Packaged Black: Derrick Adams and Barbara Earl Thomas

Henry

DERRICK ADAMS and BARBARA EARL THOMAS OCT 2, 2021 – MAY 1. 2022

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INTRODUCTION

NINA BOZICNIK and SHAMIM M. MOMIN

Packaged Black brings together the work of artists Derrick Adams (b. 1970, Baltimore, MD) and Barbara Earl Thomas (b. 1948, Seattle, WA) in a collaborative, multi-media installation developed from their shared dialogue about representation, Black identity, and practices of cultural resistance. This exhibition is a synthesis of a multi-year, intergenerational, and cross-country exchange between New York-based Adams and Seattle-based Thomas that began after the two artists exhibited work alongside each other in a group show at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2017.

Adams’s work in Packaged Black engages the relationship between Black culture and commerce that is core to his practice, alongside the ways fashion and self-styling communicate identity. Among the works on view are large, striking collages and sculptures developed from his ongoing research into the life and legacy of influential African-American designer Patrick Kelly (1954–1990). Additional works in the exhibition include larger-than-life paintings from the Beauty World series, inspired by the creative expression of hair salons and wig designs that shape self-image in the Black community.

In complement, Thomas, who often works in printmaking, glass, drawing, and monumental sculptures made from intricately cut Tyvek and paper, translates contemporary realities and lived experience through the visual language of myth and archetypal stories. For Packaged Black, Thomas draws upon the role of media and fairytales in shaping social expectations and her own conception of self. She created all new work for the exhibition, including an immersive installation conceived as a ‘transformation room’ and a series of cut-paper portraits of friends and colleagues that riff on the concept of the royal court.

Adams and Thomas’s work intermingles across multiple galleries, creating an exhibition that forms an interconnected constellation of relationships that span time and place, and celebrates the creative imagination, adaptation, and resilience of Black communities.

Sumptuous color, intricate pattern, and dynamic texture are cornerstones to the artists’ work and imbue the galleries with recurrent reminders of pleasure and joy.

In a culminating gallery, the artists together conceived of a rotating lantern that casts their images throughout the gallery, accompanied by a music playlist that offers a space for dreaming and otherworldly imagining.

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IN CONVERSATION

DERRICK ADAMS and BARBARA EARL THOMAS

The following is a conversation between the artists recorded in summer 2021, edited for clarity and length. In this convivial exchange, Adams and Thomas address the origins of their collaboration and the title Packaged Black as it resonates across their work, engaging individual and collective histories of Black life and cultural value.

Barbara Earl Thomas: Derrick, you and I were introduced at the Museum of Modern Art by a dear mutual friend, Sandra Jackson-Dumont, during the opening of Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series in 2015. We next met on the occasion of a seminar for Lawrence’s 100th birthday at the Savannah College of Art and Design. We were staying in the same house, and we ended up sitting on the front porch of this beautiful colonial mansion, where we had what I call an antebellum moment. That was my first introduction to your verbal storytelling and your crazy sense of humor. I thought, “Wow, I can be with this.”

Derrick Adams: We visited Savannah a couple of times together. Our conversations were definitely a highlight of those trips. It felt very natural that we became close because of our interests and because we understood each other’s demeanor really well.

I was excited when the Henry Art Gallery proposed that we collaborate on an exhibition. I was interested in us continuing our friendship and the conversation about our work together, and in thinking about how we could make a show. It became such an interesting challenge to think about how we would collaborate: What would that look like? What does it mean to be in the same space with another artist? How are we going to communicate, or how does the work communicate?

I was particularly excited when you proposed the title for the exhibition— Packaged Black. This concept puts together all the things that I think about when I’m making work surrounding ideas of commerce and culture that I feel are part of our experience as Black people. The fact that our identity and our culture is part of commerce.

Barbara: When I was attending art school in the mid-1970s, the whole idea that you related to commerce in any kind of way was almost verboten. It was like, “Oh, that’s the dirty money world over there. You’re in the pure art world over here,” which always was a little bit stressful for me. The way I feel and the way that art worked for me, I didn’t have art in one space and then my life in another space.

You’ve got your visual art, you’ve got your music, you’ve got your food, you’ve got your clothes, and it’s all together as opposed to separated out. When I look at your work and I look at the work of a number of people who would be considered your contemporaries, there’s no making a distinction. You’re using everything that’s available 10

in life. When I saw that in your work, I felt that could be something that could push me a little bit. I feel that’s the beauty of being in proximity with people who are not exactly in the same space you are, whether it’s in life or time.

When I saw your work at the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago, it was serious, but there was also something playful and all out-of-the-world about it. It was about being Black, but it was also about being imaginative and being outside of the box in your imagination. I think that one really has to work at that. The collaboration with you at the Henry was an opportunity for me to step out into a space that was perhaps not one I would have imagined on my own.

When I see your work inspired by the fashion designer Patrick Kelly, I’m thinking, “What was he doing while he was making clothes and making fashion and impacting the commercial and cultural aesthetic for people whose bodies may not have necessarily fit into the mainstream look?”

Derrick: Or the mainstream definition of beauty or acceptability. I do a lot of research on artists. Artists in every area—it could be a chef whose way of making things I consider related to the lines of visual art. Likewise, there are fashion designers I tend to gravitate toward whom I think of as artists. I definitely believe that Patrick fits into the category of a visual artist who makes wearable sculpture.

He was able to be in both the art world and the commercial world. He made standard items that could fit on everyday women to give them a certain sense of flexibility and beauty and complement their body structure. He also had the liberty of making things that were much more opulent, much more conceptual, more theatrical in the way they were presented on a runway.

Patrick had a very particular way of presenting his ideas. It reminds me of performance art. I became very interested in him as an artist—researching his life, things related to his practice, and drawing inspiration for making a body of work. I was totally inspired by what I found when looking at his drawings and reading Patrick’s letters to his friends, which are housed in the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. I became immersed in the archive of material—it gave me insight into his thought process as a designer, as an artist. As a result, I started to make these collages, called Mood Boards, based on looking at Patrick’s use of texture and how he assembled things in his designs. The collages are highly structured stories, highly structured arrangements that incorporate Patrick’s clothing patterns and the colors he used in his final products. It wasn’t a far reach to engage in conversation with his work; the colors he used are similar to those I use in the color blocking of my paintings. The collages were a natural progression that moved from my usual breaking up of the figure to more abstract forms that incorporated Patrick’s clothing patterns as a stand-in for the figure.

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Barbara: You’ve reacted to Kelly as a designer and a maker of fashion, and in this show, I’m reacting to your visual research about Patrick Kelly and his designs. When I saw the images of the patterns, colors, and shapes you were creating, I thought, “Okay, what does that spark in my mind?” I’m thinking about being around lots of people with deep senses of how they exist in the world, how they are perceived, knowing that the bodies that they come in are not the standard one presented to us through the larger media.

We understand that the mainstream is not designing fashion for us so, almost unconsciously, we make adjustments to whatever is the current off-the-rack style to both personalize it and reshape it in our own image. We go behind the scenes and say, “Okay, I’m getting ready to go to this event, party, ceremony, and I’m going to dress up. I know what the contemporary style is, but I’m going to adapt it, turn it inside out, or drape it in some way that the mainstream has not anticipated.”

When I think about Patrick Kelly, I think about how he was giving us something in our arsenal to work with, whether it’s a shape of clothing, mixing together of patterns that people might not think go together, or wearing something outrageous on your head or on your bottom that causes people to look twice. He put his fashion sense into the zeitgeist in a way that allowed people like me to be in the contemporary world with clothes designed for the bodies we are in and enhanced our armor against the world.

Decades after his death, Kelly’s fashions are still affecting the way people dress now.

When I look at your pieces, I think that it’s very much about people having fun, but also being serious about how we present ourselves to the world.

Derrick: For me, the concept of Packaged Black refers to the history of Black America and how Black culture has been such an anchor in establishing modernism, as well as shaping contemporary American culture in a particular way. I’m thinking about jazz music, thinking about dance, thinking about blues, thinking about street fashion.

When I start to backtrack to the archive, I find out that most popular, mainstream white musicians or white fashion designers have drawn from historically Black culture.

It takes twenty to twenty-five years for mainstream American culture to catch up with things that are happening within Black culture. This happened with breakdancing, and now they’re teaching all these other forms of street performance in institutions and dance schools. You can learn to vogue at places like Juilliard! But I already thought voguing was important twenty or so years ago. Or that breakdancing was important twenty, thirty years ago. Being anointed by an institution does not necessarily give us the credibility that we as a community can give ourselves in establishing what is important.

Packaged Black talks about the process of transforming urban culture, the Black culture of America, into something suitable for consumption in a way that does not necessarily pertain to the original community. It’s now been formed and packaged to be more accessible to people outside of the culture, who may not understand the origin of the words and phrases people are using, or popular music now, or current 16

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fashions. Or it obscures the conditions that led to these forms of cultural expression—socioeconomic structures, political structures, oppressive structures, and the perseverance that gives life to certain movements that are part of Black culture. As an example, Balenciaga recently released sweatpants with sewn-in boxer tops that appear as if your pants are sagging, revealing your boxer shorts—a decades-old style choice that was basically criminalized for Black male youths (who were subject to stop-and-frisk police policies) is now high fashion.

I’m very interested in the idea of American history and the way that I know it, what I know the truth of it to be—to bring it to my work, to bring it into visible public spaces. To educate people about the perseverance of Black culture in the face of adversity, and to educate people on the significance of Black culture in and to America. My work is about highlighting certain elements from the community that are so significant that they need to be acknowledged in some way, to emphasize their importance. To emphasize not only for people outside of the community, but for people in the community, to realize, “You did this. You made this. You influenced this by doing that.”

I’m interested in making things that people can spend time looking at and dissecting. It doesn’t have to be outlandish. It doesn’t have to be opulent. It doesn’t have to be entertaining, necessarily, for you as a viewer. You can be entertained, but that’s not my motivation. It’s really about me showing you the formal aesthetic of urban culture and the formal aesthetic of Black culture and how significant it is and how influential it is to the overall landscape of the world.

Barbara: Speaking of Black contribution, what I’ve tried to present inside of our collaboration here is the creative adaptation that we bring to the table. I’m thinking about Black women, Black men, our ability to say, “Here’s what’s happening.” I think, for example, about the outfits that the Talking Heads wore, with those big, giant shoulders, and the things that influenced that look.

Derrick: The Zoot Suit, that concept of the Zoot Suit that was worn during the Harlem Renaissance.

Barbara: Exactly. All of a sudden, the fashion world adapts Black wearers’ pop of the collar, their exuberant combinations of patterns, which becomes a style that is taken over by the mainstream. When we step into the room, we are coding and decoding with fashion.

There’s something about being fearless in the face of your perceived imperfection and taking that and using that as your calling card. In Seattle, where I live, we are six percent Black people. I could go all day and never see another Black person. When I get ready to go out, I think, “How am I going to present myself?

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How am I going to emphasize my ability to hold my space?” Just in case somebody says something really crazy, I will be fortified—not only my interior but my exterior.

That’s how I think about how we package ourselves and step out into the world.

What I wanted to do in our show was to go deep into all of the dreams that are part of my imagination and how they become realized in the actual world. I’ve been reading a lot about what court life was like in the times of kings and queens, which had a lot to do with how you dressed and where you were placed in the hierarchy of the social structure. In the show, I have this space where I’ve taken certain men—you are one of them—and I have recast them as my royal court. The way they’re dressed and the way they’re presented is a mix of royalty and also the everyday. This is how I see and read the world.

I’ve also used the metaphor of Cinderella as my matrix. Anytime you step into a dressing room, it’s like you are divesting yourself of whatever your reality is, and now you’re in a transformative space where you get to reinvent yourself right there. That’s what we’re doing every day. We’re all trying to reinvent ourselves. I’m now trying to reinvent myself. How do I step out into the world and feel good?

My aim here is to say, “Here are thoughts and dreams that we’ve had. This is how we’ve reacted to those thoughts and dreams.” And while not everyone may recognize them as such, these men and women have interior lives and dreams, and in them we are the princesses and princes, kings and queens.

I am interested in the ways we continue, under great pressures and stress, to pursue a desire to be whole people—not pieces of people, but whole people. I hope that my work in Packaged Black helps to show our audience how we have walked along the timeline of our history in this country, picking up a shape, style, or color, an inventiveness that has allowed us to remain whole, even in the face of attempted obliteration.

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EXHIBITION CHECKLIST

Dimensions are in inches followed by centimeters; height precedes width precedes depth.

DERRICK ADAMS

Pose 3, 2017 Acrylic paint, clothing patterns, fabric, paper, painted aluminum, oak, plexiglass 72 x 24 x 12 (182.9 x 61 x 30.5) Pg: 22

All works courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York Big Pants to Fill from Patrick Kelly, The Journey/Mood Board, 2017 Clothing patterns, acrylic, and fabric collage on paper 44 x 39 3/4 (111.8 x 101) image size; 52 3/4 x 41 x 2 (133.9 x 104.1 x 5) frame size Pg: 20

Prints Are In from Patrick Kelly, The Journey/Mood Board, 2017 Clothing patterns, acrylic, fabric 60 x 40 (152.4 x 101.6) image size; 62 1/2 x 42 1/2 x 2 (158.8 x 109.2 x 5.1) frame size Pg: 22

Changing Room 1, 2021 Mixed media collage on paper 40 x 60 (101.6 x 152.4) image size; 44 7/8 x 64 13/16 x 2 (114 x 164.6 x 5.1) frame size Pg: 21

Runway 3 from Patrick Kelly, The Journey/Mood Board, 2017 Clothing patterns, acrylic, and fabric on paper 60 x 40 (152.4 x 101.6) image size; 62 1/2 x 42 1/2 x 2 (158.8 x 109.2 x 5.1) frame size

Changing Room 2, 2021 Mixed media collage on paper 40 x 60 (101.6 x 152.4) image size; 44 7/8 x 64 13/16 x 2 (114 x 164.6 x 5.1) frame size Pg: 21

Runway 4 from Patrick Kelly, The Journey/Mood Board, 2017 Clothing patterns, acrylic, and fabric on paper 60 x 40 (152.4 x 101.6) image size; 62 1/2 x 42 1/2 x 2 (158.8 x 109.2 x 5.1) frame size Style Variation 14 from Beauty World, 2019 Acrylic paint on digital inkjet photograph on watercolor paper 70 x 44 (177.8 x 111.8) image size; 73 3/4 x 47 7/8 x 2 (187.3 x 121.6 x 5.1) frame size Pgs: 2, 6

Day Wear, Evening Wear from Patrick Kelly, The Journey/ Mood Board, 2017 Clothing patterns, acrylic, fabric 60 x 40 (152.4 x 101.6) image size; 62 1/2 x 43 x 2 (158.8 x 109.2 x 5.1) frame size Pg: 22

Style Variation 15 from Beauty World, 2019 Acrylic paint on digital inkjet photograph on watercolor paper 70 x 44 (177.8 x 111.8) image size; 73 3/4 x 47 7/8 x 2 (187.3 x 121.6 x 5.1) frame size Pgs: Cover, 2, 6

Lamping 1 from LIVE and IN COLOR/ON, 2016 Acrylic paint on mixed and reclaimed wood, welded steel shade, synthetic wig, lamp parts 27 1/2 x 8 x 7 (69.9 x 20.3 x 17.8)

Style Variation 27 from Beauty World, 2019 Acrylic paint on digital inkjet photograph, on Artex Canvas in custom silver frame 96 x 60 (243.8 x 152.4) image size; 96 1/2 x 60 1/4 x 1 3/4 (245.1 x 153 x 4.4) frame size

Lamping 7 from LIVE and IN COLOR/ON, 2016 Acrylic paint on mixed and reclaimed wood, welded steel shade, synthetic wig, lamp parts 28 x 9 x 8 1/2 (71.1 x 22.9 x 21.6) Pg: 17

Style Variation 38 from Beauty World, 2021 Acrylic paint and graphite on digital inkjet photograph, on Artex Canvas in custom silver frame 96 x 59 3/4 (243.8 x 151.8) image size; 96 1/2 x 60 1/4 x 1 3/4 (245.1 x 153 x 4.4) frame size Pg: 25

ON, 2016 Video, 3:38 min.

Pg: 24 Pose 1, 2017 Acrylic paint, clothing patterns, fabric, paper, painted aluminum, oak, plexiglass 71 3/4 x 24 3/4 x 12 11/16 (182.2 x 70 x 32.2) Pgs: 19, 22

Style Variation Grid 3 from Beauty World, 2019 Acrylic paint and graphite on digital inkjet photograph on watercolor paper 70 x 44 (177.8 x 111.8) image size; 74 x 48 (188 x 121.9) frame size

Pose 2, 2017 Acrylic paint, clothing patterns, fabric, paper, painted aluminum, oak, plexiglass 72 x 24 11/16 x 12 11/16 (182.9 x 70 x 32.2) Pg: 22

Style Variation Grid 10 from Beauty World, 2019 Acrylic paint and graphite on digital inkjet photograph on watercolor paper 70 x 44 (177.8 x 111.8) image size; 74 x 48 (188 x 121.9) frame size Pg: 3

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BARBARA EARL THOMAS

Sweet Prince, 2021 Paper cut with hand-printed color Approx. 50 x 26 (127 x 66)

All works courtesy of the artist and Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, unless noted otherwise Beauty in Repose, 2021 Paper cut with hand-printed color 60 x 47 (152.4 x 119.4) image size; 47 1/16 x 56 1/16 x 2 (119.5 x 142.4 x 5.1) frame size Pg: 5 Beauty in the Vines, 2021 Paper cut with hand-printed color 40 x 26 1/8 (101.6 x 66.36) image size; 47 1/16 x 33 1/16 x 2 (119.5 x 83.98 x 5.1) frame size Pgs: 13, 15

The String Man, 2021 Paper cut with hand-printed color 47 x 56 (119.4 x 142.2) Image source: photograph by Sung Kyun Park The Transformation Room, 2021 Hand-cut tyvek, paper cut with hand-printed paper Dimensions variable Pgs: 13–14, 15

DERRICK ADAMS and BARBARA EARL THOMAS Rotating Lantern, 2021 Cut paper images inserted into lantern mechanism Dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, and Salon 94, New York Pgs: 27–28

Body Adorned in Black and White, 2021 Steel frame bodice with hand-cut tyvek 81 x 24 x 15 (205.7 x 70 x 38.1) Body Adorned in Color, 2021 Steel frame bodice with hand-cut tyvek and hand-printed paper 81 x 24 x 15 (205.7 x 70 x 38.1) Pg: 12 Cinderella Redressed, 2021 Hand-cut tyvek, paper cut with hand-printed color, voile fabric 108 x 53 x 176 (274.3 x 134.6 x 447) Pgs: Cover, 1, 5

GRATITUDE AND THANKS FROM BARBARA EARL THOMAS TO:

Delicious, 2021 Paper cut with hand-printed color 60 x 45 (152.4 x 114.3) image size; 60 5/8 x 47 3/8 x 2 (154 x 120.3 x 5.1) frame size Image source: photograph by C. Davida Ingram Pgs: 5, 7

STUDIO ASSISTANTS AND CUTTERS Peggy Allen Jackson Chieko Phillips

Divine, 2021 Paper cut with hand-printed color 40 x 26 (101.6 x 66) image size; 48 3/4 x 34 3/4 x 1 3/8 (123.8 x 88.3 x 3.5) frame size Pg: 26

ASSISTANT CUTTERS Erin Dolan Debbie McGibbon Alicia Craven Anne Barker Stephanie Toliver Johnson DESIGNER/SEAMSTRESS Louise DiLenge

Gentleman, 2021 Paper cut with hand-printed color 40 x 26 (101.6 x 66) image size; 48 3/4 x 34 3/4 x 1 3/8 (123.8 x 88.3 x 3.5) frame size

BLACK SMITH Nick Rhinehart

Man in Waiting, 2020 Paper cut with hand-printed-color 40 x 26 (101.6 x 66) image size; 44 x 30 (111.8 x 76.2) frame size Courtesy of Paul Conliffe

DESIGNER Stephen Rue

Royal Blue, 2021 Paper cut with hand-printed color 60 x 26 (152.4 x 66) image size; 67 9/16 x 33 5/16 x 2 (171.6 x 84.6 x 5.1) frame size Pg: 14 Sonorous, 2021 Paper cut with hand-printed color 40 x 26 (101.6 x 66) image size; 48 3/4 x 34 3/4 x 1 3/8 (123.8 x 88.3 x 3.5) frame size

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PRINTER Sheila Cappola PHOTOGRAPHER Spike Mafford

Derrick Adams earned his BFA from Pratt Institute and MFA from Columbia University. He has completed residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, Maine and Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, New York. He is a recipient of a Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship, Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize, and Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award.

Adams has held solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver; Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg; and Museum of Arts and Design, New York, among other institutions. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts; National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati; and Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. His work is held in the notable collections of the Birmingham Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

He recently established the Last Resort Artist Retreat, an artist program and residency in Baltimore.

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All images by Jueqian Fang, except the portrait of artist by Jonathan Vanderweit and image of Lamping 7 by Nick Pironio.

© 2022 Henry Art Gallery. All rights reserved.

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H E N R YA R T. O R G

Packaged Black: Derrick Adams and Barbara Earl Thomas is organized by Nina Bozicnik, Curator, and Shamim M. Momin, Director of Curatorial Affairs. Lead support is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. This exhibition is also made possible by the generous support of Virginia and Bagley Wright. Media sponsorship provided by The Seattle Times.

HENRY ART GALLERY

Barbara Earl Thomas earned her BA and MFA from the University of Washington. She has been the recipient of the Howard S. Wright Award, Stranger Genius Award, Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award, and Hauberg Fellowship. Thomas has completed residencies at the Pilchuck School of Glass, Stanwood; Museum of Glass, Tacoma; and Goathead Press, Tieton. She has held solo exhibitions at the Evansville Museum of Arts and Science; Seattle Art Museum; Bainbridge Island Art Museum; and Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Bellingham. Thomas has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including at the Bellevue Arts Museum; Northwest African American Museum, Seattle; and Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art. Her work is included in the public collections of the Portland Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum, and Tacoma Art Museum.