Carol Jazzar is pleased to present liberation, an exhibition of sculptural installations, assemblages, and mixed media collages by North Carolina artist André Leon Gray. This will be his first solo exhibit at the gallery.
"liberation is my participation in a tradition held by an exclusive membership of power, privilege and cultural authority. i am the outsider inside the belly of the Beast."
Liberation is the self-determination to improve one's life from a journey of struggle and ignorance to empowerment and enlightenment. The works presented are meant to challenge the viewer to see the world with an open eye; to question the historical and contemporary conditioning we tend to overlook in our busy lives.
André Leon Gray's works explore social and political consciousness. Using reclaimed objects and images, Gray's works are an amalgam of ideas designed to generate associative and contradictory meanings. Each piece, densely packed and impeccably constructed, is like a conceptual equation meant to help the viewer to consider what it means to be African American at this particular moment in history.
Gray refers to his works as "eye gumbo", instead of mixed media. Eye gumbo is a visual meal for the mind, thickened with a roux of Black culture, marinated in social commentary and seasoned with consciousness.
Prior to the exhibition, André Leon Gray participated in the Fountainhead Residency in Miami. Gray has shown his works throughout the United States. His works are currently on view in the "African Continuum" exhibition at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and is part of the collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art.
in the project room
Rosemarie Chiarlone - Susan Weiner silhouette
Carol Jazzar is pleased to present Silhouette, the collaborative work of visual artist Rosemarie Chiarlone and poet Susan Weiner. This is their first exhibit at the gallery.
The work presented explores the tension between visual image and text. The evocative quality of Susan's poetic language maps a virtual reality that Rosemarie animates in a tangible vision. The intricate form created with cut-out and perforated text contrasts with the monotony of the white space. The wedded expressive linear lines and the words create a delicate balance that communicates a visceral immediacy.
Rosemarie and Susan started their collaboration in 2001.They have exhibited their works throughout the United States. Their works are part of the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, FL, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C., The Bienes Museum of the Modern Book, Fort Lauderdale, FL, The Arthur and Matta Jaffe Collection of Books as Aesthetic Objects, Boca Raton, FL. The Ruth Hughes Collection of Artist's Books at the Oberlin College, OH and the Wolfson Collection, Miami, FL.
