TNM Studios October 2022 Newsletter
TNM Studios October 2022 Newsletter
I am tired…but I am showing up for the BEAUTY!
Last day of the month with IT. I know it is now Nov and I dont even care cause I have been battling a wild bout of writer’s block and just broke it-like just NOW. Also, the time I wanted to be present for this month was crucial. This October has been the most chaotic month I have endured in some years. Up until this point I’ve been solid. Folks ask how I’m doing and I’m like I’m solid. But this month I simply replied that I am tired. This admission has nothing to do with my own productivity or work, exhibition installs, writing, meetings, or anything else. It has everything to do with behind-the-scenes. The fatigue has everything to do with things that I absolutely can not control and that I refuse to talk about at this moment.
But trust me. It will be addressed by the year’s end.
Good chaos and bad, and even the bad is worth sitting with a bit to make sense of what the perceived badness prompts. My life is based around path work and staying true to what I know my path to be despite what anyone else thinks. The same with the work. I feel strongly that failure in the most obvious ways and the most stealth is generative. My career has been on built on this and I don’t shy from it out of respect for the lessons.
But October was something lovely also….My goodness, the beauty showed up and out.
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On October 1st I attended the World Premiere of Till at the invitation of my best friend and muse Danielle Deadwyler.
Till is an important film that centers the story of Mamie Till, the mother of Emmet Till who fought endlessly to bring justice to the events surrounding the murder of her son. Danielle’s performance broke me apart as it was perhaps one of the first times that I forgot who she was and fully had to reckon with her figure as the character she was portraying. Stunning work. I’ve known Danielle for 22 years and within that knowing, we have worked together for 10 years. I shared on my IG but one of the more poignant moments for me was the portrayal of the town of Mound Bayou, MS. The McCloddens, my family has deep roots in Mound Bayou, Mississippi - my great uncle lived there with his family. I saw that town recreated on film having just been there last year + seeing the shift + deterioration. This is the all-Black town that held, protected + cared for Mamie while she attended + testified at the trial for the murder of her son.
Danielle knocks this out of this world. I have NEVER seen her like this, just a stunning command of a practice. Please go and support this film.
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Prior to this screening on the same day, I attended the book release and designed for Marilyn Nance’s Last day in Lagos at CARA NYC. Oluremi Onabanjo, a brilliant thinker, writer, curator, scholar, and overall one of the kindest generous people I have ever known played a major part in making this work happen after many years of hard and quiet work.
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*On October 6th I held a private walkthrough at 52 Walker for MASK/CONCEAL/CARRY with Skowhegan Arts Council where I spoke explicitly about not only the work but my time at Skowhegan which was very difficult, to say the LEAST. But all in all, I did source many materials from my time there that were sourced from antique shops in the area.
*Sat, Oct 8th was the closing of MASK/CONCEAL/CARRY where I conducted my first public walkthrough. It was a great way to close out this work.
*My MASK/CONCEAL/CARRY edition [edition of 27] debuted at the NY Art Book Fair NY at the 52 Walker x Du-Good Press booth.
*After my walkthrough at 52 Walker, I was picked up by a lovely elder artist who walked me over to Dorothea Rockburne’s loft in Soho where her studio is based. For three hours I was able to chat with an icon about her work, and life and get a first-hand view of her rigorous studio practice and her archive. At 90 Rockburne has a work ethic like no other. Beautiful work.
Then I rushed off to catch a red eye to London…
Most don’t know so I’ll speak about it here. I spent 6.5 years of my life in the UK as a kid before coming back to the states to settle in Greenville, SC where I lived since. British accent and all. My father was stationed while in the Air Force at Ft. Lakenheath in West Suffolk. I was born on an Air Force Base in Blytheville, AR. This trip was part relaxation, part beginning a journey in making sense of my time in the UK. As an AFB kid, that space can seem as if a netherworld, a place that portends a middle-class life with all things provided but a space that is inherently ephemeral in its existence. Air Force bases are made to cycle families in and out. In my case a core part of childhood was spent in a place I have not seen, have no ownership over nor have access to. Yet, it is a place that has influenced a large part of my work. This trip was the first step in going back.
While there I saw a ton of shows and wanted to get an idea of the artist’s landscape. I was blown away while there by some great work!
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Nikita Gale's solo presentation IN A DREAM YOU CLIMB THE STAIRS at Chisenhale Gallery was a wonder! Concrete curtain and spotlights, stealth via photograph. Nikita is one of my favorite artists and this year and her time in London was/is dynamic. Work on view at Chisenhale and also Frieze for a specially commissioned project with BMW where she was able to design a series of guitars made of the same materials as cars. It was just truly a great moment for me to witness another artist who makes challenging work thrive.
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My first ever visit to Serpentine Galleries was to attend the VIP opening + reception for the undeniable Barbara Chase-Riboud’s first UK solo ‘Barbara Chase-Riboud: Infinite Folds’ curated by Yesomi Umolu. I was blown away by the Manifesto shared at the end after seeing works that have only ever been published in books. It was a stunning show that I look forward to revisiting.
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Black British artists are not playing around …
Phoebe Collings-James ceramic chest plates were unlike anything I’ve seen.
Rhea Dillon’s solo presentation at Soft Openings at Frieze was so elegant.
Lewis Hammond’s works at Arcadia Missa are so beautifully dark and one work of his absolutely stopped me in my tracks as it reminded me of my Orisha Ogun.
Somaya Critchlow’s solo Afternoon’s Darkness at Maximillian Williams was a standout for me. The paintings draw you in and evade immediate legibility and the conceptual framework of the exhibition. Was also gifted a copy of her latest monograph via gallery director Maximillian himself.
I had the pleasure of attending a dinner with brilliant critic + writer Rianna Jade Parker + Diane Henry Lepart held in the honor of Lorraine O’Grady was a gift. I dined with lovely artists and writers and even made a short speech for Ms. O’Grady acknowledging the need for more intergenerational dialogue.
What struck me during my time in London was that during a major international art fair, there were a significant amount of Black artists, many emerging who had solo presentations. This just was not the case over the past year and I found it to be so special as an introduction to the city. And the work across the board is the best I have seen all this year – and I’ve seen a ton.
I even missed my first flight ever, which yielded such beauty that I had to remind myself to slow down and fall into the flow of things. Thank goodness for this and that extra day….
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Leslie Cuyjet had her performance as a part of The Trace of An Implied Presence where she presented a showing of White Noise a new work made for the exhibition. It was a stunning turnout and truly was a display of Leslie’s power as a performer and thinker all around.
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Announcements + Exhibitions + Events + and all else…
My last exhibition of the year is up and it’s the most important to me because of its relation to my spiritual practice.
‘Juan Francisco Elso: Por América’ curated by Olga Viso with Susanna Temkin
on view October 27, 2022 – March 26, 2023 at El Museo del Barrio
To be in a show with icons is such an honor.
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A project that I am a part of was awarded a Pew Project Grant this year under the guidance of curator Jova Lynn, Temple Contempoary’s newly appointed Director of Exhibitions and Public’s Programs. The work that I will produce will center on my beloved North Philadelphia.
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A copy of the publication ‘Dragging Away: Queer Abstraction in Contemporary Art by Lex Morgan Lancaster via Duke University Press which features a deep reading of my work from my 2019 Hold on, let me take the safety off the solo exhibition.
The final live presentation for The Shed will take place on November 12th at 4pm and will feature The Rod Rodger’s Dance Company. Tickets are FREE with registration. You will not want to miss this!
Press…
Artist Armando Alleyne is featured in Interview Magazine discussing his monograph ‘Armando Alleyne: A Few of My Favorites’ which was recently awarded the Most Beautiful Swiss Books award, an honor bestowed by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture for notable achievements in book design. The monograph features my essay “Remember This, No One Found You, You Were Always Here,” Pick it up via Edition Patrick Frey
Readings - I’m currently working through;
Steffani Jemison’s novella A Rock, A River, A Street
SHINE: The Visual Economy of Light in African Diasporic Aesthetic Practice by scholar Krista Thompson
Music, Films, + Videos…
Atlanta Season 4 – The weirder for me as someone who lived in Atlanta for six years. The Atlantic Station episode destroyed me with its accuracy.
Till – yall already know what it IS
From Scratch – Watched because Danielle is in there but was surprised and deeply moved by the narrative which felt so real. Also, because grief is still in the air from the events of the past two years I feel that it was a stunning display of navigating real grief in a nuanced way. Zoe Saldana really impressed me in this one.
Shirley Horn – One Day, Forever, I can not get over her. The timing. The voice.
Jeezy – SNOFALL , unfucking real level of nostalgia for me. Those who know KNOW
Armani Caeser – Ice Age, She’s smooth. Over-looked but work a listen.
Westside Gunn – Super Kick Party, HE’s NOT PLAYING FAIR this flow this beat!
Contour – Crowded Afternoon, just gorgeous work, the entire album but this one for me.
Lil Baby – Not Finished. On repeat. He is TALKING.
Rome Streets Soulja Boy, Heart of Froze, Reversible ….top 10 of the year album overall for me
Freddie Gibbs – Blackest In The Room, it ME.
It’s already Nov but you’ll hear from me again in a few weeks!
xTNM