December 9, 2023 - January 7, 2024

Opening reception on Second Saturday, December 9, 6-10pm.
Gallery open hours are Saturdays and Sundays, 12-5pm.

Programming This Month:

Room 1

Invitation into the Abyss: The Origins of Black
Tony Luella Chalmers

ARTIST INTENTION: "THIS EXHIBITION IS A JOURNEY INTO THE ABYSS WHERE 'BLACK' BEGAN-NOT AS A COLOR, BUT AS A SYNTHESIS OF TRANSPORTED SOULS. THROUGH EACH CANVAS, WE TRAVEL TO THE HEART OF IDENTITY, TO THE CRUCIBLE WHERE CULTURE WAS BOTH LOST AND REBORN. THESE PAINTINGS ARE A TRIBUTE TO THE UNNAMED MILLIONS WHO, IN FORGING NEW WORLDS IN THE WEST, CARVED OUT A MONOLITH OF SPIRIT FROM THE VOID OF THE MIDDLE PASSAGE. 'INVITATION INTO THE ABYSS' IS A SOLEMN AND CELEBRATORY CARTOGRAPHY OF THE ROUTES THAT DISSEMINATED AFRICAN ETHOS ACROSS THE AMERICAS, MANIFESTING IN A COLLECTIVE YET VARIED HERITAGE."

Tony Luella Chalmers, Invitation into the Abyss: The Origins of Black, A’DOE’A #1, 2023.
Tony Luella Chalmers, Invitation into the Abyss: The Origins of Black, A’DOE’A #2, 2023.
Tony Luella Chalmers, Invitation into the Abyss: The Origins of Black, A’DOE’A #3, 2023.

Tony Luella Chalmers is an African American artist from the rich cultural landscape of the Mississippi Delta. He found his passion for art at an early age by being introduced to ancient Greek, Roman, and eventually African sculptures and masks, which allowed him to connect with his west African roots. Artist STATEMENT Chalmers’art explores the multifaceted narratives of African American history, mythology, and spirituality through the philosophy of A'DOE'A (American Descendants of Enslaved Africans). Utilizing a limited palette of materials including ultramarine blue, red, metallic gold, rustic metals, and incorporating plaster to create textural, abstract pieces he captures the essence of his subjects. As an autodidact immersed in psychology, philosophy, and Black history, Chalmers’ art aims to forge a unified Black Aesthetic. Creating the A'DOE'A aesthetic to pioneer a new mythology and visual language to represent the African American experience.

@ADOEA23

Room 2

anderson funk, prototype #2 in nine views, wood and twine, 2023.

Two Works
anderson funk

I don't know what this show is about. :) 
There is a notion that ideas/poems/sculptures live in the spirit world until they choose to strike an artist. 

I am learning to be receptive to these spirits that have tapped on my window.

In my "activated acorn drawing sculpture" and "planar hanging mobile" I am returning to ideas that struck me in 2018 and 2021 respectively. For most of the time since i noticed the ideas, I have been avoiding them, not working on them, saying to them, "It’s the wrong climate for you” “Tell other ideas to come see me” “Go Away” and despite that, they kept tapping on my window. So over the past months, I’ve decided to listen to that tapping, to open the window, to let them into the world.

My name is anderson funk, born 1989. I study and read a lot, and I like to make beautiful objects, situations, and sentences. I studied engineering at Vanderbilt and art at MICA.  I like using the languages I learned in both places to inform my understanding of the other. I ride a pedicab to pay rent, and I hope to make more and bigger sculptures, situations, and sentences as I grow up, grow down, and change all around.

andersonfunk.com
vimeo.com/andfun
@andfunandfun

Rooms 3 + 4

Cas O'Brien, Morning Call Circa 1950, 8mm Film Still of found footage, Digitized in 2023.
Shivers, Ermina circa 1965, 8mm Film Still, Digitized in 2023.

In Home
Cas and Shivers

Cas O’ Brien and Shivers, using 8mm film—the original home movie film—challenge our ideas of what we value in our lives. Film, in physical form, is a material considered so precious and delicate. Yet, as we watch the information now burned into its emulsion in Cas and Shivers projections, we are transported to someone else’s memories, shifting value from the film itself, to the moment being shared.

The two New Orleans natives weave together footage from a family attic (in Shivers case) along with found footage (in Cas’ case) to bring to an audience a reflective experience. One that encourages confrontation of the missed connections between generations, chosen family, and how we relate to one another.

Cas O'Brien was born and raised in New Orleans. He is captivated by looking at life through a different lens, literally within projection and figuratively through history, film and community. Cas is currently a Public History Graduate student at UNO. He hopes through gaining knowledge as a historian paired with his skills in vintage film/projection he can create something for New Orleans as striking as the life the city has given him.

Shivers (Lauren Barron) is a New Orleans based multimedia artist. She reflects upon history, family, human nature and the natural world within her variety of works. The patterns those subjects reveal is what continues to fuel her exploration. Playing with every material under the sun keeps the experimental value alive in her work.