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Founded by Titus Kaphar, Jonathan Brand, and Jason Price in 2015, NXTHVN is an ambitious ar t space housed in a former manufacturing plant in the Dixwell neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut. Our mission is to cultivate a sustainable creative community that attracts and supports talent within and beyond New Haven. Immersed in the area’s rich intersection of art, academia, and history, NXTHVN’s exhibition space, black box theater, and co-working space further create an atmosphere of collaboration, inclusion, and social engagement.
A Note from the Founder As a graduate student in the Yale MFA program, I lived in New Haven for two years. But it wasn’t until I moved back some time later with my family that I realized I hadn’t known the city at all. I now saw that Yale was an island, set apart from the city itself. The walls of the ivory tower feel impossibly high for most residents to ascend. In moving back, I discovered a community in the Dixwell neighborhood that readily welcomed me in. Yale never felt like home, but New Haven is. Demographically, New Haven is the United States’ most representative city—it is my ideal America. There is space for everyone here. New Haven thrived during the industrial revolution, and inspired a new generation of creatives, immigrants, and intellectuals to lay down roots and seek opportunity. This opportunity vanished in the wake of deindustrialization and the popular “urban renewal” programs, which had a devastating impact on local communities like those in Dixwell. I have lived here for 10 years now and can see the lingering impacts on my neighborhood that I was blind to as a student; New Haven’s postindustrial dilemma is America’s dilemma. As an artist, creativity is my primary resource. I do not believe that art can solve all of the world’s problems, but I do know that creativity is the wellspring of innovative solutions. Founders Jonathan Brand, Jason Price, and I established NXTHVN to incubate the professional careers of artists, curators, and fellow creatives from New Haven and abroad, and to nurture their talent to further enrich the Dixwell/ Newhallville and Greater New Haven areas. With this publication, I am honored to introduce the 2019 NXTHVN Fellows: Zalika Azim, Felipe Baeza, Jaclyn Conley, Kenturah Davis, Merik Goma, Riham Majeed, Christie Neptune, Alexandria Smith, Vaughn Spann, and Ana Tuazon. Titus Kaphar Founder & President, NXTVHN
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Introduction Tilton Gallery is very proud to present NXTHVN: First Year Fellows, an exhibition of work by the first group of Fellows to complete their year at this innovative and exciting new Fellowship founded by Titus Kaphar, Jonathan Brand, and Jason Price. I am honored to work again with Titus, whose generosity of spirit pervades the mission and everyday functions of this enterprise. He provides mentorship and guidance, encouragement and enthusiasm to the NXTHVN Fellows, fostering the creativity of the next generation of artists and curators. Titus is a pioneer in creating a new institution that operates on a personal level and bridges the art world and the community in which it resides. My late husband, Jack Tilton, and I had the pleasure of showing works by Titus at the beginning of his journey. In 2006 he participated in School Days, a group exhibition at Tilton Gallery of recent MFA graduates from Yale, Columbia, and Hunter. We have ever since followed and admired his work and his achievements. It is one of the remarkable pleasures in the art world to retain and renew relationships across the years. The works in this exhibition are by a strong and varied group of artists, many of whom I had been interested in for a while. That they converged, all with studios at NXTHVN, spurred the first studio visit. Titus’ warm welcome, the artists’ receptive conversations, and the enthusiasm of the day gave birth to the idea of this show to launch both the new endeavor that is NXHVN and its first year Studio and Curatorial Fellows into the public eye. All of us at Tilton Gallery would like to thank everyone at NXTHVN, all the Fellows themselves, Nico Wheadon, Executive Director, Sivan Amar, Operations Manager, Natalie Renee and of course, Titus himself for making this project so exciting and meaningful. Connie Rogers Tilton Tilton Gallery
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Foreword
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MMXIX has been a year of profound transition,
artists Wardell Milan and Demetrius Oliver were there;
experimentation, transformation, and becoming.
Curators Lauren Haynes, Rujeko Hockley, Naomi Beckwith,
and Christine Kim were there. And by some miracle of
In January, NXTHVN—a new multidisciplinary arts
incubator in the Dixwell neighborhood of Greater New
circumstance, I was there, bearing witness to the importance
Haven—made the transition from bold concept to lived
of dialogue in bringing artistic practice to life. I am forever
reality. President and Founder Titus Kaphar’s exemplary
grateful to my own mentor, Thelma Golden, for hiring me
vision pulled into sharp focus as NXTHVN welcomed
and—in doing so—empowering me to find and exercise
seven artists, three curators, and four high school
my own professional voice in community with some of the
apprentices through its doors. Creative experimentation,
greatest thinkers and makers of our time.
critical dialogue, and tiered mentorship jolted a defunct
ice cream factory and glass manufacturing plant back to
the momentous change that it precipitated. In true Titus
life. And, six months later, the doors opened once more to
fashion, he kicked off our conversation with an existential
welcome me in as the inaugural Executive Director.
question—what are you thinking about these days and what
does the future hold for you? He caught me on a particularly
It’s difficult to trace the many conversations that
Fast-forward to that call in the summer of 2018 and
led to this cosmic convergence of people and ideas in
good day, and I responded, “Black entrepreneurship and land
Dixwell, but I’ll try because, in honoring this stunning
ownership. Oh, and building social and cultural institutions
exhibition at the Tilton Gallery and this successful
that respond in real time to social injustice and cultural
editorial collaboration between early career artists and
erasure.” At some point, it became clear that what Titus
curators, these details feel essential.
had been working on in New Haven alongside his fellow
Founders since 2015 had been somehow, simultaneously and
In the summer of 2018, I received a phone call from
Titus, a longtime friend, collaborator, and thought-
unknowingly, percolating in my mind as a dream, yet to be
partner on all things art and impact. I took the call
uttered aloud.
from my desk at the Studio Museum in Harlem—where
I proudly served as Director of Public Programs &
shrouded by construction fences that was NXTHVN, I was
Community Engagement—in an office only a stone’s
wearing four-inch heels because that’s how I live my life
throw from where he and I first met in 2007. Back then,
and, little did I know, Titus had welcomed me into an idea
Titus was an artist-in-residence bound for a prolific
still very much in a state of becoming. The experience was
career, and I was a curatorial assistant finding my footing
reminiscent of that first open studios of the year, where
in my first full-time job.
an artist-in-residence welcomes you into their near-bare
studio to discuss the future of a few marks punctuating an
When I think back on that time that we shared at
When I came to see the series of holes in the ground
the onset of our careers, what I remember most vividly
otherwise blank canvas. I was honored and likely vibrating
was our lunchtime conversations around the large, oval
with visible excitement as Titus talked me through his plans
conference table in the curatorial offices. Fellow resident
for filling these holes, transforming the neighborhood, and
building an arts institution poised to reinvent how artists
learn and lead.
catalogue in partnership with my new, New Haven Family.
Thank you, Titus, for trusting me with your vision, and for
I returned to Harlem reinvigorated in my own work,
It was a true honor to work on this exhibition and
seeking to infuse it with a transparency similar to that
inviting me to help steer this ship alongside you. Thank
shared by Titus. As a leader in the Museum’s inHarlem
you, Jason Price, Founder and Board Chair, and Founder
initiative, which takes contemporary art and artists beyond
Jonathan Brand for helping Titus to build the infrastructure
museum walls, I began to reconsider how and when to
upon which NXTHVN’s program has been able to evolve
center artists in institutional processes such as exhibition-
and flourish. Thank you Christie Neptune, Kenturah Davis,
making or public programming. I was emboldened to
Jaclyn Conley, Merik Goma, Felipe Baeza, Alexandria
insist—with the full support of my team, co-workers, and
Smith, and Vaughn Spann for stepping out on this limb with
our newly-established Community Advisory Network—
us and creating such exquisite new bodies of work
that artists be present at the earliest stage possible of an
that set the bar high for what to expect from future
idea involving or relying on art to do the heavy lifting of
NXTHVN alumni.
engaging local community.
In the background Titus and I, as we are prone to do,
Ana Tuazon for your thoughtful interpretations of these
kept bouncing ideas off one another. Then, roughly a year
works, and for similarly enriching this evolving program
later, I made the difficult decision to leave my position at the
with your curatorial practice. Thanks to Sivan Amar,
Studio Museum to embark down this path yet paved. How
Natalie Renee, and Matthew Solomon, without whom
often is one confronted with the opportunity to both build
this catalogue would literally not be possible. And lastly,
and live their dream?
thanks to Connie Rogers Tilton and the entire gallery team
for so generously hosting this exhibition and supporting
This exhibition and catalogue manifest several
Thank you Zalika Azim, Riham Majeed, and
essential lessons from this personal anecdote of my
the production of this important editorial record of
professional career. The first is that relationships are
NXTHVN’s early history and growth. It is a true honor to
important, and that they must be nurtured over time. The
add our Fellows to the impressive roster of artists that have
second is that artistic ideas and art objects are made all the
exhibited at the gallery over the years.
more powerful by their ability to reach and affect others. In
pairing artists and curators early in their careers, NXTHVN
eyes on these ten arts professionals as they continue to
instills this value and projects a vision for collaboration
make waves and shift tides through their interpretations
that reminds all involved in the art industrial complex
of the world around us. I also urge you to keep your eyes on
that value is in fact created, and that we are all a part of
NXTHVN as we approach our grand public opening in the
that conversation. The third is that—while dreaming big
Spring of next year—this is only the beginning, and we’re
is important, especially in these times when reality is so
off to a fantastic start.
In closing, I urge anyone reading this to keep their
damn ugly—acting on these visions is what delivers us closer to impact, closer to each other, and closer to realizing
Nico Wheadon
the imprint we want to leave on the world.
Executive Director, NXTHVN
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First Year Fellows
artists
curators
Felipe Baeza
10
Zalika Azim
40 / 46
Jaclyn Conley
16
Riham Majeed
16 / 28
Kenturah Davis
22
Ana Tuazon
10 / 16 / 34
Merik Goma
28
Christie Neptune
34
Alexandria Smith
40
Vaughn Spann
46
Felipe Baeza by Ana Tuazon
Humans fear the supernatural, both the undivine (the animal impulses such as sexuality, the unconscious, the unknown, the alien) and the divine (the superhuman, the god in us). - Gloria Anzaldúa Naj Tunich is an ancient Mayan cave that was rediscovered
the viewer’s attention is drawn more to the hands that grasp
in 1980 by a native Q’eqchi’ Mayan man named Bernabe
his body, the undeniable sense of security to be found in how
Pop, which contained artifacts, paintings, and drawings
these hands hold him, and the tenderness of their overlap with
that hinted at the ritual activity of the cave’s use. It is
the figure’s own hands. The image of the pair communicates
also one of the few Mayan archeological sites to contain
a relationship of intimacy and affection that falls between the
depictions of eroticism, including homosexual love and
earthly Eros—Gloria Anzaldúa’s “animal impulses”—and the
desire. The Mayans shared with other Pre-Columbian
divine love that exists beyond the flesh.
civilizations a belief in caves as places where mortal reality
gives way to the spiritual underworld and its deities. Some
writers and poets, a genre wherein Anzaldúa assumes high
of the ceremonial practices that researchers believe the
importance. Another piece from 2018, a collage titled my
Mayans engaged in, such as genital bloodletting or human
vision is small fixed to what can be heard between the ears the
sacrifice, evoke horror today; for the Mayans, though,
spot between the eyes a well-spring opening to el mundo grande,
these practices may have served as a means towards
takes its title from the first half of a poem by one of Anzaldúa’s
shedding fear of death through the very abnegation of
contemporaries, Cherríe Moraga, titled “Dreaming of Other
the corporeal—in order to become something other than
Planets.”1 Similar to Baeza’s Naj Tunich (Azul 2), this collage
human, to grasp at the supernatural.
depicts two figures with one grasping the other from behind,
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In Felipe Baeza’s Naj Tunich (Azul 2) (2018), queer
Baeza often takes inspiration from Chicana feminist
however, the embrace is much more intricate: both tender and
love is a supernatural and ancient love. The piece depicts a
forceful, it doesn’t offer such an easy resolution. This familiar
smooth, flat torso of a male figure, his chest and abdomen
cosmic blue-purple composes the body of the first figure,
held by interlocking hands—his own and those of a partner
appearing as an unearthly deity or demon (or possibly even a
who embraces him from behind. The two figures are barely
space alien). The alien figure seems to hold the red figure in
visible, etched outlines on a ground of bluish purple, with
place to allow leafy red branches to sprout from their mouth,
tiny flecks of white suggesting that the image we see has a
their size exceeding that of the body from which they grow.
connection to the cosmos. Though the foreground figure’s
Their eyes are open wide. Does this hurt them? Do they
penis is exposed, the scene is not a sexually explicit one—
want this?
Felipe Baeza, Naj Tunich (Azul 2), 2018, ink, twine, collage, and glitter on paper, 68” × 48” (172.72 x 121.92 cm), © Felipe Baeza. Courtesy Maureen Paley, London
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Felipe Baeza, My passion for the daily struggle, to render them concrete in a world, to render them flesh, keeps me alive, 2019, ink, flashe, graphite, cut paper, glitter, and varnish on panel, 16� x 12� (40.64 x 30.48 cm) 12
Felipe Baeza, Fugitive Host, 2019, ink, graphite, flashe, cut paper, glitter, embroidery, and varnish on panel, 9” x 12” (22.86 x 30.48 cm)
The second half of Moraga’s poem continues:
Moraga’s invocation of “relámpago strik[ing] / between the
relámpago strikes
legs” gestures towards a bodily impulse or inclination that is
between the legs
hosted violently within, at odds with the mind’s own direction,
I open against
explaining why the action takes place “against my will.” Baeza’s
my will dreaming
piece succeeds in reflecting this contradiction: it offers a
of other planets I am dreaming
vision—a dream—of becoming a different life form, something
of other ways
that is impossible to quantify as more or less than human, but is
of seeing
undeniably supernatural.
this life.
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1. Cherríe Moraga, “Dreaming of Other Planets,” The Last Generation: Prose and Poetry, (South End Press, 1993). 2. Ibid.
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Felipe Baeza, Some drowned part of you prevailed, 2019, ink, graphite, flashe, cut paper, embroidery, and varnish on panel, 14� x 11� (35.56 x 27.94 cm)
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Jaclyn Conley by Riham Majeed
In 1917, a statue of Abraham Lincoln by sculptor George Gray
and preserve its iconic nature. In their abstraction, spaces
Barnard erected in Cincinnati caused a stir over the President’s
are cacophonous, dense, and disjointed. Conley repurposes
visage. A physically accurate portrayal of the 16 president,
fragments of painted wood panel from previous scrapped works
Americans were outraged over the gangly, sensitive, and frail
to counter her quick oil painting with a slower, more calculated
likeness of the purportedly “powerful, unshrinking, heroic
process.
and triumphant Lincoln.” Standing in contrast to Barnard’s
In Office (2019), the silhouettes of Michelle and Barack
sculpture was the popular 1887 neoclassical sculpture by
Obama are immediately recognizable. Barack Obama sits
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, which depicted a “‘gaunt and tall…
holding a young Sasha (his youngest daughter), and his head
carelessly arrayed’ Lincoln whose ‘deep lines tell / His suffering
tilts upward to receive a kiss from his wife, Michelle Obama,
and unimagined woe.’” Debates ensued over the legitimacy
who in turn is standing in front of their eldest daughter, Malia.
of the egalitarian view of Lincoln in Barnard’s portrayal as
The walls of the room are painted in light and quick strokes
opposed to the more dignified Lincoln by Saint-Gaudens. Each
of yellow, orange, and white. This airy and sketchy space is
interpretation supported a myth about Lincoln, creating a
anchored by the figures of the Obama family, painted in rich
vessel for their ideals. Sociologist and Professor Emeritus at
blacks, blues, and whites and splashes of blue and red. Conley
the University of Georgia, Barry Schwartz, argues that these
draws attention to the intimate points of contact, such as
portrayals of the past aren’t reflective of present realities, but are
Barack’s hand on Sasha’s arm, Michelle and Barack sharing a
vehicles for making conceived realities meaningful.
kiss, and their daughters witnessing this tender moment. The
th
1
2
Jaclyn Conley’s body of work references images of First
Obamas as a familial unit were often held at a high regard,
Families to explore the dynamics of American patriotism and its
and images of the family were revered as aspirational. Conley
accompanying myths. Raised in a border town between Canada
manages to uphold that regard even while abstracting the
and Michigan by an American mother, Conley experienced the
formal, conservative photographs of America’s First Family.
myth of the American Dream from both a critical and admirable
In Jackie and John Jr. (2019), Conley evokes the most
perspective. Now an American resident and mother to an
mythical family of the American presidency, the Kennedys
American son, Conley’s attention towards idealized American
of the Camelot era. Throughout the exhaustive coverage of
familial dynamics, like those of First Families, has culminated
this family in American media, Jackie Onassis and John F.
in her work as a series of paintings entitled All the President’s
Kennedy Jr. were no strangers to the lore surrounding their
Children.
family. A trauma to American Democracy, JFK’s death stunned
Conley sources her images from Presidential libraries
the nation, which consequently projected its ideals onto JFK
across the United States, and selects images of intimate
Jr. “’From the beginning, he belonged to us,’ claimed People
interactions between members of First Families from the
Weekly,”3 reflecting JFK Jr.’s symbolic esteem to Americans. By
Kennedy era to the present. Conley’s technical understanding
the time of his premature death in 1999, Carolyn Kitch argues,
of color and the materiality of paint are used to generate a
“The symbolic role that JFK Jr. has played for nearly forty years
different kind of likeness than portrayed in photographs.
allowed news media to cover his death… as ‘A Death in the
While her fast brushstrokes, use of color, and layering of paint
American Family’ and to discuss his life as emblematic of the
formally abstract the source image, they also serve to enhance
American character.”5 Conley memorializes these two crucial
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1. Schwartz, Barry, “Iconography and Collective Memory: Lincoln’s Image in the American Mind,” The Sociological Quarterly 32, no. 3 (September 1, 1991): 307–8, https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.1991.tb00161.x. 2. Ibid. pg. 317
Jaclyn Conley, Office, 2019, oil on panel collage, 18” x 24” (45.72 x 60.96 cm)
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Jaclyn Conley, Amy and Rosalynn Lagos, 2017, oil on panel, 30” x 30” (76.2 x 76.2 cm)
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Jaclyn Conley, Jackie And John Jr., 2019, oil on panel collage, 20” diam. (50.8 cm diam.) tondo
figures of the American Dream in an intimate interaction.
existence of an American exceptionalist attitude, which is defined
Jackie holds up a then infant JFK Jr., without context as to
as “the idea that the United States has a set of characteristics
whether JFK was alive in this moment, in what appears to be
that gives it a unique capacity and responsibility to help make
their living room. Conley captures them on a circular surface,
the world a better place,”6 and reveal universally imperfect and
using collaged wood panel to piece the image together. In a
humane moments. The sanguine scenes draw viewers in with
vibrantly colored setting, Conley uses bright shades of green,
relatability along with a subtle sense of national nostalgia etched
blue, and pink to illuminate the unity of the two figures. Most of
into most American minds. Though the paintings and collages are
their skin is painted as outlines filled in with pale blue, and their
void of the myths surrounding an American identity, American
reflections on the glass table are filled in with shades of salmon.
eyes come primed with preconceived ideas surrounding the
Conley’s use of a lighthearted palette in this warm portrait of
history of a presidential subject and are forced to confront a
familial affection conjures a feeling of hope in the currently
fractured sense of the American Dream.
despairing myth that is the American Dream.
Conley’s display of intimate interactions between members
of iconographic American families attempts to reconcile the grim
3. Kitch, Carolyn, “‘A Death in the American Family’: Myth, Memory, and National Values in the Media Mourning of John F. Kennedy Jr.,” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 79.2, (June 1, 2002): 300, doi: 10.1177/107769900207900203. 4. Ibid. pg. 295
6. Levitz, Eric, “American Exceptionalism Is a Dangerous Myth,” Intelligencer, New York Magazine, 2 Jan. 2019, http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/american-exceptionalism-is-a-dangerous-myth.html. 19
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Jaclyn Conley, White House Elevator, 2018, oil on panel collage, 18 x 18� (45.75 x 45.72 cm)
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Kenturah Davis by Ana Tuazon
At first glance, Kenturah Davis’s process seems like an exhaustive
than surface, rhythm of being. Her subjects refuse a quick read,
exercise in negation. Her portraits are created by using rubber
resist a fixed gaze. Though these are portraits, the people in them
stamp letters and carefully pressing black oil paint to the surface
are not “captured” for the viewer’s gaze; this blurring speaks to the
of a gridded piece of paper with varying degrees of intensity. Davis
dualities inherent within Black American experience.
uses the stamp letters to spell out a quoted piece of text as she
moves across the grid, and parts of these quotes also make their
(an as-of-yet untitled work at the time of this writing, see p. 23)
way into the title of the finished work. But that’s the only way one
takes its text from the American Congressional debate over passing
would know a text is being referenced at all: in the darker and
the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished
denser sections of the images she creates, the stamps have been
slavery except in cases where involuntary labor could be used as
layered so heavily that no one letter or word is legible; even in the
punishment for a crime. In this work, which comprises dozens
lighter-colored areas of the composition, discerning the text is
of square panels that take over a corner of Davis’s studio, the text
difficult. As the words accumulate, they also disappear, creating a
is spelled out in her own handwriting and is more legible than in
portrait of one of Davis’s friends, acquaintances, or herself.
her stamped pieces. Each sentence layers upon itself countless
Take, for instance, All Water has Perfect Memory (2019). The
Sometimes Davis includes herself in her work. A recent piece
times. Like the woman in All Water has Perfect Memory, Davis
work on paper, a diptych, is part of Davis’s ongoing series, Blur
captures herself in a posture between stillness and movement,
in the Interest of Precision, which takes its title from Fred Moten’s
which she says reflects “the in-between nature of the amendment.”
2018 essay collection, Stolen Life. The composition extends over
It promises freedom for many, but crucially, it continues to
two panels, with the upper panel showing a woman in a denim
further the possibility of imprisonment. The piece, she says, is her
vest glancing down over her shoulder, long dreadlocks swinging
wondering “how we live with all of the implications of that text,
in midair behind her. The panel below shows the same woman
how we coordinate our movements to navigate it, in daily life and
with her head turned, as if she’s completed the arc of motion that
interactions with authorities,” posing the broader question,
began above her. The angle of her hair forms a perfect reflection
“how does language choreograph our movements?”
of itself; we might wonder whether she is dancing. That Davis
renders such lifelike movements from rubber stamp letters is
Site of Memory,” that when a body of water floods onto land, it
nothing short of magic—made possible only through a sustained,
is water “remembering where it used to be,” and that “all water
precise attention to detail and texture. Like other works in Davis’s
has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it
Blur... series (which are all based on long-exposure photographs
was.” In that essay, Morrison reflects on her self-given imperative
she takes of her subjects), All Water has Perfect Memory captures
to fill in the “unwritten interior life” that has historically been
a subject in an unfixed state, communicating their innate, rather
missing from narratives of slavery in her own work. She says
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It was Toni Morrison who wrote in her 1990 essay, “The
Kenturah Davis, [not yet titled], 2016-2019, ink, china marker, aerosol paint on Kozo paper, 100� x 200� overall (254 x 508 cm)
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Kenturah Davis, work in progress. The artist employs the Shifu process of transforming paper into thread, which is then woven on the loom pictured here into a textile of her own design.
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Kenturah Davis, All Water Has Perfect Memory..., 2018, oil paint applied with rubber stamp letters and graphite grid on embossed Mohachi paper, 2 panels: 29” x 45” (73.66 x 114.3 cm) each, 58” x 45” (147.32 x 114.3 cm) overall
she must “move from the image to the text” in order to illustrate
and from interiority. Visual information is translated into textual
what had for so long been left unsaid in these accounts that were
information (and vice versa). The act of reinscribing texts from
often self-censored by Black authors in order to avoid alienating
thinkers like Morrison and Moten into the portraits she creates
white audiences. This becomes a personally meaningful project
embodies a form of meditation on both the text and the subject,
for Morrison because, she argues, “These people are my access to
and the result is that Davis’s own presence in the final image, her
me.” Davis’s practice, similarly, is one of building access points to
intellectual and emotional insights, become manifold.
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Kenturah Davis, All Space Between Ground and Sky, 2019, oil paint applied with rubber stamp letters on embossed and debossed Kozo paper, 3 panels: 30” x 40” (76.2 x 101.6 cm) each, 90” x 40” (228.6 x 101.6 cm) overall 27
Merik Goma by Riham Majeed
Merik Goma’s pursuit of photography expanded after he
technical standpoint is painterly in its execution. In addition to
graduated from State University of New York at Fredonia
using Baroque Dutch narrative structuring, Goma’s images are
with a degree in Psychology. His practice started “as a way to
extensively researched, tuning every detail with fine care. Dim
start a conversation, or more so a moment with strangers”.1
and smooth lighting make way for a dreamlike atmosphere,
For Goma, photography provided a more creative alternative
providing a palpable texture to surreal environments.
to psychology studies, allowing him to observe channels of
In Untitled #9 (see p. 31), part of Goma’s As I Wait series,
communication and observations of individual inclinations
objects such as the phone, typewriter, assorted paper, and
and beliefs through visual means. Coming into Merik Goma’s
desk lamp suggest a professional working space. These objects
studio, there are often two points of entry. The first entry is
broach a historical moment, one prior to the age of instant
to a workspace where props and sets are discovered, built,
communication. The figure—a woman whose face is only
and assembled to create wholly new environments. The
partially shown, with shadows lining her face—is half cast in
second is a physical space built by the hands of the artist, an
light by the overhead lamp, with what could be presumed to
imaginative manifestation of his, your, and our psyche.
be the moonlight seeping through the window. The objects
28
Using the style of tableaux vivants, the nineteenth
typical of an office space are not representative of the subject’s
century performative genre that involves restaging
worries. Instead, she reaches her hand in water, to perhaps
masterpieces of sculpture and painting, often to illustrate
make a call on the phone, but the water acts as a barrier. An
moral and literary themes, Goma’s photographs typically
open doorway, yellow roses—which are typically received
depict lone subjects captured in contemplative moments
with warm reception, a token of friendship, remembrance, or
of emotive effect.2 Art historian, critic, and curator Jennifer
love—a window, and a telephone perform as symbols of the
Fisher describes the genre of tableau as “practices performed
outside world, one that is seemingly unreachable. As literary
on the self to transform the self—indicat[ing] both techniques
theoretician Jan Mukarovsky suggests, semiotics allows the
of existence and an aesthetics of becoming.”3 In his particular
“aesthetic object” to exist “in the consciousness of the whole
experience of viewing art, Goma has always taken note
collectivity.”5 Symbols provide the grounding to Goma’s
of the way he projects his preconceived notions and past
narrative, which is usually never readily available to the
experiences onto the works.4 His carefully crafted stagings
viewer. Instead, Goma intends viewers to approach his work
come to visual fruition in his photographs, which urge
with their individual cultural and social biases, not his own. In
viewers to reconsider their own biases and assumptions.
structuring the narrative, Goma references Dutch Mannerism in
In a sense, the dramatically stylized tableaux vivants of his
its inclination to create two spaces within one frame. The first
photographs are mirrored in the viewer, where they exist
frame sets the viewer as voyeur, with an open doorway directly
within and take part in shaping that narrative. Goma’s
in the foreground. An open doorway acts as one entry point,
1. Merik Goma in email discussion with the author, September 2019. 2. Fisher, Jennifer, “Interperformance: The Live Tableaux of Suzanne Lacy, Janine Antoni, and Marina Abramovic,” Art Journal 56, no. 4 (1997): 28, doi:10.2307/777717.
Merik Goma, Spaces, Backyard, 2015, C-Print, 20” x 30” (50.8 x 76.2 cm)
but Goma echoes the Dutch technique of doorsien, meaning to
anywhere in the world, an individual reaches out for help but
view through, as a second entry point.6 Doorsien typically uses
to no avail, and to our knowledge has come to a halt in this
doorways, curtains, or naturally seeming spaces of landscape to
very moment.
offer a view into another picture. Doorsien is employed within
In Untitled #11 (see p. 33), Goma incorporates a similar
the frame behind the figure, the image of a ship, suggesting a
language of symbols. A window, in this case being the only
second entry point to the narrative. The ship is set in turbulent
light source, illuminates a man sitting sideways and facing
waters, a symbol of immense distress, placing the central
away from the camera. He holds a live plant with an unlit
figure in need of assistance. On a calm, quiet night in an office
light bulb in its center. Again, a framed image hangs on the
3. Fisher, 28. 4. Merik Goma in email discussion with the author, September 2019. 5. Anne D’Alleva, Methods & Theories of Art History (London: Laurence King, 2005), 36.
6. Hollander, Martha, An Entrance for the Eyes: Space and Meaning in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art, University of California Press, 2002, 16. 29
Merik Goma, As I Wait: Untitled #6, 2019, C-Print, 40” x 60” (101.6 x 152.4 cm)
30
Merik Goma, As I Wait: Untitled #9, 2019, C-Print, 20” x 30” (50.8 x 76.2 cm) wall, a drawing of a female figure, and a painting of a female figure
Developmental scientist Jaan Valsiner states, “facts are
sits on an easel. Details, mostly in shadow, are difficult to make out
not ‘givens’ as such; they are facts only as they are interpreted
in the room, and offer a melancholic appearance. In this photo,
to be such.”8 Ultimately, Goma’s photographs are unique to each
Goma’s use of doorsien is displayed through a still life on a nearby
viewer’s own truth. Goma’s images operate to remind the viewer
table. The still life of a skull and both living and dead flowers
of the manner in which they are assigning meaning to objects
make the work a memento mori, “an artwork designed to remind
and figures. What do our interpretations say about ourselves and
the viewer of their mortality and of the shortness and fragility of
our relationships with others? What are our entry points into new
human life”7 and a commonly used symbol in Dutch paintings.
narratives? By asking these questions, Goma hopes we recognize the
Through the writer’s interpretation, Goma constructs a somber
biases we hold and discover new truths in ourselves.
scene, one that asks the question: what are they waiting for? The memento mori providing the answer: a resolving end.
7. Tate, “Memento Mori – Art Term,” Tate, January 1, 1997, https://www.tate.org. uk/art/art-terms/m/memento-mori.
8. Marsico, Giuseppina, and Jaan Valsiner, Beyond the Mind: Cultural Dynamics of the Psyche, Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2018, 28.
31
32
Merik Goma, As I Wait: Untitled #11, 2019, C-Print, 40” x 60” (101.6 x 152.4 cm)
Merik Goma, Memento, 2019, C-Print, 20” x 30” (50.8 x 76.2 cm) Photograph of still life featured in As I Wait: Untitled #11 33
Christie Neptune by Ana Tuazon
Christie Neptune is profoundly interested in critiquing social
ownership,” information that adds to the complex interplay
constructs. How she explores these concepts couldn’t be
between subject and object, animator and animated. “Planet X
more direct: Neptune relocates social constructs from their
is a state of consciousness,” Neptune says, explaining how the
place in the unseeable realm of psychology and makes them
idea for the project began to germinate after a trip to Boston left
visible, sometimes even tangible. Her art probes the ways
her feeling unsettled within. “My personal experience was rather
in which human experiences differ based on how signifiers
extraterrestrial,” she continues, “I was overwhelmed by a sense
of class, race, and gender are expressed by subjects, often
of ‘otherness.’”
using herself in the work to confront the failures of a world
attempting to unravel itself from entrenched legacies of
aesthetic and conceptual concerns Neptune has dealt with
colonialism and white supremacy.
repeatedly in her work, revealing her interest in using her own
In Neptune’s project, The Exploration of Planet X
lived experiences as material to interrogate the rigid order of a
(2016), which exists across multiple digital media, including
world that often exposes its coldness and cruelty to historically
animated videos and an interactive website, she explores
marginalized subjects. Neptune cites interests in compositional
an imagined “conscious space” through an Afrofuturist
theory, process-driven performance, and the oscillation of
narrative. Neptune structured the videos she made for this
constructive and destructive forces as common threads within
project as a television series, releasing new episodes every
her creative output; these threads can be discerned in her video
three weeks as part of a residency with Hamiltonian Gallery
piece, She Fell from Normalcy, which was on view at the artist’s
in Washington D.C. These episodes were then uploaded to the
2016 solo show at The Rubber Factory, a gallery in New York’s
website www.eoplanetx.com. At the start of the first episode,
Lower East Side. The video, like Planet X, uses a speculative/
a bright pink cube begins to travel across a strange landscape,
science fiction narrative to explore the psychologically damaging
eventually taking on the corporeal form of a human face—
effects of an oppressive environment. Two Black women are
which some viewers will recognize as Neptune’s. However,
trapped within a white cube; they are given commands by a
the character on the screen is not her; rather, it is an alter
disembodied voice, first to “disassociate” as harsh noises play,
ego named Alec, a being who begins their existence as a cube
and then to “find a crack in the wall”—any means towards
(what Neptune describes as “nonobjective matter”), and then,
escape. Critic Mira Dayal, reviewing the exhibition for Artforum,
as Alec is sculpted to take on Neptune’s features, they begin
interprets the piece as a confrontation with “tensions deeply
to speak about understanding themself as a Black subject.
embedded within art history—namely, representation and
At one point, in the voiceover that Neptune has added, we
oppression within gallery spaces.”
hear this statement: “I am always looking… to see myself in
my own eyes. In this visual exploration of self I am seeking
experience is explored through a method that is as personal
34
The Exploration of Planet X encapsulates many of the
In Neptune’s practice, racialized (and namely, Black)
Christie Neptune, Sitting Like Gordon With Bare-Back, Indigo and Shutter Release in Hand, 2018, digital chromogenic print, 20� x 20� (50.8 x 50.8 cm), edition of 3
35
Christie Neptune, Exposing My Limits Behind America’s Curtain, 2018, digital chromogenic print, 24” x 36” (60.96 x 91.44 cm), edition of 3
36
Christie Neptune, Head Bowed in Assembled Construction, 2018, digital chromogenic print, 36” x 24” (91.44 x 60.96 cm), edition of 3
and introspective as it is rational and conceptually rigorous.
bias is. In Unpacking Sameness (2018), the artist encounters
Neptune’s approach recalls the work of Adrian Piper, whose
“The Colorline— a fictitious, man-made construct legitimized
works Self-Portrait Exaggerating My Negroid Features (1981)
by patent and trademark,” which she represents with fake
and Self-Portrait as a Nice White Lady (1995) challenged
documents from U.S. regulatory offices. Though works of
viewers to think about race as more of a social construct
fiction, they also serve to transform the abstract into the real,
than a set of inherited traits. Though as a racially ambiguous
connoting that “The Colorline” might as well be trademarked,
person, Piper was able to make these kinds of provocations
patented, or registered, because it still functions today. For
about what it means to racially “pass,” this doesn’t make the
Neptune, identity does matter; acknowledging this is the
construct she was operating within any less real. Neptune
first step towards dismantling a system that makes it matter
takes a different approach to showing just how tangible racial
so much.
1. Christie Neptune, http://www.eoplanetx.com/about.html 2. Miray Dayal, Review of Christie Neptune solo show at the Rubber Factory, Artforum, February 2018.
37
Installation View, Christie Neptune: She Fell From Normalcy, The Rubber Factory, New York, NY, November 18 – December 14, 2017. Image Courtesy of the Rubber Factory, New York, NY.
Christie Neptune, She Fell From Normalcy, 2016, 3-Channel HD Video, video still
39
Alexandria Smith Zalika Azim
for those of us who cannot indulge
a singular daisy,2 whose yellow disk acutely fills the very center of
the passing dreams of choice
the painting. Its white, seed-like petals, symmetrically dispersed
who love in doorways coming and going
amidst the beings, leaves a barren space at the center of its brim.
in the hours between dawns
Cradled within an ovarian-shaped funnel, the precarious floret
looking inward and outward
seems to beam with the prospect of a new beginning, distributing
at once before and after
light to the otherwise dark scenario.
seeking a now that can breed
futures1
her probing at the complexities of Black identity, through the
—Audre Lorde, A Litany for Survival
ultilization of a tonally rich color palette including deep blue-
Employing color as an enlightened protagonist and trickster,
blacks, purples, maroons, high yellows, and oranges, piques the In Alexandria Smith’s painting, The Intuitionists (2018), two
viewers experience and relationship to the various elements
lilac figures are depicted in the foreground of the frame.
depicted within her work. Anagogic and amorphous, Smith’s
Mirroring each other in stature, the beings are seen kneeling,
characters embody multiple states of being as manifestations
heads bowed but attentive, the figural structure that they
of hybridity and duality that simultaneously challenge
create is forged at the crux of a pyramidal form situated just
heteronormative gender roles. Invoking a mysticism akin to
above the canvas center. With legs serving as their only limbs,
Yoruba Ibejis (wooden dizygotic statuettes from Southwestern
their faces are featureless with the exception of a singular eye
Nigeria) or the works of Cuban artist Belkis Ayón, whose
placed at the most bulbous portion of their domes. Equally
emblematic collagraphs draw upon iconography from the secret
reflected just behind them, another set of limbs and breasts
Abakuá fraternal society to address societal conditions, the artist’s
are masked in their close proximity to the hues depicted
figurative hambones allude to a divided self while underscore the
in the background. Within the work, one can’t help but
complex realities of humanity.3
recognize the importance of their gaze. Looking outward and
simultaneously inward, their eyes meet that of the viewer’s in
a combined spirit and are referred to as Taiwo (having the first
a kaleidoscopic axis, muddling concepts of time and space.
taste of the world) and Kehinde (arriving after the other). Like
these effigies, Smith’s recurring mirrored figures counteract and
With mind’s eyes that are said to provide enlightenment
Irrelevant of gender, in Yoruba culture the Ibejis symbolize
beyond ordinary perception, the characters appear ever
balance each other. Perhaps alluding to the artist ’s sequence
aware of their proximity to the viewer—or rather their reality
for developing her characters, Taiwo respectively is recognized
to that of humanity. Serving as a base for the two mirrored
as curious and adventurous, while Kehinde is acknowledged as
characters, a wooden platform provides the rooting place for
reflective and deliberate—characteristics that visually manifest in Smith’s allegorical scenes.
40
1. See Audre Lorde’s “A Litany for Survival,” in The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde (W.W. Norton & Company: New York): 1978, TK page. Smith titled her 2018 exhibition after the poem whereby she draws on concepts and sources in popular black culture and literature.
Alexandria Smith, The Intuitionists, 2018, acrylic, oil, and enamel on canvas, 49” x 64” (124.46 x 162.56 cm)
Demanding that we reflect upon ourselves and the ways in
topographies work to foreground her characters. Continuing to
which we relate to the world around us, Smith’s paintings evoke
subvert the tradition of the canvas as flattened plane, newer works
the work of various predecessors—the spirited colors of William
including You got to keep runnin’...sometimes (2019, see p. 44)
T. Williams, the cultural awareness of Aaron Douglas, the mystic
come together through collaging various components onto the
contemplation of Wangechi Mutu, and the materiality of Benny
canvas. Here a singular character is presented seemingly in full
Andrews. Through her process, Smith isolates and repetitively
stride, with a determination that is felt, if not seen, through erect
builds upon her environments, evoking landscapes whose
hair and engaged legs. Depicted in the upper left corner, a beam
2. Daisy florets are grown universally (with the exception of Antarctica) and can only reproduce through the cross pollination of two variant flowers. Throughout religion and history in many cultures, the flower has represented childbirth and new beginnings.
3. The Abakuá was an Afro-Cuban secret society founded in 1836 with roots stemming from the Cross River region of southeastern Nigeria.
41
Alexandria Smith, Meeting of the Minds, 2018, acrylic and oil on canvas, 93” x 75” (236.22 x 190.5 cm) 42
Alexandria Smith, Instructions for Being, 2019, oil on canvas, 84” x 132” (213.36 x 335.28 cm)
Alexandria Smith, You got to keep runnin’...sometimes, 2019, acrylic, oil, and fabric collage on panel 60” x 72” (152.4 x 182.88 cm) 43
44
Alexandria Smith, The Seekers, 2019, oil on panel, 36” x 48” (91.44 x 121.92 cm)
emitting a vibrant yellow-orange hue descends down and onto the
Clayton Powell, Jr. who once said, “Press forward at all times,
character’s path. The light being discharged from an undisclosed
climbing toward that higher ground of the harmonious society
source further highlights Smith’s use of velvet, which accentuates
that shapes the laws of man to the laws of God.”4 Conceivably, it
the character’s shadow and provides a stark contrast to the four
is through this quote that we might consider Smith’s work as a
bricks placed at the threshold of an archway. With hair tips subtly
practice that transcends mythology, one that calls to the forefront
highlighted, one might ponder whether the character is racing
not only the power of our shared experience, but also summons us
towards youth—or perhaps alluding to wider aspirations for social
to unapologetically manifest a new global heritage. To obtain this,
change through acquired knowledge and lived experience. This
in her poem A Litany for Survival, Audre Lorde prophesied
depiction, although more speculative in nature, is reminiscent of
we must do so by “looking inward and outward at once before
Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series (1940-1941) and Branly Cadet’s
and after.”
Harlem Sculpture (2005) of former New York congressman Adam 4. Cadet , Branly. “The Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Memorial Higher Ground.” 2005, www.branlycadet.com/adam-clayton-powell-jr-memorial.
45
Vaughn Spann by Zalika Azim
Upon entering Vaughn Spann’s NXTHVN studio, one is transported into an alternate universe where art and earth matter collide, resulting in beautifully striking paintings that are as expansive in dimension as they are in significance. Derived from iconography which influenced his adolescent years, Spann paints from a meditative place, one that situates value on sentiment rather than the particular instant. This way of working links Spann to antecedent abstractionist artists such as Frank Bowling and Alma Thomas, whose vibrant, acrylic-based works were inspired and extended through memory and their postcolonial geopolitics. Interestingly linked to Thomas, whose Earth series (19681969) depicts a constellation of earth-colored paint daubs strategically set to imagine cherry blossoms, flower beds, and other greenery from airborne planes,1 Spann’s connection to land and space are also informed by recollected visits to
Vaughn Spann, Transmitting Frequencies to the Ancestors, 2019, mixed media on canvas, 84” x 84” (213.36 x 213.36 cm)
his grandmother’s home in Alabama. This link is furthered through symbolic references to city landscapes such as
spaced pillars, three illuminating poles act as vertical highways
New Jersey, where the artist grew up. Converging elements
to the most northern and southern segments of the canvas. Upon
of urban and rural landscapes, his recurring use of brick-
closer inspection, the viewer might find that textured hints of red,
like grids and earth matter work both in grounding and
orange, and yellow pigment resembling embers in a fireplace act
disorienting the viewer.
as a base to overlying coal-like paint. What presents on first glance
In his Dalmatian series, Spann translates flawed
as black clouds set about a white sky takes form as a collection of
social realities into formalism and reflects on symbols
atmospheric depictions of purebred Dalmatians. Spann’s bountiful
representative of American stability and affluence. Stemming
application of paint interrogates class and capital, calling into
from adolescent aspirations2 attributed to his exposure to
focus concerns interlinked with citizenship.
popular media, in his work Dalmatian No. 10, black and white
abstract forms are set against densely packed mounds of
to diffuse the boundaries between the personal and political. In
char-colored paint. Separating the dollops into four evenly
his recent solo exhibition, Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, the artist
46
1. See interview of the Artist. E.M., “The late Spring time of Alma Thomas” (Washington Post, Apr 15, 1979) “Summers we spent with my maternal grandfather, who lived across the Chatahoochee River in Alabama. My Earth paintings are inspired by the display of azaleas at the Arboretum, the cherry blossoms, circular flower beds, the nurseries as seen from planes that are airborne, and by the foliage of trees in the fall.”
Mining the broad history of activism, Spann utilizes his work
Vaughn Spann, Marked Man (Mitchell), 2019, mixed media on panel, 60� x 48� (152.4 x 121.92 cm)
47
Vaughn Spann, An Enemy in One’s Own Home (He was a Veteran), 2019, mixed media on canvas, 84” x 84” (213.36 x 213.36 cm)
48
Vaughn Spann, Dalmatian Paintings, installation view at Night Gallery, 2019. Image courtesy of the artist and Night Gallery.
summons memories of his adolescence, linking it to that of his
son is cast into the structure of a green clay-like substance. With
children’s youth through the classic 18th century bedtime prayer
arms and legs sprawling, one might be startled by the likeness
of the same name. Consisting of 12 seperate parts, in his work
of Spann’s Marked Man paintings. Building upon his canvas to
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, a vibrant volcanic rock-like structure
produce mountainous terrains, the centralized utilization of the
encases a Polaroid3 photograph of a young girl pictured at rest.
symbol X acts as a formalist structure. These formations existing
With her mouth slightly agape, hands clasped (as if in prayer) and
between abstraction and figuration suggest deeper, allegorical
propped between her face and the white pillow she lays upon, the
contexts that evolve across time and culture. Calling into the
image of the sleeping child presents a moment of vulnerability.
canon the landscape of social action that has unfolded in the
Matching the fragility of the captured event, the photograph
United States, his reflections on the injustices inflicted upon black
displaying signs of inherent disintegration prompts a deeper
communities further allude to the impact inevitably experienced
consideration into the stark contrast that exists between the artist’s
by the families linked within those communities. The works
choice of materials and the looming factor of time and finality. In
encapsulating Spann’s personal family photographs exemplify
this, the dense black matter hugging the outermost portions of
the substructures linked to his observations as a family man—an
the framed image becomes an agent capable of crystallization, as
experience of deep joy and fear. His absence from much of this
much as it threatens to erode the site of Spann’s resting daughter.
archive is one that can be read as serving as a reminder to the blind
On the other hand, the mass could be understood as a bestowed
eye of prejudice and indifference. To this the artists use of material
anchor,4 one that actively connects the body to earth, both in life
and consideration of land are called back into focus. Regarding
and death.5
the symbiotic connections between nature and humans, Spann
Similarly, in another component of the work, Now I Lay Me
Down To Sleep, an image depicting Spann’s slumbering infant
2. Night Gallery. “Dalmatian Paintings.” Night Gallery Press Release. 26 Apr. 2019. http:// www.nightgallery.ca/exhibitions/vaughn-spann/about. Accessed 7 Oct. 2019.
prompts us to consider our commonalities, further urging us to renounce acts of inhumanity. Of his exhibition Scorched Earth and
3. Polaroid images are not archival and instead were designed for instant gratification - to record a moment but not necessarily for that moment to live on in a museum. Due to the nature of their making Polaroids yellow, fade, or become brittle overtime. 49
Photo Credit: David Castillo Gallery
Installation view, Vaughn Spann: Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, David Castillo Gallery, Miami, FL, September 12 – November 9, 2019. Courtesy David Castillo Gallery. Photography by Zachary Balber. 50
Vaughn Spann, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (detail), Mixed media, polaroids on wooden panel, 10 x 8 inches. Courtesy David Castillo Gallery. Photography by Zachary Balber.
The Weeping Sun,6 the artist quotes: “the world is in perpetual rot,
his work presents new methods for examining space, time, and
global warming, natural disasters, mass terrorism, and corrupt
social concerns. Emblematic, beautiful, and pliant, Spann’s wide
governments… the earth is on fire and the sun is crying.”
breadth of materials including sand, paint, terry cloth, and gravel
reinforce the terrain-like dimensionality felt and seen in many of his
Spann’s practice is one of necessity. Set within an expanding
trajectory, it is at once sculptural and abstract—diffusing the
paintings. These materials challenge the canvas, allowing for a wide
boundaries between symbolic and literal. Pointing towards the
platitude of analytical readings, while inviting global dialogues as far
inseparable nature of art, politics, and individual subjectivity,
reaching as the works are geographically placed.
4. “The rock” is referred to in numerous African American traditional spiritual songs, performances and cultural narratives. For example “Sinnerman,” recorded by Nina Simone in 1965 chronicles the tale of a sinner attempting to take salvation under a rock on Judgement day. 5. The Amplified Bible. Eccles, 12.7.
6. Kaikai Kiki Gallery. “A Message from The Artist [on the occasion of his solo exhibition].” Scorched Earth and The Weeping Sun. Kaikai Kiki Gallery Press Release. 30 Aug. 2019. 51
About the Fellows Studio Fellows Each year, NXTHVN selects early-career artists from a
Felipe Baeza Felipe Baeza, born in Guanajuato, Mexico, employs painting and collage to examine how memory, migration and displacement work to create a state of
competitive pool of applicants to receive a professional studio
hybridity and fugitivity. Baeza received his BFA from The Cooper Union for
space and a generous stipend to cover material expenses
the Advancement of Science and Art in 2009 and MFA in Painting from Yale
throughout the Fellowship year. In addition to participation in
Memoria, Fortnight Institute, New York, NY (2019); FELIPE BAEZA, Maureen
a culminating group exhibit, Studio Fellows have the unique opportunity to form new creative partnerships within the art
School of Art in 2018. Recent solo exhibitions include La Emergecia de Hacer Paley, London, UK (2018), and a forthcoming solo exhibition at The Mistake Room, Los Angeles, CA (2020). Recent group exhibitions include Nobody Promised You Tomorrow: Art 50 Years After Stonewall, Brooklyn Museum, NY
communities of Greater New Haven and New York City. Studio
(2019); Queer Forms, Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Fellows are required to commit to a minimum of 20 hours of
(2019); Demolition WoManhood, Commonwealth and Council and Skibum
studio time per week and 5 hours of mentoring with their high
Gallery, Mexico City (2018). In addition to receiving the NXTHVN Studio
school Apprentice. Additionally, Studio Fellows are required to engage in a series of group critiques, studio visits, and professional development workshops.
Curatorial Fellows
MacArthur, L.A.(2018); No Longer Yours, The Mistake Room/Anonymous Fellowship, Baeza has been the recipient of The Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant (2018), The Josef & Anni Albers Foundation Traveling Fellowship (2017), and a forthcoming residency at the Rauschenberg Residency, Captiva, FL (2020).
Jaclyn Conley Jaclyn Conley is a Canadian-born artist based in New Haven, CT. Conley has
The NXTHVN Curatorial Fellowship Program selects early-career
exhibited nationally and internationally at venues including The Painting Center
curators from a diverse pool of applicants to receive a generous
and NurtureArt in NY, Projective City in Paris, Wynick-Tuck Gallery in Toronto,
stipend and develop skills in exhibition planning and logistics.
in residence at the The Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver,
Curatorial Fellows engage in a series of group critiques, studio visits, and professional development workshops. For the first year of this program, the Curatorial Fellows are working under the guidance of experienced curators to organize NXTHVN’s inaugural exhibition, which will open at NXTHVN’s space in early 2020.
and the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in CT. Conley has been an artist Canada, and the Vermont Studio Center. Conley is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Connecticut Office of the Arts Fellowship, Canada Council for the Arts Project Grants in Visual Arts, an Elizabeth Greenshields Award, and a Fellowship from the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation.
Kenturah Davis Using text as a point of departure in her drawings, sculpture, and performances, Davis explores the fundamental role of language in shaping how we understand ourselves and the world around us. This manifests in a variety of forms including drawings, sculpture, and performances. Davis was commissioned by LA Metro to create large-scale, site-specific work that will be permanently installed on the new Crenshaw/LAX rail line, opening fall 2019. Her work has been included in institutional exhibitions in Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Davis earned her BA from Occidental College and her MFA from Yale University School of Art.
52
Merik Goma
Zalika Azim
Merik Goma is a photographer based out of Buffalo, NY, focused on shooting
Zalika Azim is an artist and curator based in Brooklyn, NY. Conceptualizing her
both fine art photography as well as commercial and editorial work. Goma’s
practice through photography, installation, performance, sound, and text, her
artwork takes on a critical view of human conditioning, often trying to show
work investigates the ways in which memory, migration, movement, and the
the way we project ourselves onto others with our personal biases by setting
body are negotiated throughout the African diaspora. Azim’s work has been
scenes and creating narratives that jar and provoke. There is often a thread of
exhibited nationally and internationally, including The Dean Collection, The
uneasiness in his work, instilling the sense that something important has just
International Center of Photography, Dorsky Gallery, Diego Rivera Gallery, the
happened or is just about to unfold.
Instituto Superior de Arte, and The African American Museum in Philadelphia. She has completed solo projects with The Baxter Street Camera Club of New
Christie Neptune
York and SOHO20. Azim recently held professional positions at The Studio
Christie Neptune, born in Brooklyn, NY, is an interdisciplinary artist working
Museum of Harlem, the Walthier Collection and MoMA, NY. She has assisted
across film, photography, mixed media and performance arts. Neptune
on curatorial projects and publications at The Walther Collection, and as the
investigates how constructs of race, gender, and class limit the personal
2014–15 Friends of Education Twelve-Month Intern in the Department of
experiences of historically marginalized and stigmatized individuals. Critically
Photography at The Museum of Modern Art. Azim holds a BFA in Photography
aware of both self and subjectivity, Neptune illuminates the personal and
and Imaging from the Tisch School of the Arts and a BA in Social and Cultural
emotional aftermath of a society that disregards and delegitimizes those
Analysis focused in Africana, Gender and Sexuality studies from NYU.
that endure the brunt of historically upheld supremacies. Neptune’s films and photography have been included in shows at VOLTA, NY (2018), The
Riham Majeed
Rubber Factory, NY (2017), A.I.R. Gallery, NY (2016), Union Docs, NY (2015),
Riham Majeed is an Arab-American non-profit professional and emerging
and Rutgers, Institute for Women and Art (2014). She has been featured in
curator based in New York City. She previously held a position at the American
publications including Artforum, Hyperallergic, The Creators Project, Juxtapoz
Folk Art Museum, and is currently in the development department of the arts
Magazine, and The Washington Post. Neptune is an alumni of More Art’s
education organization, ArtsConnection. She received her Bachelors of Art in
Engaging Artists Residency, The Hamiltonian Gallery Fellowship, The Bronx
Art History and Psychology from Fairfield University, where her research focused
Museum of The Arts: Artist in Marketplace (AIM), and Smack Mellon studio
on exclusionary art historical conventions placed upon Black artists of the 20th
residency through the New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellowship.
century. Her work as curatorial fellow at NXTHVN is her curatorial debut.
Alexandria Smith
Ana Tuazon
Alexandria Smith is a mixed-media visual artist based in New York and London.
Ana Tuazon is a writer, curator and 2019–20 resident at the Core Program at
She earned her BFA in Illustration from Syracuse University, MA in Art Education
the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She completed an MA in Art History and
from New York University, and MFA in Fine Art from Parsons School of Design.
Criticism at Stony Brook University in 2018, where her research centered on
Smith is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Queens Museum/
the practices of women of color within and outside of feminist art traditions.
Jerome Foundation Fellowship, a Pollock-Krasner Grant, the Virginia A. Myers
In addition to co-curating NXTHVN’s inaugural exhibition opening in 2020, her
Fellowship at the University of Iowa, and the Fine Arts Work Center Fellowship
other curatorial work includes the 2018 Southeast Queens Biennial, co-curated
(2013 – 2015). She has been awarded residencies at MacDowell, Bemis,
through art nonprofit No Longer Empty’s curatorial lab. She has presented at
Yaddo, the LMCC Process Space, and the Skowhegan School of Painting
conferences including the College Art Association and Theorizing the Web, and
and Sculpture. From 2016-18, Smith was co-organizer of the collective,
she has written for publications including Temporary Art Review, Hyperallergic,
Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter (BWA for BLM). She also recently
and Art Practical.
mounted her first solo museum exhibition entitled, “Monuments to an Effigy” at the Queens Museum from April through August 2019.
Vaughn Spann Vaughn Spann earned his BFA from Rutgers University in 2014 and MFA in Painting from Yale School of Art in 2018. He has been invited to participate in numerous exhibitions including The Rubell Family Collection, Mennello Museum of American Art, Reginald Lewis Museum, Night Gallery, Half Gallery, David Castillo Gallery, and The Newark Museum. He is a recipient of the esteemed Alice Kimball English Traveling Fellowship. Most recently, Spann’s work was featured on the cover of New American Paintings (Issue No. 135).
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Partners
Designed to increase equity and access to arts education, NXTHVN programs are fully-funded through generous donations from our supporters.
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Burger Collection, Hong Kong Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology (ConnCAT) Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (CT DECD) Creative Capital Deborah Berke Partners Ford Foundation JP Fletcher Foundation Rauschenberg Foundation RISC Foundation Stonesthrow Foundation The City of New Haven United Way of Greater New Haven Special thanks to our Board Members, Dwight Hall at Yale, and Carrie Mackin
Published on the occasion of the exhibition NXTHVN: First Year Fellows November 5, 2019–January 18, 2020 at Tilton Gallery, New York Copyright © 2019 NXTHVN, Inc. nxthvn.com Curators: Zalika Azim Riham Majeed Ana Tuazon Artists: Felipe Baeza Jaclyn Conley Kenturah Davis Merik Goma Christie Neptune Alexandria Smith Vaughn Spann Edited by Sivan Amar, Natalie Renee, and Nico Wheadon Design by Matt Solomon Photography by Christopher Gardner Published by NXTHVN and Tilton Gallery
NXTHVN 169 Henry St. New Haven, CT 06511 hello@nxthvn.com www.nxthvn.com
Tilton Gallery 8 East 76th Street New York, NY 10021 212-737-2221 www.jacktiltongallery.com
Published on the occasion of the exhibition NXTHVN: First Year Fellows November 5, 2019–January 18, 2020 at Tilton Gallery, New York Copyright © 2019 NXTHVN, Inc. nxthvn.com Curators: Zalika Azim Riham Majeed Ana Tuazon Artists: Felipe Baeza Jaclyn Conley Kenturah Davis Merik Goma Christie Neptune Alexandria Smith Vaughn Spann Edited by Sivan Amar, Natalie Renee, and Nico Wheadon Design by Matt Solomon Photography by Christopher Gardner Published by NXTHVN and Tilton Gallery
NXTHVN 169 Henry St. New Haven, CT 06511 hello@nxthvn.com www.nxthvn.com
Tilton Gallery 8 East 76th Street New York, NY 10021 212-737-2221 www.jacktiltongallery.com