Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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Bridging Genres: Local Galleries Unmask African American Superheroes by SONI MARTIN Hollywood producers and the Arts Council of Fayetteville and Cumberland County will both tell you “comic books are no laughing matter.” Not only are they big business in the film industry but the Arts Council, in its present exhibition titled Illustrators, is acknowledging that the superhero is in general pop culture and in Fayetteville. The exhibit, Illustrators, opened Feb. 25, at the Arts Council and was the preview to a series of exhibits that open during the month of March and April; also a preview to highlight the African- American artist that spans several genres. Illustrators is a two-part exhibition. The main gallery is housing 18 selected original works and collectibles from the extensive superhero collec- tion of Dr. James Anderson, the chancellor at Fayetteville State University. Well worth seeing, the exhibit primarily focuses on Batman and includes limited edition lithographs, collectible hologram trading cards and hand-generated cells. On the surface, Illustrators might appear just to be a collection of superhero images and collectibles, but upon closer examination, visitors to the Arts Council will see how a superheroes collector and the artists who create them share a meaningful con- nection to philosophy, ethics, and extraordinary imaginations. Chancellor Anderson explained his fascination with the superhero in comics, television and the movies in the program, his collector’s statement. “The collection of Superhero art serves as a tribute to a unique genre of Pop Culture that captures the best and worst of the American psyche since the 1940s. It reflects the fantasies and ideals of countless youth who poured themselves into the comics.” He continued, “As a young teen I became fascinated with Super Hero comics: the art work, the story lines, the moral and personal dilemmas, and the action. I waited anxiously every week to buy a new issue and to trade with my friends — it became a passion.” Community Revitalization Mask by Willis Bing Davis. Calvin Mims, artist services director and curator for Illustrators, looked for another superhero guru to assist in bringing together the second part of the ex- hibit. He called upon Associate Professor Jonathan Chestnut to coordinate the smaller exhibit housed in the west-wing gallery at the council — local African- American published illustrators. When tasked with selecting the artists for the west gallery, it was easy for Chestnut. As the computer-graphics professor atFSU, a well known superhero en- thusiast, collector and sequential artist — this is his circle of artists. Visitors to the Arts Council will see the original hand drawn sequential art il- lustrations from four local African-American artists: Jan Michael Franklin, Charlie “Fab” Goubile, Stacy “SHABACH” Robinson and Jovian Turnbull. All are well- known local sequential artists in the superhero culture, a couple of the artist are nationally known. Besides seeing so many super-talented artists in Fayetteville, all of the illustra- tors in the exhibit show us how knowing the human figure in a traditional way is needed to be able to abstract it so successfully. They all show us how composition and understanding and applying the artistic elements of art and design are essen- tial to express bodies in motion and well crafted works of art. The body in motion in Illustrations transitions visitors to another local gal- lery: Rosenthal Gallery on the campus of FSU. A recently opened a national juried competition titled The Body in Motion. The exhibit is a powerhouse of relief sculptures, digital paintings, photog- raphy, paintings and drawings. Twelve artists are exhibiting 26 works, seven artists are from outside the region and five locals artist were selected to exhibit. (Although not part of the competition, Smith asked the jurors to exhibit a personal work that related to the body in motion so visitors could see the style of each juror as you enter the gallery.) Artists exhibiting in competition of The Body in Motion include Clifford Darrett, Derrick Davis, Willis Bing Davis, Acha Debela, Silvana Foti, Paul Goodnight, High Grannum, Vandorn Hinnant, Noreda Hess, Stacy Robinson, 16 UCW MARCH 23-29, 2011 Jovian Turnbull and Angela Williams. Willis Bing Davis from Dayton, Ohio, is the only artist who is exhibiting sculptures. A well known African-American artist, Davis has an exhibition record that includes major museums in the United States and has exhib- ited in many non-western countries. His relief sculpture titled Community Revitalization Dance Mask is a tribute to the power of found objects in the hands of an exceptional artist. Using the mask as a starting point, Community Revitalization Mask bridges Americana with the traditional African mask as a form to communicate meaning. As in the traditional African mask, Davis brings the power of design and textures to create content. There are many fine artists exhibiting in The Body in Motion. Vandorn Hinnant’s spiritual abstractions are recognized in the region. The large genre paintings by Clifford Darrett include subjects that relate to Line Dancing and the Delta Sweetheart Ball. Local artist and educator Silvana Foti demonstrates her mixed media talent with her work titled Mother Earth. In particular, I think visitors to the gallery will pause at the realistic drawings of Paul Goodnight; his subjects reflect the dancing that took place when the South Africa World Cup was won. Exuberant in spirit, masterful in skill, Goodnight’s drawings are a celebrated return to masterful draftsmanship. As the Illustrators exhibit closes, the Friends of African American and African Art, an affiliate membership group of the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County, opens their exhibit on March 25 — WE ARE THE SHIP: The Story of Negro League Baseball. The exhibit includes the original realist paintings by Kadir Nelson. According to Calvin Mims the “exhibi- tion includes 33 original paintings, 13 sketches and educational materials, all of which are dedicated to the preserva- tion of the history of Negro Leagues.” The Arts Councils’ promotional material says it best: “The exhibit is the story of gifted athletes and deter- mined owners, racial discrimination and international sportsmanship, for- tunes won and lost, and triumphs and defeats on and off the field. It is a per- fect mirror for the social and political history of black America in the first half of the 20th century. But most of all, the story of the Negro Leagues is about hundreds of unsung heroes who overcame segregation, hatred, terrible conditions and low pay to do the one thing they loved more than anything else in the world: play ball.” The paintings in the exhibit are the original works which are published his Jackie Robinson Steals Home Past Quincy Trouppe by Kadir Nelson. book titled WE ARE THE SHIP: The Story of Negro League Baseball. A favored illustrator of children’s books, The New York Times named one of Kadir Nelson’s children’s book one of the Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2008 and Kadir was named the 2009 Coretta Scott King Book Award Recipient. After visiting WE ARE THE SHIP: The Story of Negro League Baseball there will be plenty to do for all members of the family that relate to the exhibit. One of my favorites is the March 26, event to meet the players and learn about Negro League Baseball with the Swamp Dogs at J.P. Riddle Stadium, Legion Road. For details on all the events and to know about scheduled events that relate to each exhibit, visit each gallery’s website or call. Illustrators will run through the third week in March and We Are the Ship opens 4th Friday, March 25. The Body in Motion remains open until April 8. For information call the Arts Council at (910) 323-1776 or go to ww.theartscouncil. com. Rosenthal Gallery has limited hours, so please call (910) 672-1057 for information. SONI MARTIN, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM