ART-PRESENTATION: American Histories
The group exhibition “American Histories” is the second of the five exhibitions that make up Pi Artworks London’s Curatorial Season (October 2016 – July 2017). Five curators have been invited to devise and develop their own curatorial project. The season started with “What’s The Riddle”, with works that return to fundamental formal questions to artistic work and its system in their alternative conception of time.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Artworks Archive
The exhibition “American Histories” presents works by nine artists that live in U.S.A. and their exploration of cultural histories through figurative works on paper. Their work reflect their own heritages and influences while speaking more broadly to the array of international cultures that make up the United States. The exhibition spotlights how artists examine and synthesize such themes through a personal lens. Cultural difference, and its link to issues surrounding immigration and inclusiveness, is one of the most pressing political issues of our day. While the artists in the exhibition do not explicitly address politics, they are concerned with processing matters of difference through their work. Kenseth Armstead, Firelei Báez, Maria Berrio, Chitra Ganesh, Fay Ku, Lina Puerta, Frohawk Two Feathers, William Villalongo, and Saya Woolfalk, with works on paper call on international artistic traditions, to reflect and comment upon the interconnections between global histories and contemporary cultures. In his series of drawings like comic strips, Kenseth Armstead, chronicles the true story of James Armistead Lafayette, an African American slave who served the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War as a double agent. Firelei Báez, uses large-scale drawing to depict objects of personal adornment that speak to the complexities of Black identities. Maria Berrio, uses painting and collage, mostly with Japanese papers, to create works that blend historical and religious allusions with examinations of contemporary notions of gender, sexuality, and family. Chitra Ganesh, combines a wide array of references like:Hindu mythology, European fairy tales, andBollywood posters, in ldetailed works focusing on traditionally marginalized figures from art historical and literary narratives. In her drawings Fay Ku, conjures surreal worlds in which Chinese scroll painting, Italian Renaissance altarpieces, and contemporary pop culture, play equally influential roles. Combining handmade paper with found objects, Lina Puerta, is concerned with the natural and built environments and their fraught relationships to the human body. In his drawings Frohawk Two Feathers, invents elaborate historical narratives that cast light on issues of colonialism and race, his work in the exhibition depict fictitious, 18th Century warriors who are also informed by the present-day Nation of Gods and Earths, an offshoot of the Nation of Islam. William Villalongo compines imagery from African-American and American history, and mass culture to orchestrate a conversation between history and art. Influenced by anthropology Saya Woolfalk, makes installations, videos, paintings, and works on paper exploring the increasing hybridity of global cultures and technologies.
Info: Curator: Alexandra Schwartz, Pi Artworks, 55 Eastcastle Street, London, Duration: 18/11/16-7/1/17, Days & Hours: Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat 11:00-18:00, www.piartworks.com
