With and Within Catalog, AHA Fine Art, February 2024

With And Within

“All that can save you now is your confrontation with your own history . . . which is not your past, but your present,” Baldwin said. “Your history has led you to this moment, and you can only begin to change yourself by looking at what you are doing in the name of your history.” - James Baldwin

AHA Fine Art is pleased to present With and Within: an exhibition featuring paintings, prints, collages, textiles, audio, and mixed media works by Ryan Davis, Akwasi Gyambibi, Denae Howard, Ojuang Mayenga, Yolonda Ross, Floyd Strickland and Dareece Walker. The exhibition will be on view from February 8th - February 29th, with an opening reception on Thursday, February 8th from 6-8pm at 175 10th Avenue.

The work in With and Within touches on the nuances experienced by artists from the African diaspora and the realities experienced by Black artists working today. These artists take on complex histories as their subject matter, transmuting elements in their artworks into a call for a brighter future. Various iconography, encompassing personal and spiritual symbols, captures tender family bonds and the power of shared heritage. These visuals are layered through the lens of the natural world, embracing a diverse array of mediums including cardboard, thread, fabric—speaking to the transience of our lived realities and the power realized by speaking future equity into being.

Ryan Davis is a NYC-based painter, audio and visual collage artist. In Good Things are Hard to Find (pg 15) , Davis juxtaposes nature with “just being” by touching on everyday struggles. “In nature I feel a sense of being and find curiosity in the most mundane yet unusual moments,” reflects Davis.”In these moments I pull memories from a Black-African heritage and our ancestral relationship with the natural world while reflecting on means of survival [as well as] memories incomplete, disorienting, and mystifying. Understanding this dynamic is where I begin the process of building a personal relationship with the natural world.”

Akwasi Gyambibi’s compositions explore universal themes of culture, race, politics and religion. Gyambibi creates figurative portraiture as seen in My Adorable Son (Be Strong Out there Son) (pg 13), 2024, created from a recent memory on his trip to Ghana. “Life inspires what I depict,” states Gyambibi. “The wood surface is where I express my deepest emotions, thoughts and experiences…my style of free-hand decorating on wood with controlled application of fire from a torch or heat gun directly onto wood creates textures to define my works, [bringing]…something beautiful, healing and [offering] respite,…to the world.” These works are sometimes embellished with other materials including tapestry, wallpaper, metal, and often embellished with acrylic paint. Gyambibi, originally from Ghana, lives and works in Queens, New York.

Denae Howard in Black Madonna and Child (pg 16), renders a black mother tenderly cradling her child while her vision meets ours. Typically depicted as a white Madonna and Child, Howard demonstrates that stereotypes and iconic themes found in Western art demand reexamination as well as probing and inciting conversations surrounding race in and out of the art world. “My works transcendently re-imagine the limitless potentialities of Black Existence and Excellence.” Howard continues, “The use of the imagery on the tapestries of glaring powerful Black female figures paired with ‘call of actions’ evokes hope. Together they send a message that glorifies and empowers the bodies of Black women and seeks to regain their own identities.” Howard is based out of Brooklyn and works with her cooperative, #Dayonesart, and other Black creatives invested in making work that forces necessary conversation.

Ojuang Mayenga in Broken Native (pg 14) , is inspired by the complexities of nature and its coexistence with rapidly-paced electronic and computerized innovations. By rendering body fragments and elongated and swooning figures alongside cell phones, headphones, and computer screens, Mayenga probes the viewer to examine the effects of the technological advancements of people worldwide. This includes our habitual and addictive relationship with social media platforms, digital augmented reality, and our new companionship with AI (artificial intelligence). He states: “Each one of his paintings acts as a moment captured within a surreal timeline, with inspiration from emotions of the self, and the current world filled with hysteria.” Mayenga is based in Jersey City, NJ.

Yolonda Ross is a painter and photographer, best known for her work as a Writer/Director and Actress (Jada) on the Showtime series, “The Chi”. Ross’s paintings were most recently exhibited in the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Gala Charity auction to advocate for social justice. Drawing inspiration from Aboriginal Dot Paintings that recount historical narratives, spirituality, and politics, Ross integrates her own voice as she combines body parts, such as a translucent hand in Woman’s Hand Through Space and Time (pg 9) , illuminated by a horizon in the distance, interspersed throughout her compositions. Other works are composed of cyclical patterns and designs intertwined with ostentatious cheetah prints, bold outlines and symbols and iconography that reflect on spirituality, life’s cycle and coexistence. Her paintings have even evolved into highly coveted tote bags. “Above all else, I believe that women are the beginning of life and the keeper of life,” notes Ross. ”The symbol for Woman is used in a lot of my paintings as well as the circles, representing unity and energy.” Yolonda Ross lives & works in New York City and Los Angeles. With and Within is Ross’s debut gallery showing in New York City.

Floyd Strickland, a versatile artist based in Los Angeles, CA, offers an introspective and critical exploration of American culture, particularly through the perspectives of Black and Brown children. Inspired by his own childhood environment, As in Middle Passage (pg 7), Strickland employs realistic figures that intertwine with aspects of American cultural imagery, resulting in ethereal figurative paintings. Young black and brown children are often the focus of Strickland’s large scale figurative oil paintings. Strickland is depicting the beauty, strength and potential embodied by these children and their role representing a better future for us all. “The end goal is to help children gain the confidence to pursue their dreams, ultimately feeling empowered to accomplish anything.” - Floyd Strickland

While awakening society with artwork depicted on simple corrugated cardboard, Dáreece Walker portrays sobering truths about racism, police brutality and social injustice against Black Americans, reminding us of the systems we have become embedded in. Searching for a balance, Walker depicts tough as well as tender and joyful everyday moments from the lives of Black Americans as seen in his recent project, Black Fathers Matter. Revisiting and reframing the past, Walker integrates scenarios of “what should have been,” contributing to the potency of his work. Walker states “My objective in the next project is to show the dominant Western religion, and protest elements of it while using their language of Western art history. And rendering all of that, I’m not only inserting the black narrative, I’m sort of correcting a perception of if. If…put into the history books, then it changes the context of everything.” In Strange Fruit (pg 4), Walker recreates a moment in history representing thousands of Black American people that were publicly murdered in the United States between 1877 and 1950. The two winged and caged angels hanging from the tree are portrayed as strong and reflective as their history and spirit live on. Walker states “Strange Fruit” is based on a photograph of African Amercans, Tomas Shipp and Abram Smith, in Marion, Indiana in1930. Exploring the notion of ‘White Devils,’ I use Christian iconography,...dominant in Western religion to depict the evil doings that have taken place against the people of color in America.”Dáreece Walker lives and works in Brooklyn.

For more information and visuals, please contact Francesca Arcilesi, Norma Homberg and the AHA team at info@ahafineart.com.

Dáreece J. Walker

Black Fathers Matter Series I, Polkadot Princess, 2020

Charcoal & pastel on cardoard,

Black Fathers Matter Series I, Papa's Boy, 2020

Charcoal & pastel on cardoard, 48 x 36"

Dáreece Walker (b.1989) is a Visual Artist currently living in Brooklyn, NY. Walker creates figurative narrative paintings, drawings, and sculpture that combine race, identity and religion into socio political responses. Walker received his B.F.A. in Visual and Performing Arts from the University of Colorado and his M.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. His work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Hyperallergic. Recent shows include, 'Respond' at Smack Mellon Gallery in Dumbo, the 10th Annual Governors Island Art Fair, Prizm Art Fair in Miami and 'Black is the Giant', a Solo Exhibition at the Long Gallery in Harlem, among others.

One of the things Dáreece has been consciously trying to do is create some sort of balance between talking about the harsh realities of racism and police brutality against black people in the USA on one hand and on the other, offering a glimpse into the beautiful, simple aspects of black people’s lives – his most recent project ‘Black Fathers Matter’, for example, documents black fathers simply hanging out with their children. Reimagining the past and integrating elements to create what it should have been also make his work especially powerful – Payal Khandelwal, The Floating Magazine

Strange Fruit, 2021, Charcoal & gold acrylic on cardboard, 54 x 77"

48 x 36"

Dáreece J. Walker, Installation View: Strange Fruit & Black Fathers Matter

Floyd Strickland

Floyd Strickland is a multi-disciplined artist from Los Angeles, CA. Strickland’s works are an introspective and critique of aspects of American culture, through the lens of black and brown children. Drawing inspiration from his own childhood environment, Strickland often uses realistic figures that are juxtaposed with aspects of American cultural figures creating ethereal figurative paintings.

Strickland garners inspiration from Kerry James Marshall, famed Birmingham-born, Chicago-based contemporary artist exhibiting works since 1981 and his all-time favorite artist Aaron Douglas, the most prominent Harlem Renaissance artist-illustrator dubbed the “father of African-American art,” highly active in the 1920s.

The unconventional path that brought Strickland to the art world contributes to the uniqueness of his work. After working building and renovating elementary schools throughout the country, Strickland noticed the lack of confidence in many black and brown children, something he struggled with as a child as well. To combat this, Strickland began painting large scale figurative oil paintings depicting the beauty, strength and potential, aspects that aren’t too divergent from typical American culture but which were underrepresented before now. - Art Angels

Ali, 2020, Archival pigment print, 24 x 24"

Song of America, 2022, Archival pigment print, 18 x 14"

The Explorer, 2023, Giclee print, 14 x 11"

Floyd Strickland

Middle Passage, 2023, giclee print on water color paper, 26 x 20, AP 3

Bunny Reign, 2022, Oil on linen, 48 x 36"

Yolanda Ross

Hand,

Women's Hand Through Space and Time, 2013 Acrylic & marker on canvas, 18 x 10"

My work from the "The Journey" series stems from seeing a spiritual reader in New Orleans, and being advised to study Aboriginal Dot Art, to help me with my writing. As I am not an Indigenous Australian, my work does not fall into the same category, but I do use some of their symbols to create stories that speak to me. Many of my paintings start with black backgrounds, representing the darkness before creation, layering on vibrant colors and muted metallics. CIrcles recur in my paintings, representing unity and movement. The repetitive, layering process is probably what I love the most, because it feels like an expansion of the mind.

In this body of work I think about Creation of all, How we function in our time here, and the Cycle of life. Above all else, I believe that Woman is the beginning of life and the keeper of life. The symbol for Woman can be found in many of my paintings. - Yolonda Ross Beginning of Time, Again, 2013, Acrylic, crackle paint, glitter & diamond dust on canvas

Helping

2011, Acrylic on canvas, 9 x 24" (diptych)

Yolanda Ross

Blue Sky, 2020, Acrylic, marker & duck tape on canvas

Red Sky, 2020, Acrylic, marker & duxk tape on canvas

Friend, 2013, Acrylic, marker & on canvas

Sunset, 2013, Acrylic & marker, on canvas, 10 x 8"

Moms, 2013, Acrylic, marker & on canvas Brother, 2013, Acrylic, marker & on canvas

Akwasi Gyambibi

Akwasi Gyambibi is inspired by everyday life, painting from his memories to create pyrographic portraits of friends, neighbors, and family. Gyambibi’s process involves pyrography, employing heat and fire while using a small torch and or dremel to burn and etch into the surface of wood. These works are sometimes adorned with other materials including tapestry, wallpaper, metal, and often embellished with acrylic paint. Gyambibi focuses on figurative portraiture), where the flame is the only medium used.

His compositions explore universal themes of culture, race, politics and religion. “Life inspires what I depict,” reflects Gyambibi. “The wood surface is where I express my deepest emotions, thoughts and experiences… my style of free-hand decorating on wood with controlled application of fire from a torch or heat gun directly onto wood creates textures to define my works, [bringing]…something beautiful, healing and respite,…to the world.” Gyambibi, originally from Ghana, lives and works in Queens, NYC. His work has been shown internationally and across the United States.

Feeling Good, 2023, Pyrography, collage and mixed media on wood, 48 x 48"

Akwasi Gyambibi

My Adorable Son, 2024, Pyrography & Painting, 24 x 24"

Kobe Bryant The Greatest, 2023, Charcoal and graphite on paper, 45 x 37 1/2"

Time and Time, 2023, Pyrography & Painting, 24" x 16"

Ojuang Mayenga

Recently, Ojuang has gained somewhat of an enlightenment through his paintings by looking for the contradictions and connections between nature and technology. Each one of his paintings acts as a moment captured within a surreal timeline, with inspiration from emotions of the self, and the current world filled with hysteria

His goal is to create "visual thought" pieces for current and future audiences.

Ojuang Mayenga, is a 26 year-old visual artist/filmmaker from Tanzania. He moved to Jersey City New Jersey with his family when he was 13 years old and currently still resides as an artist.

Broken Native, 2023, Acrylic on canvas, 28 x 34"

Übermensch, 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20"

Broken Native, 2023, Acrylic on canvas, 28 x 34"

Ryan Davis

Positionality The Official Mixtape crescendos

Four track audio piece (Installation view)

In nature I feel a sense of being and find curiosity in the most mundane yet unusual moments. In these moments I pull memories from a Black-African heritage and our ancestral relationship with the natural world. However, as a means of survival our ways of being in nature has gone through many forms of transformation and adaptation making these memories incomplete, disorienting, and mystifying. Understanding this dynamic is where I begin the process of building a personal relationship with the natural world. My work reflects this journey as representations of surreal ways of being with and within nature. I build these spaces by incorporating West African and indigenous agriculture practices and photograph references from my various hikes. Each composition reveals a coexistence between the materials and the marks, reconciling the push and pull between finished and unfinished aspects of the surface into a singular moment. -

Ryan Davis

Good Things Are Hard To Find, 2023

Oil, Acrylic & charcoal on canvas, 42 x 34"

The Things We Carry, 2023 Oil paint on canvas, 36 x 28"

Denae Howard

Eve's Compassionate Gifts Tabernacle: Untitled, 2016

Digital mixed media woven tapestry, 50 x 60"

Black Madonna & Child, Eve's Compassionate Gifts Tabernacle:, 2016 Digital mixed media woven tapestry, 50 x 60"

Eve's Compassionate Gifts Tabernacle: Continue to Lead, screenprint & Lightbox installation view

Eve's Compassionate Gifts Tabernacle Bullshit Proof, 2016 installation view

Artschoolscammer (Denae Howard) is A Brooklyn-based Conceptual artist, educator, curator and advisor. At the moment she is solely a collaborative artist. Working with her cooperative #Dayonesart and other Black creatives invested in making work that forces necessary conversation. Her work is a coded-guide that promotes discussions that reveal the similarities and differences in the way individuals’ experience systems. Her practice stems from a need to create space and conversation around the systems that govern our natural existence. As a visual artist and contributor to culture she feels it is imperative to create art that reflects cognitive, emotional and social pedagogy. Her works are re-appropriations of negative archetypes and stereotypes to reclaim and transcend positive meaning for Black people. But also re-imaginings of the limitless opportunities of Black Existence.

Dáreece J. Walker, Ryan Davis, Yolonda Ross, Akwasi Gyambibi, Ojuang Mayenga & Denae Howard