B l a c k | C U L T U R E | re i m a g i n e d
WANGARI MATHENGE
THE ART OF
Nathaniel Mary Quinn “My only hope is that when any viewer engages with my work, that they feel an emotional resonance from the work.”
VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 2 | $10
EKENE IJEOMA U.S. and African AIDS research share a link. Learn the facts and truth of it all.
Ekene Ijeoma
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Dejha Carrington
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Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Contents 05. editor’s note Publisher + Executive Editor Melissa Hunter Davis Designer + Assistant Editor Ed King Website Dudley Alexis Copy Editors Angela Carroll Martina Dodd Writers Angela Carroll Lyric Prince
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06. SISTRUNK A-FAIR 20. WANGARI MATHENGE SUBSCRIBE TODAY and BRING HOME THE ARTS Subscribe to Sugarcane Magazine and receive unparalleled and in-depth coverage of the arts scenes and emerging trends you care about. Bring home the best in the arts with an annual subscription of $45 a year at sugarcanemagcom/shop. Visit the link to pre-order a single issue or to purchase an entire year of the best creative insights book on the market. Additionally, when you subscribe, you’re supporting writers, designers, artists, and the arts scene - a worthwhile investment! Don’t delay: visit our online store and subscribe today!
©2019 Sugarcane Magazine is a quarterly magazine which focuses on art and intellectualism from Africa and the African Diaspora. All contents are protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced without written consent from the publisher. The advertiser is solely responsible for ad content and holds the publisher harmless from any errors and/or any trademark or copyright infringement.
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H I S TO R I C A L I
CULTURAL ARTS
SUNDAYS - SECOND SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH 6:00 - 9:00pm | $5 Food & Beverage Available for Purchase 954.786.7877 | Aliarts.org April 14th Featuring: EJ Jones Company Legacy Band
Historic Ali Cultural Arts, 353 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Pompano Beach, FL
April 25 | Richard “Byrd” Wilson Bailey Contemporary Arts, 41 NE 1st Street, Pompano Beach, FL
May 30 | Niki Lopez: What is your Elephant?
Last Thursday of the Month
Cultural Center, 50 W Atlantic Blvd., Pompano Beach, FL
June 27 | Calvin “Made Son” Early: The Spokenword Exchange Cultural Center, 50 W Atlantic Blvd., Pompano Beach, FL
7-9:30 pm | $10 /session or $40 /entire series
Tickets: www.ccpompano.org
JAZZ ON THE BLVD
- APRIL 26 -
Swing Dance: $5 | 6-7:00 pm | Jazz Concert: $7 | 7-10 pm Dance & Concert: $10 | 6-10 pm Presented By:
954.786.7877 • AliArts.org • PompanoBeachArts.org Historic Ali Cultural Arts, 353 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Pompano Beach, FL
Funding for this organization is provided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council.
editor’s letter | ISSUE INSIGHTS
another big step
Welcome to issue two of Sugarcane Magazine. Our first issue was exciting for us, and we are happy to start the year with new content, ideas, new faces, and some great future events. This issue looks at new work by an impressive cadre of black creatives. Deja Carrington gives millennials a chance to learn about art collecting to create a legacy of supporting the very people who bring color to our everyday lives. Artsit Ikene Ejeoma uses tech, his desire for societal change, and art to influence generations. Also in this issue, we take you to Nathaniel Mary Quinn‘s studio,
Melissa Hunter Davis, Founder and Publisher of Sucarcane Magazine
and boy does he give us real gems to think about as we enter the second quarter of the year. We close out the issue with the first art fair to specifically bring attention to black artists in Fort Lauderdale and the artwork of Kenyan American Wangari Mathenge. We hope you enjoy the second issue of Sugarcane Magazine. While we have more issues to come, this will be our last free magazine. Please visit us at sugarcanemag.com/shop to subscribe for one year of art content. We don’t want you to miss a word of our incredible coverage of the art world!
#weareblackculture | SUGARCANEMAG.com
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a r o p s a i D s e t o N
The Sistrunk-A-Fair Celebrates African American Accomplishments
Sistrunk-A-Fair, a new week-long festival in
the Sistrunk community of Broward County in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, endeavors to make local Black creative histories more visible.
SISTRUNK-A-FAIR BY: Angela N. Carroll
Sponsored in partnership with cultural initiatives Art n Soul, C.R.E.A.T.E., Fort Lauderdale Art & Design
Week (FTLADW) and The Art Fort Lauderdale Art Fair,
Sistrunk-A-Fair will feature visual arts, performances, and
historic archives about unsung visionaries from Fort Lauder-
dale, Pompano, Dania, Pearl City, and Hallandale. “We need
something transformative, community-driven, and creative,” co-producer Emmanuel George shared. “This event feels special because it’s something that is more than just art, it’s to create a dialog through art.” The Sistrunk-A-Fair premiered January 18th-26th, 2019.
The Sistrunk corridor, a small community 45-minutes north of Miami, is named after Dr. James Franklin Sistrunk (1891-
1966) who established the first African American hospital in Broward County in 1938. The region is one of eight historic Black neighborhoods in Fort Lauderdale. Decades of disinvestment and inequitable housing market valuations have
exacerbated the steady decline of many of the communities
along Sistrunk Boulevard, a major throughway in North West Fort Lauderdale. The Boulevard which runs from M.L.K Jr
Avenue through several communities and toward more affluent neighborhoods at the edge of NE 6th street has gained
notoriety as a region with great potential but few resources. Though Broward County sits between West Palm Beach and Miami, cities with dynamic art scenes, artists who reside in
6
Xxxtentacion by Ne’chelle Straughter aka KASPVR 36x36 | Oil on Canvas | Photo by Emmanuel George
communities outside of those metropolises struggle to gain recognition. “Broward has talent, and it’s discouraging that
SUGARCANE MAGAZINE | APRIL 2019 | Issue TWO
Emmanuel George | Photo by Dianna Seelal
Tamara James by artist Jean Louis | 24x48 | Oil on Canvas Photo by Emmanuel George
[local] artists have to go to other states or counties
pay homage to the history of African American
orator Al Huggins hope that the Sistrunk-A-fair, as
keted mainly through social media and by word of
to show their work,” George offers. He and collabwell as other concurrent revitalization efforts, will
foster a renewal of the Sistrunk community, a zone
that was once considered a thriving Black business district. “Much redevelopment is happening in
communities in Broward County. The event, mar-
mouth, already boasts over 1.6 thousand Facebook followers who marked their interest in attending
the fair. George and collaborators hope that the
fair will attract the attention of Art Basel attend-
Broward County and on Sistrunk,” George con-
ees, a world-renowned contemporary art market
tracks you have Fat Village (Future Art Technology)
Art Basel and [Sistrunk-A-Fair], but this will happen
tinues “When you go to the east side of the train
it’s akin to Wynwood and Overtown. There’s an art walk every last Saturday and murals, but not much art on the westside, the real Sistrunk.”
Panel discussions, performances and visual art ex-
hibitions featured in Sistrunk-A-Fair are included in the programming of landmark institutions includ-
in Miami. “[There are] many similarities between
in downtown Fort Lauderdale, in Broward, where
there is no platform for Black creatives,” George notes. “Al and I had similar visions… to create a platform for Black artists and Black creatives in
Broward County. It’s more than to highlight Art Week, it’s to create something long lasting.”
ing, The African American Research Library, The
Midtown Commerce Center and Old Dillard Museum, among others. Two of the festival’s prominent exhibitions, We Love Art Too (The African American Research Library), and B.A.S.E.: Broward’s
Artistry and Soul Experience (Dillard Museum),
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Fact and truth?
What is the difference between
an Interview with Ekene Ijeoma
Deconstructed Anthems by Ekene Ijeoma.
It took me a few weeks to get a hold of Ekene Ijeoma, an in-demand artist who recently founded the Poetic Justice research group at MIT’s Media Lab. His work has been exhibited worldwide at institutions such as Fondation EDF in Paris, Museum of the City of New York, Annenberg Space for Photography, Neuberger Museum of Art, Istanbul Design Biennial and Design Museum in London.
During our phone conversation, we talked about the origins of
his artistic curiosity, his practice and recent projects; Wage Island (2015-2017), Pan-African AIDS (2018) and the ongoing Refugee Project (2017-present.) Ijeoma stressed that he was driven by social issues and the human condition, where the technology
that he uses to display his ideas is only a means to that end. Overall, we wondered about how technology could be used to
either help reveal or obfuscate truths about health and social outcomes specific to the African Diaspora. Furthermore, how
could emotionally charged photography be treacherous to fa-
cilitating nuanced understandings about communities in crisis? Wage Island: Immigrants | Photo courtesy of: Pratt Manhattan Gallery
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SUGARCANE MAGAZINE | APRIL 2019 | Issue TWO
Ijeoma sees himself as an artist and instructor, who uses graph-
FEATURE | Dejha Carrington
ic design and 3-D models to help audiences visualize
already being affected by these social issues or that
refugee crisis, and the AIDS epidemic across the Af-
from seeing and listening and yeah… a lot of listening.
the literal shape and scale of mass incarceration, the rican Diaspora. “[Compared to other races,” he clari-
fied, “ we are disproportionately affected by a lot of the things that I’m talking about.” The conceptualiza-
tion of such facts through sculpture, digital animations, and site-specific performances explore the various in-
terpretations of how we understand their disturbing truths. Such mutability makes him unique from any other artist working today.
are concerned about them. So, it’s just that this comes
I’m interested in actually making connections between what’s happening to that individual and that frame and the systems that are creating that frame. I mean, photography is a technology. Data is a technology. They can all be biased. – Ekene Ijeoma
The interview below has been edited for length and clarity. Ekene Ijeoma’s responses are in bold.
Lyric Prince: First, what interested you in the sociologi-
cal implications behind some of the things that you are focusing on right now? I find that a lot of times when
people are interested in these sort of things, maybe
they have personal experience with it, or know someone who’s gone through it. Where do your ideas come from?
Ekene Ijeoma: I don’t make autobiographical works. What I usually say is from life experiences and data
studies. Specifically, with every project that I’ve done,
Pan-African AIDS | Photo courtesy of: Isometric Studio
an idea and then look for funding. The only commission
Just listening to my environment. Seeing what’s hap-
about was the most recent project where they asked
that are affected by or are concerned about these is-
all the work has been commissioned. Usually, I’ll have
that wasn’t something that I wasn’t already thinking me what I was thinking about infectious disease and inequality (Pan-African AIDS, 2018). That was for the Mu-
pening in my environment [as well as with] the people sues.
seum of the City of New York. And for that one, I was
LP: So, there’s an interplay between the technology,
a project about AIDS. I was watching documentaries
use it, and the resulting change of it and the world
already in conversation with a friend who was doing about AIDS with them [for research], and it just seemed that there weren’t a lot of Black people in these films. LP: Right.
the original use of the technology, how certain actors
around it. I would say that when you have a particular
thing invented, like the Gutenberg printing press, you
change how people are able to access information and to disseminate it.
EI: But I knew that the Black population was being af-
EI: I’m making contemporary artwork, with the materi-
know, that’s just to say that everything started from
nology old and new. To create work that reflects the
fected by AIDS, so I started researching that. But you being in conversation with another artist who’s also
thinking about social issues—and with people who are
als of our time. Sometimes that’s with technology, techtime, I think we should also- not always- but frequently use the means of the time. So, that’s my relationship
#weareblackculture | SUGARCANEMAG.com
9
with technology. Because I’m making work about social
say that I’m interested in making those connections
receive information about social issues or perceive it?
that I don’t think photography as technology has been
issues… think about it, what’s one of the first ways you It’s usually through photography. But as we know, pho-
tography can be really biased. There’s a lot happening
between an individual and systems, which is something able to do as well.
outside of the frame of photography that could actu-
What I want to get at with why I use technology – actu-
the frames. So, with technology, we could look outside
why I use data- is to actually scale up personal experi-
ally change the meaning and context of what’s inside
ally, I will stop using [the word] technology and just say
“One of the things PanAfrican AIDS speaks to is the similarities between the ‘first world,’ ‘second world,’ whatever... how is it that there are Black populations in the US that have the same HIV/ AIDS prevalence rates as African countries? – Ekene Ijeoma Pan-African | AIDS | Photo courtesy of: Isometric Studio
of that through the use of data; look outside the lenses
ences into something that you can see is shared with
subject, the individual.
tions. I’m trying to get at ways of knowing what you
of photography. So much of photography is about the
We’re no longer working on an individual scale anymore—I’m not going to speak on national or global,
[but] working on a system scale. So, when making con-
are seeing is the truth. We can hear the truth of one individual, but how do you try and expand that truth to represent multiple individuals?
temporary work, I’m interested in actually making con-
LP: Through numbers, yes.
and that frame and the systems that are creating that
EI: And when I talk about something, for example, the
technology. They can all be biased.
2008 that said Black people were left behind,” but that
nections between what’s happening to that individual
frame. I mean, photography is a technology. Data is a
LP: Absolutely. EI: But at least I can show more scope and scale with
data that are translated to other representations. Photography is one representation, data visualization can be another representation, and so on. It’s just to
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other individuals, and to take that and make connec-
SUGARCANE MAGAZINE | APRIL 2019 | Issue TWO
AIDS project, I could have said, “Oh, I saw this report in was 10 years ago. So how could I know and understand
that’s still a truth? You have to use technology to see. I
could go around and take photos of people being af-
fected by AIDS. That doesn’t really show you what’s been happening for the last few decades.
LP: It just shows you emotional manipulation, in a way.
Yes, but I want the facts. I want to know what I’m seeing
is true or is a truth. I want to translate that, and I want to bridge the gap. I’m engaging with that space between
facts and feelings. So, to go back to the Refugee Project, see, the problem is that’s too many facts for me,
and that was the last project I did that was all about showing ‘just the facts.’
I don’t show any work with numbers like that anymore. That project had to be done because the media wasn’t showing the full scope and scale of the refugee crisis.
We [design studio Hyperakt and I] did that project before the European refugee crisis. There are a lot of
gaps in the media – so, we had to show everything, but I don’t like having to do that. When people see data
Pan-African AIDS | Photo courtesy of: Isometric Studio
they say, ok, now I know the truth! But in fact, there’s
saying, ok, the US is pointing fingers at Brazil, but look
I’m making now bridges the gap between [data and
first world, developed; but why is it that you can find
visualized, they perceive that to be a reality, finite. And no space for the imaginary. And I think that the work
imagination]. With a map, I think that you don’t really imagine what else is happening.
what’s happening in the US! We’re supposed to be the the same images in the favelas that you can find in the ghettos in the US?
LP: In a way, some people may say inequality in other
LP: It really makes me think about the manipulative
which is actually when you think about it, an insulting
gitimate, versus what you are doing, putting facts out
parts of the world is beneficial to ‘first world’ countries, term to the rest of the world.
power of photography, a power that could also be lein a more nuanced way.
EI: Yes, but one of the things Pan-African AIDS speaks
EI: Let me also say that’s why I don’t like to look at
world,’ whatever. It’s just to say that all of those condi-
that people would donate to Flavio and to a skinny boy
to is the similarities between the ‘first world,’ ‘second tions exist in the US. [The project talks about] how is it
that there are Black populations in the US that have the same HIV/AIDS prevalence rates as African countries?
There’s a really interesting exhibition that I just visited
subjects online…Going back to photography, why is it somewhere in Africa but not donate to a boy in a Black American ghetto?
LP: It’s because… it’s a failing, our own failing.
in Montreal about Gordon Parks and Flavio, a boy he
I’m speaking to that in a lot of ways. I’m exploring other
Everyone donated all this money to get Flavio’s fam-
images of what it is I’m talking about. I think those im-
photographed living in poverty within Rio’s favelas.
ily into a better home. And decades later, that home was the same – it didn’t look like much had changed in
their lives. And at the same time, another publication
ways of showing that condition without showing these ages have mostly been exhausted, and I’m searching for a new representation of what those can be.
in Brazil commissioned another photographer – I think
Ijeoma’s artwork:studioijeoma.com
lem and document the kids there living in poverty. Just
www.media.mit.edu/groups/poetic-justice/overview
that the photographer was from Brazil – to go to Har-
The Poetic Justice research group details:
#weareblackculture | SUGARCANEMAG.com
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a r o p s a i D s e t o N
Nathaniel Mary Quinn combines seemingly random fragments into elaborate portraits to comment on the complexity of our identities. Each time Quinn creates a portrait, he ventures to capture the essence of a subject’s identity. The essence is felt rather than researched; he never creates a pre-sketch before rendering a portrait. Instead,
Studio Visit with Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Quinn orients himself by the lasting imprints of waking visions. His visceral reaction to the images he channels inform how the portrait will be made.
BY: Angela N. Carroll
Many of his works are depictions of real people and
real relationships. Some are of acquaintances, people
he has observed at a distance or brief encounters that
left a lasting impression. Quinn never knows which encounters will trigger a vision that results in a portrait; works could be rendered days, months, or sometimes even years after the
initial interaction. The tediousness of his work is the effort to intuitively and precisely realize his vision. The resultant
portraits feel like jazz sounds, look how emotions feel and are as catching as holy folk slain in spirit to the bellow of Kamasi’s sax calling down the worlds.
Quinn’s New York studio sits at the center of a quiet block in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The walls are covered in a gridding of reference images and tape. Paints, pastels and chalk rest in organized and discordant clusters
around the space. Small and large blocks of canvas, sometimes covered with jagged-edged patches of construction
paper, line the walls with finished and semi-realized portraits.
Subtle demarcations separate one group of works from another. Quinn paints images he channels in the spaces left uncovered. After hours and hours working in this way of push and
pull, reveal and conceal, memory and subconscious automatic painting, all the patches of construction paper are removed,
and the essence of his subject revealed. There is magic in the
in-between spaces; the gaps stir his intuition, invoke his imagination. For him, these visions and the essence he articulates Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s studio Photo courtesy of the author
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through portraiture is a more accurate depiction of his subject than any realist figuration could ever express. Quinn is deeply
SUGARCANE MAGAZINE | APRIL 2019 | Issue TWO
Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s studio | Photo courtesy of the author
engaged or possibly obsessed
Angela N. Carroll: What I love
and they can produce great
the essence of our humanity
feels. There is a rhythm to the
many years I never felt fulfilled
with the pursuit of capturing through portraiture.
Introduced to Quinn through a
mutual friend, I was humbled by
about the work is how free it
way you work, but the approach
isn’t formulaic. Has your process always been intuitive?
how gracious and down to earth
NMQ: As it stands today, it
body of work, the history of his
However, that wasn’t always the
he was. We discussed his latest making, and his hopes about
the continued evolution of his aesthetic.
Nathaniel Mary Quinn: Do you mind if I smoke?
(He pulls out a small bag of bidi
cigarettes, lights one and lets it rest in the corner of his mouth. The stick bops with the ani-
mated rhythm of his articulation; sways but stays in place as he
ponders and shares his process.)
is very intuitive. That’s true.
case. Many years before it was
heavily laden with a lot of exces-
works. However, for me, for
entirely in my studio process. So of course during that time I felt
compelled to make works about being Black in America, race relations, doing a critique of
pop culture, or investigating the relationship between feminine and masculine.
sive overthinking …I would
These were topics in which I
correlation between images and
my interest emanated from a
take a lot of time to locate the
what they mean. For some rea-
son, it always had to make some
intellectual sense to me. However, that is the kind of thing you
learn when you are in art school,
which is fine but after art school, you spend so many years trying to unlearn. For many artists,
using the analytical method of
thinking is very useful for them
was interested, but I don’t think very genuine place grounded in conviction. It was more about
an obligatory activity from be-
ing Black American or thinking and believing that this was the kind of work that I would have
to make if I were ever to be embraced by the art world proper. During that time I bore witness
#weareblackculture | SUGARCANEMAG.com
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13
We Have Way
too many multilayered experiences that begin to build your identity. The construction of identity is cruelly made and put together and also harmonious. You continue to live with the diverse experiences that you have. –Nathaniel Alice Quinn
to Kehinde Wiley and Wangechi Mutu. Much of their works were grounded in these ideas. Their
work is beautiful and robust, but it never dawned on me – not
Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s studio | Photo courtesy of the author
a reflection of stuff that deeply
now where you are working
until 2013 to do works that were resonated with me, which
meant that I had to go against
the grain of my learning in grad school. I was encouraged to
get away from the emotional
[In] 2013 I was presented with an opportunity, like a salon-style show in a woman’s brown-
every decision I made for myself had some deeply embedded meaning it was more about
leaning on just pure intuitive expression.
and to place [my] bets on the
stone, right [around] here in
Letting things be what they
as opposed to something that
on paper in like 5 hours. It is
and working from the heart
intellectual or rhetoric or theory is real or happening. For me
my upbringing in Chicago, my
family circumstances, things like this and memories and histories and the impact of those things on my emotional health and
psychological health, that gets you into a more spiritual realm
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from the soul.
the Clinton Hill area. I did work the fastest work of art I ever
made on paper. [laughs] I have
not been able to do that since;
this was a time when I divorced myself from the obsession of
finding theoretical correlations
between my photos. I had abandoned, for myself, the idea that
SUGARCANE MAGAZINE | APRIL 2019 | Issue TWO
were. Being present with that space more than the headspace. Trusting in your abilities to carry you through. The piece then
told me… before that, it was I
was making the interpretation,
this time it was the work saying your interpretation doesn’t
matter, this piece is this. I called
the work “Charles” and it was
AC: Right, and playing on that!
you are making a body of work
Charles whom I had not seen
funny. Satirical. Like “I Wish a
not trying to make these pieces;
a work of art about my brother since I was 15 years old. Then it
hit me that, man, I still carry the burden of my family abandon-
ment. That is very important to
me because my family left when I was 15 years old.
That shift shapes your life, and it shapes your identity and the
way you see the world. It forms the way you connect with peo-
ple, or it removes authentic con-
nection that you could have with people so that it’s difficult for
me to have secure attachments to other people. That is when
my work shifted completely. Before that I was a more naturalistic artist, that is, I painted what I saw. After [Charles] I became more intuitive in my practice
where I no longer cared about
the physicality of the subject or the object – it was about trying to find ways to express visually that which is not seen.
AC: Do you consider your pro-
cess of intuitive memory mining healing?
NMQ: Yeah. In many respects, it is healing and exciting. How-
Because some of your work is Motherfucker Would,” it’s so sparse but the way that the
brother’s lip is tight. [laughs] Its culture. Community. Our People.
NMQ: That’s from a joke by Cedric the Entertainer in Kings of
Comedy. I wish a motherfucker
give it form. Because emo-
tions are exciting, we can show
or emotions or feelings.
I was not courageous enough
or brave enough to trust those visions.
culminations of many people or from various perspectives?
NMQ: They are fragments of
still a very ephemeral entity; it
tity. Identity is a conglomera-
because it’s in your face, but it’s can move from you to the next
person, to the next person, like a spirit in its own right. It’s not
you; it’s just an expression that comes and goes.
AC: Will newer works consider similar themes?
NMQ: The premise of the [next]
various aspects of one’s idention of many different vantage
points. We have way too many multilayered experiences that
begin to build your identity. The construction of identity is cru-
elly made and put together and also harmonious. You continue to live with the diverse experiences that you have.
show is to delve deeper into
When I do those works, I am
often felt but never seen; the
identity, or an aspect of you.
making works [about what is]
internalized energy-- you don’t see it but, you feel it.
trying to paint and draw your It’s not the combination of
many different people; it’s the culmination of many aspects
of your character. That’s how
rity or fear about a thing or
try to give form to affectations
visions did not occur. It just says
expression, and it takes shape
I have done work about other
would talk and reveal things. I
visions. It doesn’t mean that the
observations about one person
NMQ: It’s a vibe! I always have
know; I’ve spent time with. They
never operated from so-called
articulate that expression and
vulnerability not just for me but,
people. These are people I
visions. Before this practice, I
AC: Are the people you portray
I was trying to find a way to
AC: Issa vibe.
I’ve done shows recently where
they just come to me in these
would… that’s an expression.
ever, it is a process that requires a great deal of empathy and
like this, it’s not contrived. I’m
these fantasies about insecucircumstance. Many of the
works have been about that.
They are reflections or pieces
from my imagination about my parents. What it must’ve been
like when they first met. When
people look. What you look like within yourself. The essence of
you looks like this- our internal-
ized world, the world that is not seen but it is felt.
AC: How does memory play into the work and your process?
NMQ: Above me is a cloud. In
#weareblackculture | SUGARCANEMAG.com
15
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that cloud, there are a hundred different things.
AC: Does traditional collage influence your process?
through me. I’m just a medium. Then I get a vision.
NMQ: No. I don’t recall ever doing collage. To me,
there, and the idea comes which is a visual picture
canon of art history. He is as great as Velasquez or
I don’t know which of those works will be flowing I don’t know the works in the cloud, but they are of a piece. At that time I don’t know what it is or
what it means, but I have a visceral response to it. The visions always composed of different shapes
Rembrandt; Kerry James Marshall is in that category to me as well. [They] are masters.
and colors and forms.
I was no doubt influenced by his work, but I never
That vision functions as the drawing template and I
works. Never. My pre-sketch is my vision. When I
pretty much broadcast that image onto the surface of the paper and then I find photographs to help fulfill various portions of it; eyes, nose, color pat-
terns. If it’s a figure, torso or coat, gorillas’ arm or
pigs snout or horses leg, arm from superhero from a comic book. I’m using the vision as a guidepost to guide me through it. I’m working at the mo-
ment. When you are working in the moment, you
make any preliminary sketches or collages for my
make the works, I am not trying to create collage
works. They just come out that way. I am trying to
build and construct an internalized world. I am trying to develop and build a hidden world.
AC: What do you want people to experience when they engage your work?
are present. You must be present to make artwork.
NMQ: My only hope is that when any viewer
the work tells me oh, that’s Bobby, that’s J.B.,
resonance from the work. That’s it. As simple as
You remove yourself from excessive thinking. Then that’s Van, or oh this is the wielding ax against the beaver, that’s the expression of a certain resentment I have against somebody. You find a way to put it on the paper. You don’t know what’s
bothering you until you make it. The work reveals
an aspect of you. I can’t avoid being genuine and honest with the work.
16
Romare Bearden is one of the great masters in the
SUGARCANE MAGAZINE | APRIL 2019 | Issue TWO
engages with my work, that they feel an emotional that. [That] they can feel like the work is alive; that the work breathes. When I create, I try to make
work from my soul. I want people to feel it even if they don’t know what they are feeling. I want to be more effective at the expression of the emotional resonance of the soul, the spirit. That’s my pursuit.
The Changing Landscape of
Collecting Art Commissioner, a subscription-based art patronage model, expands access to the contemporary art world by fostering equal exchanges between art enthusiasts, artists, and distributors. Founder and Curator, Dejha Carrington believes that her innovative approach will create a sustainable pipeline for underrepresented communities to learn more about art collection. Commissioner.us is supported by a two-year grant from the Knight Foundation and also receives research and development support from Locust Projects WaveMakers. The platform officially went live in early September 2018. By: Angela N. Carroll
“[We are] interested in building systems and access,
Dejha Carrington: A couple of things. One thing was
chamber to the front. Everyday people can become
the level they deserved. Most of the folks who are ben-
and in bringing people who are not already in that echo collectors,” Carrington shared with me during a brief
interview. One of the most interesting components of this model is the precedent it sets around access for
communities living outside of major art metropolises
to invest in the contemporary art world; a market many consider exclusionary and elite. With Commissioner, Carrington hopes to “cultivate a more connected, artsinvested Miami community.”
The true power of Commissioner resides in an idea that troubles presumed hierarchies about who an art collec-
the idea that artists weren’t getting paid or valued at efiting are not including artists at the table. Why aren’t
we thinking creatively about art patronage versus the actual making process? I thought about how artists in
Miami could become more significant stakeholders;
how art can be a conduit for conversation and investment to bring people together; people supporting
people. In that way, at the very core, we are a conduit for imagination. That was a broader framework for me.
I had a conversation with COO cofounder Rebekah Monson, who wanted to know more about the art world.
tor should be, what cities should dominate art markets,
We are based in Miami. The idea here is to take a hyper-
artworks. “Artists are authoring their own stories; and
that’s where it needs to start. We hope to bring Miami
and which communities should have access to valuable people who may have previously called themselves art
enthusiasts are self-identifying as new collectors, pa-
trons, and stakeholders.”, Carrington continued. “We
local focus. The action happens with your neighbors,
artists together with local collectors so [they] can speak to the issues and experiences that feel shared in the city.
will know if we are successful if more individuals enter
the arts conversation for the very first time, and if those who have been excluded from this conversation use
our tools and model to pool their resources in support of the artists they believe in.”
Angela N Carroll: What inspired you to create Commissioner?
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SUGARCANE MAGAZINE | APRIL 2019 | Issue TWO
“I want to see more Brown and Black people owning more Brown and Black art.” – Dejha Carrington
FEATURE | Dejha Carrington
AC: Any plans to expand membership outside of Miami?
DC: In terms of commissioned artists we are working
DC: We have plans to expand in the next two years in
I want Commissioner to feature different mediums;
non-art world cities in the U.S. like Oakland or Detroit.
If we can rally local communities to support each other and can benefit from each other’s resources, we can make moves together. Eventually, we hope to have a
collection of folks who want to be a part of the conver-
sation. It means we can think about limited editions for
with contemporary and early to mid-career artists.
mixed media, sculpture, photography, and reach a broad demographic. Our current commissioned artist, TYPOE, works with collage. [Commissioner] Collectors and Patrons will have a variety of work at their disposal.
Not every collector will love the piece they receive.
this space. The possibilities are endless.
AC: You have a two-tier membership structure; Collectors and Patrons. Can you talk about the difference between them and how each promotes art access?
DC: Collector level will place one original first edition
print in a collector’s hand. We commission four artists a year, one each quarter, to make one limited edi-
tion print for each collector. The Collector level gets you the artwork, into the commissioning process, and
thinking about how to pull your resources to collect. Patron level allows folks to have some skin in the game
trons receive invites to monthly events in collectors’
We can foster more conversation. Imagination is a radical act of freedom. – Dejha Carrington
to studio visits.
However, a lot of this goes back to the question, do
We are essentially creating a space for conversation
sion. We want to stretch people to think beyond the
and is all about arts access and arts programming. Pahomes, conversations with art galleries, and invitations
and learning about art collecting. We only have 40
spots available, because of the intimacy, and we know
that people learn better in smaller groups. At Patron level, you build up a tool kit and walk away learning about how to become a collector. That’s why Commissioner is interesting. At the end of the day, both lev-
els are collecting alongside and outside the program and working on other opportunities to bring artists
you believe in the artist and the potential financial viaesthetic. I want to introduce as many mediums and
people into the collectors lives as possible. Everyone gets an original work. Commissioned artists create forty original works.
AC: What impact do you hope Commissioner will have on art collection in Miami and beyond?
into their lives. 100% of art collectors fees go to pay
DC: I want to see more Brown and Black people own-
Knight Foundation pays for art programming; it’s a test
ble to make sure that folks who look like us can pull our
for commissioned artwork. A two-year grant from the to see if in the next two years arts programming can be sustained without grants.
AC: Collectors tastes are as vast as the art world. Will Commissioner focus on a particular aesthetic or collection from commissioned artists?
ing more Brown and Black art. I want as much as possimoney and resources to participate in this economy
and be stakeholders, that way, if any bubbles burst, our
artists do not become victim to a system. Membership programs work. We have more power when we pull
our money together. We can foster more conversation. Imagination is a radical act of freedom.
#weareblackculture | SUGARCANEMAG.com
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WANGARI MATHENGE
THE ART OF
Wangari Mathenge is a visual artist whose work confronts issues regarding the visibility of the black female in the context of both the traditional African patriarchal society and the Diaspora. Her portraits and figurative paintings are realized through bold gestural strokes and mark making at times within structured compositions which derive from images of herself and those of friends and acquaintances. Her works are held in private collections in Europe, Africa and North America.
Wangari Mathenge | After The Dust | 2018 | Oil on canvas | 55� x 39�
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SUGARCANE MAGAZINE | APRIL 2019 | Issue TWO
TOP: Wangari Mathenge | The Peculiar Pastime Of Prescient People | 2019 | Oil on canvas | 47” x 56” BOTTOM: Wangari Mathenge | Of Lands Bespoke II | 2019 | Oil on canvas | 26” x 35”
#weareblackculture | SUGARCANEMAG.com
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Wangari Mathenge | Of Lands Bespoke III | 2019 | Oil and acrylic on canvas | 22” x 28”
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SUGARCANE MAGAZINE | APRIL 2019 | Issue TWO
TOP: Wangari Mathenge | Of Lands Bespoke | 2019 | Oil and acrylic on paper | 18” x 24” BOTTOM: Wangari Mathenge | Fences – Kagumo, Kirinyaga County | 2017 | 18” x 24” | Acrylic and collage on paper
#weareblackculture | SUGARCANEMAG.com
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