Souls Grown Deep Like the Rivers: Black Artists from the American South review – hardwon labours of love | Canada News Media
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Souls Grown Deep Like the Rivers: Black Artists from the American South review – hardwon labours of love

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2 years ago

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A line strung with dead birds runs across an overcast sky of blue-grey enamel. The image appears familiar: crows used as scarecrows, the dead displayed to warn off the living. But these birds turn out to be scraps of black cloth suspended from real wire against the canvas, each with curiously human overtones. A glove, a hat, the actual traces of people – beyond the allusions to Jim Crow laws and southern lynchings the tragic poetry is irreducible. These flightless birds have neither life nor freedom.

Thornton Dial was 80 when he made this masterpiece in 2008. Born on a former cotton plantation in Alabama, he left school at 10 to support his family, working for decades in a railroad car plant. His struggle to find time, money or materials outside the established systems and institutions is emblematic of all 34 Black artists from the American south in this show. Theirs is a hardwon art of direct speech and passionate vision, of love, witness and historic record conjured out of wood, tin and cloth, car paint and clay, even the dirt of the earth.

Thornton Dial’s Mrs Bendolph is the size and shape of a bed, flat to the wall, all crisscrossing cloth strips and wooden struts. It looks like a Robert Rauschenberg assemblage except that Dial had no knowledge of such artists (unlike Rauschenberg, who said the influence of southern “junkyard” art ran the other way). Carpet, textile, a dressing gown, furze from the fields, it commemorates one of the great Gee’s Bend quilters of rural Alabama, whose brilliant free-form quilts so often invoke that landscape.

Straight away you are out in those fields, looking down from above as a slave flees from her predator in one of Dial’s whorled drawings, and again through one of Mrs Bendolph’s spectacularly labyrinthine quilts, displayed on the opposite wall.

Dial’s nephew Ronald Lockett constructs a floral tribute to his great-grandmother’s back yard out of tin cans and car paint that exactly resembles the patches on the quilts she used to make. His rusted metal grille, concealing a sinister white mass, is a memorial to the 1995 Oklahoma bombing. You are in very deep, very fast, to community, landscape and penury.

Much of this art comes directly from the land itself. Ralph Griffin brings forth a magnificent eagle out of found wood, its wings a clattering array of sticks. Jesse Aaron’s frightening totem pole of a trunk looks back at you with plastic eyes.

Bessie Harvey, who carved dolls out of roots as a child in Georgia, sees a vision of black faces as they might look to white oppressors in a single tree root torn straight out of the ground.

The material is the message, along with the making. Joe Minter, whose colossal African Village in America is on permanent display in the half-acre yard of his home in Birmingham, Alabama, worked for years in construction and welding. One of his independent sculptures, at the Royal Academy, is a crucifixion in which the suffering figures of Christ and the two thieves on Calvary are invoked as industrial steel brackets, garage nails driven straight through them to welded iron crosses. Rust blossoms like blood. The past is riveted to the present.

One of the starkest works here is a large and very careful painting of a blue purse on an orange background, signed in pencil Nellie Mae Rowe. Rowe was a domestic servant in Georgia who taught herself to draw and decorated her yard with images, which were eventually shown in Black Folk Art 1930-80 in Washington in 1976. The purse was made a few years later, after Rowe was diagnosed with terminal cancer at the age of 81. It is a celebration of a vital object, apparently empty but treasured: simple as the image itself.

Sometimes the narrative feels too private, or opaque. Whose heads are these, fashioned in clay with real locks of hair? A very vivid painting called My Main Man Dan stands right out, with its Roy Lichtenstein licks, but who is this Dan? Why does Mose Tolliver portray himself as a huge red bull’s head?

Musician and artist Lonnie Holley’s Copying the Rock, from 1995, positions a chunk of rock on a defunct photocopier with words scrawled inside its lid: “It’s Like I am Living in Hell”, but presented entirely out of context like this, it is not obvious who’s speaking to whom. The sense of community is everywhere tight, but sometimes too much so.

There is abstract painting on old television screens, on corrugated tin and buckled plywood. A vision of Africa, made in Alabama in the 60s, was painted in blackberry juice and grass stain on old board. The sense of its making, so arduous, so loving, effortfully made with the fingertips, comes before (and indeed after) anything in the image itself.

And a point may come – it did for me, looking up at a sculpture made of rusted bean cans and baking trays – when the dissonance just gets too much, between the places where these works were made (and who made them) and the expensive white walls of the Royal Academy.

This is the whole point of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation behind the exhibition, of course. Founded by the late Atlanta collector and curator William Arnett to preserve and document African American art from the deep south, and now with a board of directors featuring Jane Fonda and the art star Amy Sherald, SGDF has produced numerous museums shows all over America. Works have even been shown in the White House.

But what we see here is a fraction of the collection – 64 works out of several thousand – crammed, moreover, in three small rooms at the back of the Royal Academy on antiseptic white plinths, with careful spotlighting, as if it were just another tranche of costly blue-chip art.

Still, it is a most welcome and essential introduction for British viewers to an art that is by turns jubilant, defiant, poignant, barbed, urgent, wild, elegiac, awkward, profound. And which, if it has any single defining characteristic, has no sense of banal formal constraints. Carvings become installations, sculptures become paintings that burst into three dimensions – like Dial’s self-portrait as an eagle trying to get out of a ridiculous suit, the stars of the spangled banner exploding in painted tin all around him: a bird lifting off into flight.

 

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Calvin Lucyshyn: Vancouver Island Art Dealer Faces Fraud Charges After Police Seize Millions in Artwork

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6 days ago

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September 13, 2024

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In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.

Alleged Fraud Scheme

Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.

Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.

Massive Seizure of Artworks

In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.

Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.

Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed

In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.

Court Proceedings Ongoing

The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.

Impact on the Local Art Community

The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.

For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.

As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.

While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.

Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.

As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.

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Ukrainian sells art in Essex while stuck in a warzone – BBC.com

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2 weeks ago

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September 2, 2024

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Ukrainian sells art in Essex while stuck in a warzone  BBC.com



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Somerset House Fire: Courtauld Gallery Reopens, Rest of Landmark Closed

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1 month ago

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August 18, 2024

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The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House has reopened its doors to the public after a fire swept through the historic building in central London. While the gallery has resumed operations, the rest of the iconic site remains closed “until further notice.”

On Saturday, approximately 125 firefighters were called to the scene to battle the blaze, which sent smoke billowing across the city. Fortunately, the fire occurred in a part of the building not housing valuable artworks, and no injuries were reported. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire.

Despite the disruption, art lovers queued outside the gallery before it reopened at 10:00 BST on Sunday. One visitor expressed his relief, saying, “I was sad to see the fire, but I’m relieved the art is safe.”

The Clark family, visiting London from Washington state, USA, had a unique perspective on the incident. While sightseeing on the London Eye, they watched as firefighters tackled the flames. Paul Clark, accompanied by his wife Jiorgia and their four children, shared their concern for the safety of the artwork inside Somerset House. “It was sad to see,” Mr. Clark told the BBC. As a fan of Vincent Van Gogh, he was particularly relieved to learn that the painter’s famous Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear had not been affected by the fire.

Blaze in the West Wing

The fire broke out around midday on Saturday in the west wing of Somerset House, a section of the building primarily used for offices and storage. Jonathan Reekie, director of Somerset House Trust, assured the public that “no valuable artefacts or artworks” were located in that part of the building. By Sunday, fire engines were still stationed outside as investigations into the fire’s origin continued.

About Somerset House

Located on the Strand in central London, Somerset House is a prominent arts venue with a rich history dating back to the Georgian era. Built on the site of a former Tudor palace, the complex is known for its iconic courtyard and is home to the Courtauld Gallery. The gallery houses a prestigious collection from the Samuel Courtauld Trust, showcasing masterpieces from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. Among the notable works are pieces by impressionist legends such as Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, and Vincent Van Gogh.

Somerset House regularly hosts cultural exhibitions and public events, including its popular winter ice skating sessions in the courtyard. However, for now, the venue remains partially closed as authorities ensure the safety of the site following the fire.

Art lovers and the Somerset House community can take solace in knowing that the invaluable collection remains unharmed, and the Courtauld Gallery continues to welcome visitors, offering a reprieve amid the disruption.

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