jarvis, Joyce J. Scott, and Renée Stout, in addition to Hassinger and Clark—challenge the social and cultural identities of objects, blurring the boundary between natural and industrial materials. Take, for instance, Booker’s contribution: masses of recycled rubber tires––some sliced into strandlike lengths, others cut to sharp, pointed, staccato shapes––elegantly manipulated into long sculptural tableaux or smaller, compact works that allude to organic material and figuration. Whereas irrefutable power, speed, and performance dominate the commercially driven affect of automobile tires, Booker’s use of these discarded, visibly worn wheels––in tandem with her subsequent manipulation in composing her sculptures––speaks to a range of experience by showing the tangible effects of the environment on the objects. It is in this way that “Material Girls” spurs a consideration of the desire for newness in commodity objects and stakes a claim for finding value in the materiality that marks our experience, in spite of its monetary equivalent.

— Amanda Parmer

MAYA FREELON ASANTE in “Material Girls: Contemporary Black Women Artists” opens at Spelman

Opens Sept. 6, 2012

The seven artists featured in Material Girls: Contemporary Black Women Artists create three-dimensional works that exemplify the value of organic and man-made materials. Incorporating a range of materials including hair, beads, tissue paper, volcanic stone, rubber tires, and plastic, the artists are keenly attentive to the pleasures derived from the sense of touch. Using delicate and resilient materials, the artists have constructed monumental sculptures, shaped richly textured surfaces, applied intricate handiwork, and created provocative assemblages.

Above image is Martha Jackson Jarvis pulling Scent of Magnolia I, II and III, 2008.Stone, Concrete, Glass. Scent of Magnolia I, 3.5’ x 10’ x 3’; Scent of Magnolia II,3.5’ x 8’ x 3’; Scent of Magnolia III,3.5’ x 5’ x 3’. Courtesy the artist.

Material Girls: Contemporary Black Women Artists, features work by Chakaia Booker, Sonya Clark, Maya Freelon Asante, Maren Hassinger, Martha Jackson Jarvis, Joyce J. Scott, and Renée Stout. On view at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art Sept. 6 through Dec. 1, 2012, this exhibition explores the innovative ways that Black women artists fuse fine art and craft.

Material Girls: Contemporary Black Women Artists was developed and organized by the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture. This exhibition was curated by Michelle Joan Wilkinson, Ph.D.