Thaddeus Mosley: Curated by Nathaniel Mackey

THADDEUS MOSLEY 3.11.2004- 4.17.2004

Curated by �athan1el Mackey

FORWARD

We are honored to host this exhibition which has been generously curated by Nathaniel Mackey. Mr. Mackey. a wnter and poet. has chosen Thaddeus Mosley. an artist who has lived and worked 1n Pittsburgh. PA for the maJority of his life.

Mr. Mackey¡s appreciation of Mr. Mosley¡s work demonstrates how the Foundation's discretionary selection process allows a natural cross-poll1nat1on to occur between different forms of expression.

This exh1b1t1on of Mosley's sculpture confirms our commitment to artists of the highest quality. who. due to geographic location. may otherwise not receive such an exhibition opportunity Thus CUE 1s pleased to offer Mr. Mosley his first solo exh1b1t1on in New York City

CURATOR'S STATEMENT

I was introduced to Thaddeus Mosley's work by Ed Roberson in the late nineties.

It was the third time in the past twenty or so years that a poet pointed me 1n the direction of a sculptor's work. John Taggart made me aware of the work of Bradford Graves 1n the early 1980s and Ethelbert Miller. while I was writer-1n­ res1dence at the Washington Project for the Arts in 1986. 1ns1sted I see an exh1b1t1on of Ed Love's work that was on display at Howard Un1vers1ty. John said Graves's tributes to and evocations of such mus1c1ans as John Coltrane. Ornette Coleman and Thelonious Monk would interest me. Ethelbert that Love's references to Egyptian. Yoruba, Dogon and other African trad1t1ons would resonate with my own moves 1n that d1rect1on. I don't recall precisely what Ed said when he first mentioned Mosley's work. though he may well have spoken of a spectral. spiritual abstraction found 1n many of the pieces. the articulation of voided space that he sin'ce has written brilliantly about 1n the pages of my Journal Hambone. an extension by way of excision that would have spoken. 1mpl1c1tly at least. to my repeated recourse to the phantom limb as a figure for art's work and wonder In any event. he brought Mosley¡s work to my attention and I couldn't be more thankfui that he did That a writer put me in touch with Mosley's work is apt Mosley maJored 1n English and Journalism 1n college. has dedicated sculptures to Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes. sculpted a piece whose title invokes Stephen Crane and so forth. but the aptness has to do not only with that It has to do as well with a writing before writing out of which writing must have come. some first 1nclinat1on to invest 1mpress1on or imprint that Mosley's work, 1n the salience 1t affords gouge and incision. especially in what appears to me to be his signature medium. wood. seems to hark back to. A first befriending of wood and a first befriending of stone seem active and alive still as well. I was struck. reading David Lewis's Thaddeus Mosley Afncan-American Sculptor a few years ago. by Mosley's 1ns1stence that he doesn't generate his sculptural themes by himself: "My woods and stones and I generate themes together. When I bring 1n a load of logs or blocks of stone. I stack them up 1n the studio.... Everyt1me I go to my workbench I walk by them and get to know

' I them better." I m reminded of mb1ra music among the Shona of Zimbabwe. the sense of a d alogue or duet between musician and instrument that Dum1sani Mara1re. an mb1ra player. has commented on: "What the mb1ra player 1s doing s he has a friend. the mb1ra This friend •s of the same IT'us cal quality w tr r·m He teaches his friend what to do and his friend teaches him what to do." Mosley's getting to know wood and store s. to all our benefit. such a befriending Not having attended art school. Thaddeus Mosley 1s what's common y known as a self-taught artist Another statemerit of his. bearing on this. has stayed w tr me· "Every art c;t. n the end. must be self-taught beca-1se everyone must go beyond the lessons of other peop e·s work" That Mosley 1s also self-taught in this more uncommon sense s evident in his work's divergence from that of Constantin Brancusi .3nd lsamu Noguchi. two of his three announced influences. and from the third. African sculpture. as well He has gone far beyond the symmetr·es. regularities and smooth geometries of c;uch work. pursuing Jagged colT'pos t1ons wr1ch em t a sense of uneas1 y arrived at repose precar•ous balance a steadiness perhaps caught between staggers Comp11cat1ng the perpendicular amen1t1es of such work. his pieces partake of tilt. bend. lean. asymmetric. poise fl1rt1ng with totter f,1rt1ng with co, apse. m racles of recondite balance. "A c oser walk tt">ru the Forest of/ Semblancec; n c.ked our skin" ard "What would wood/ say I wondered" are lines of a poem ded cated to Mosley I'd write 1f I could and maybe one day w·II. a poelT' aiming for something like that staggerly grace.

Nathamel Mackey

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

My sculpture 1s an urban Afro-American-Euro-Jazz influenced art. It s an effort to create works of vitality and identity which enhance space and transcend time.

Although I sometimes work 1n stone. mixed media-found metals. the primary material 1s wood. cherry, walnut and other hardwoods.

Thaddeus Mosley

(

( TOOTH FOR TOOTH Walnut. Metal & Bone. 6'7"x 1'5" x 1'3", 2003

r

REVELATION (TRIBUTE TO JUDITH JAMISON), Walnut & C he•ry, S 9' x 1'8' x 1·11·. 2003

I (

('.

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DOUBLE STACCATO (TRIBUTE TOT. NAVARRO & C. BROWN) Walnut. 24" x 30" x 12", 1999

OVALS Sycamore. 7'

x

2'6"

x

1'6". 1972

ARTIST'S

BIOGRAPHY

Thaddeus Mosley was born 1n New Castle. Pennsylvania. in 1926. Following high school and a stint 1n the Navy, he enrolled at the Un vers1ty of Pittsburgh. where he graduated 1n 1950 with a double maJor 1n English and Journalism. Mosley then went to work for the postal service. from which he retired 1n 1992. During the 1950's. he add1t1onally did freelance journalism for The Couner and for several national magazines: he also began making sculpture. Since that time. his work has been shown in numerous exhib1t1ons. 1nclud1ng a solo exh1b1t1on at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Pittsburgh, PA. Mosley lives and works 1n Pittsburgh, PA.

CURATOR 'S

BIOGRAPHY

Nathaniel Mackey was born in M1am1. Florida 1n 1947 and grew up, from age four. 1n Cal1forn1a. He 1s the author of three books of poetry Eroding Witness (University of lll1no1s Press. 1985). School of Udhra (City Lights Books. 1993) and Whatsa1d Senf (City Lights Books. 1998). Stnck.· Song of the Andoumboulou 76-25. a compact disc recording of poems read with musical accompaniment (Royal Hartigan. percussion: Hafez Mod1rzadeh. reeds and flutes). was released 1n 1995 by Spoken Engine Company. He 1s the author of an ongoing prose composition. From a Broken Bottle

Traces of Perfume St/II Emanate. of which three volumes have been published Bedouin Hornbook (Callaloo F1ct1on Series. 1986). D1bot Baghostus's Run (Sun & Moon Press. 1993) and Atet AD. (City Lights Books. 2001) Mr Mackey 1s the editor

or the literary magazine Hambone and coeditor (with Art Lange) of the anthology Moment's Notice: Jazz in Poetry and Prose (Coffee House Press. 1993) He 1s also the author of a book of critical essays, Discrepant Engagement' Dissonance. Cross­

Cultural!ty, and Experimental Wnt1ng (Cambridge University Press. 1993) His awards and honors include the selection of his first book of poetry. Eroding Witness. for pub­ icat1on in the National Poetry Series. a Wh1t1ng Writer's Award 1n 1993 and election to the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets 1n 2001 Nathaniel Mackey 1s Professor of Literature at the University of Cal1forn1a. Santa Cruz.

CUE ART FOUNDATION MISSION STATEMENT

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Gregory Amenoff CUE Art Foundation. a non-profit organization. provides educational programs

Thomas G. Devine

for young artists and aspiring art professionals 1n New York and from around the

Thomas K. Y Hsu

country. These programs draw on the unique community of artists. critics. and

Brian D. Starer

educators brought together by the Foundat1on·s season of exh1bit1ons. public lectures, and its in-gallery studio program. Gallery 1nternsh1ps and stipends afford

ADVISORY COUNCIL

the next generation of art professionals intimate. working knowledge of the art­

Gregory Amenoff

making and exh1b1tion processes. CUE's 2000 sq ft. gallery and offices. located 1n

Vicky A Clark

New York's Chelsea gallery district. serves as the base for the various educational

William Corbett

programs conducted by CUE

James Drake

The Foundation's exh1b1t1on season gives unknown or under-recognized artists

Bruce Ferguson

professional exposure comparable to 'that offered by neighboring commercial

Sanford Hirsch

galleries. without the usual financial restraints. CUE does not promote a particular

Dana Hoey

school of art1st1c practice or regional bias; we only require that exh1b1ting artists must either not have had a solo exhibition 1n a commercial venue. or have received

GALLERY DIRECTOR

minimal recent public exposure.

Jeremy Adams

CUE's Advisory Council. an honorary group of artists and leading figures from the arts education, applied arts. art history, and literary communities, has

GALLERY ASSISTANT

the responsibility of selecting exh1b1tion curators. The curators. in turn. nominate

Sandh1n1 Poddar

artists to exhibit at CUE. and continue to play a role throughout the exh1b1t1on process, helping the artists catalogue their work for exh1bit1on. Both the Advisory Council and the exhibition curators actively participate 1n the public lectures and educational programs.

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