For the last year, Lauren Halsey, Eric Mack, and Sadie Barnette, have occupied the third floor artist studios as artists-in-residence in the same program that has housed art world superstars Kehinde Wiley, Mickalene Thomas, and David Hammons—at The Studio Museum in Harlem. The resident artists spent the time exploring Harlem and making individual works for a group show entitled, Everything, Everyday.
In the show, the residents each grapple with the theme of identity. Mack explores the materiality of identity with pieces such as “All Days” made of collaged fabric. “It’s a really long roll of bedding fabric, and the edges of the bedding fabric are exposed, but it’s been painted on the surface using these dots which create a special color,” Mack tells The Creators Project. “I see the paint as really shifting the aesthetics of the materials.”
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Avonte, 2015 Acrylic on moving blanket and felt blanket with elastic rope and metal grommets 81 × 72 × 7 in, Eric Mack. Courtesy the artist and Company Gallery, New York.
Barnette uses identity as a point of departure by making graphite pencil drawings and photographs that track her family linage. “I like that the pieces reference modernism, and they also look sort of sci-fi,” says the artists of her photograph, “Untitled (The Lawn)”, that superimposes a Tetris-like game piece on her aunt’s perfectly manicured lawn. “The lawns are a really big part of the Southern California landscape, and I like that it is this very descriptive representation of a landscape that allows you to project your story onto it,” says Barnette.
Halsey created an immersive environment entitled, “Kingdom Splurge (3.7.15.15)”. The artist etched into concrete modern day hieroglyphic scenes from her childhood home of South Central Los Angeles in the 90s. “I grew up in a neighborhood where the architecture felt oppressive, and I was inspired by people in their backyards who made makeshift spaces, and the architect Peter Cook who proposed landscapes that heal you emotionally,” says Halsey.
Untitled (The Lawn), C-print, 50x40in, 2015, Sadie Barnette,Courtesy the artist.
Everything, Everyday is on view through October 25th at The Studio Museum in Harlem. For more information click here.
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