"Highwaymen" Florida's Traveling '26' designed by April Martin Chartrand is in an article in SF Gate.
When curator Michael Ross set out to gather the art for AfroSolo Arts Festival's "Reflecting the Light: Works Inspired by Black Masters," he couldn't have predicted some of the striking parallels between the contemporary artists in the exhibit and the forebears they pay tribute to.
Bay Area artist Candi Farlice, for instance, met Noah Purifoy, the artist she honors, as a teenager in L.A., where she grew up. Known for his assemblages of burnt wood and debris from the 1965 Watts riots, his work founding the Watts Towers Art Center and later his remarkable installations in the Mojave, Purifoy was a source of fascination for the young Farlice, who picked up where he left off when she embarked on her sculptural work shortly after the George Zimmerman verdict and the protests that followed.
Much as Purifoy collected charred materials for his "66 Signs of Neon," she writes in her artist's statement, "I gather in my work as well, and in that spirit of Noah, I gathered in the wake of Trayvon Martin."
"It was certainly not planned," says Ross, 50. "But it was kind of amazing how those two resonated."
Farlice's work is joined by Ramekon O'Arwisters' tchotchke-and-puzzle-piece-studded "Planned Obsolescence," an homage to Gregory Warmack, the artist better known as Mr. Imagination, who covered his work with bottle caps, and Ron Sanders' "Invisible Man Sepia Flag," its dreadlocked figure dropping a shadow in front of a flipped Old Glory in a tip of the hat to Gordon Parks' "American Gothic."
William Rhodes confronts famed San Francisco artist Sargent Johnson, who carved the entrance and created the mosaic mural at San Francisco Maritime Museum, with "The Bull," painted with enamel paint on window glass, whereas April Martin Chartrand pays respect to the Florida landscape artists who went by the moniker the Highwaymen and sold paintings from the trunks of their cars.
The notion of giving a nod to the ancestors of African American art emerged from talks between Ross and AfroSolo director Thomas Simpson, who remembers discovering once-forgotten black artists in the late '80s and '90s, as a painter fresh out of graduate school.
"There are a few artist names that we hear all the time," Ross says, "but it's amazing when young artists discover that there were so many more. So we wanted to see what artists would do and who they had in mind to pay homage to or, as we call it, reflecting the light or reflecting on an artist ancestor."
Ross was pleased to see his enthusiasm was contagious as artists came up with names beyond his initial list. "It was organic," says the curator, who contributed his own painting referencing William H. Johnson, "and that was exciting."
'Reflecting Light: Works Inspired by Black Masters'
Kimberly Chun Published 5:52 pm, Wednesday, August 14, 2013
When curator Michael Ross set out to gather the art for AfroSolo Arts Festival's "Reflecting the Light: Works Inspired by Black Masters," he couldn't have predicted some of the striking parallels between the contemporary artists in the exhibit and the forebears they pay tribute to.
Bay Area artist Candi Farlice, for instance, met Noah Purifoy, the artist she honors, as a teenager in L.A., where she grew up. Known for his assemblages of burnt wood and debris from the 1965 Watts riots, his work founding the Watts Towers Art Center and later his remarkable installations in the Mojave, Purifoy was a source of fascination for the young Farlice, who picked up where he left off when she embarked on her sculptural work shortly after the George Zimmerman verdict and the protests that followed.
Much as Purifoy collected charred materials for his "66 Signs of Neon," she writes in her artist's statement, "I gather in my work as well, and in that spirit of Noah, I gathered in the wake of Trayvon Martin."
"It was certainly not planned," says Ross, 50. "But it was kind of amazing how those two resonated."
Farlice's work is joined by Ramekon O'Arwisters' tchotchke-and-puzzle-piece-studded "Planned Obsolescence," an homage to Gregory Warmack, the artist better known as Mr. Imagination, who covered his work with bottle caps, and Ron Sanders' "Invisible Man Sepia Flag," its dreadlocked figure dropping a shadow in front of a flipped Old Glory in a tip of the hat to Gordon Parks' "American Gothic."
William Rhodes confronts famed San Francisco artist Sargent Johnson, who carved the entrance and created the mosaic mural at San Francisco Maritime Museum, with "The Bull," painted with enamel paint on window glass, whereas April Martin Chartrand pays respect to the Florida landscape artists who went by the moniker the Highwaymen and sold paintings from the trunks of their cars.
The notion of giving a nod to the ancestors of African American art emerged from talks between Ross and AfroSolo director Thomas Simpson, who remembers discovering once-forgotten black artists in the late '80s and '90s, as a painter fresh out of graduate school.
"There are a few artist names that we hear all the time," Ross says, "but it's amazing when young artists discover that there were so many more. So we wanted to see what artists would do and who they had in mind to pay homage to or, as we call it, reflecting the light or reflecting on an artist ancestor."
Ross was pleased to see his enthusiasm was contagious as artists came up with names beyond his initial list. "It was organic," says the curator, who contributed his own painting referencing William H. Johnson, "and that was exciting."
If you go
Reflecting the Light: Works Inspired by Black Masters: Through Oct. 15; reception 1:30-4 p.m. Sept. 15. Noon-5 p.m. Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday and Saturday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and noon-6 p.m. Friday. San Francisco Main Library, African American Center, third floor, 100 Larkin St., S.F. (415) 771-2376. www.afrosolo.org.
Kimberly Chun is a Berkeley writer. E-mail: 96hours@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kimberlychun
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