#7 SAYING IT LOUD! ... in Asheville

WHERE I WENT AND WHY...
What do you do when the paper says the best thing "to do and see in Charlotte" is actually in Asheville?  ROAD TRIP!!  Actually we were planning to be at our mountain house, Park's Peak, near Asheville with friends over the weekend, so when planning a trip into the city for art, breweries, and supper, I made sure that 22 London was in the mix.

WHAT TO KNOW IF YOU WANT TO GO...
22 London is a warehouse space near Biltmore Village and the Arts District in Asheville.  (If you're going google it, 22 London is the address and name of the space.)  The exhibition is there through October 28.  There is parking near the building and on the street.  The exhibit is open by appointment.  Contact Randy Shull at 828 216 1337 or randy.shull@gmail.com.  If you are going to Asheville this month to see the leaves or just for the breweries, it is worth the effort.

WHAT I SAW...

Hedy Fischer and Randy Shull talk to the crowd before the exhibition opens

 Say it Loud is an exhibition of part of the private collection of Hedy Fischer and Randy Shull.  As we were standing around waiting for the doors to open, we had already picked them out of the crowd as being some of the most smartly dressed folks there.  (And believe me when I tell you the art crowd in Asheville dresses very eclectically!! I wish I had taken more pictures of the crowd.  My favorite was some millennials who were dressed in matching pink paisley.  She in a bouncy dress, and he in a matching print suit!  And round or unique, funky reading glasses were almost a requirement!) 

Wanting to fit in, I brought my funky glasses
inspired by my trip to Paris!

The collection is named for James Brown's song written in 1968, a tumultuous time in our racial history.  Quoting the catalog:  the works "illustrate the struggles and achievement of African Americans and challenges dominant historical perspectives with powerful work that is visceral and squarely focused on narratives of ethnic identity, institutional racism, gender, and beauty."   Ms. Fischer and Mr. Shull hope to "participate in the global discourse that seeks to rewrite many overlooked histories and to provide an avenue for the conversation and understanding that otherwise would be swept into the mainstream."  I would agree that is is an impressive exhibition and the works speak to both the historical and current racial experiences of the artists.  

When I asked if I could take pictures, the curators did not want pictures of the works posted so I only took one picture of me with one of the artists present.  Clarissa Sligh's Blessing of Men includes 9 photos of men of color in proud poses that go beyond race and social status.  Directly in front of them is a curtain of 2000 gold and black origami peace cranes.  I was very glad that I got to talk to Ms. Sligh about her work.  I saw the crane curtain and photos as two separate works and when she explained that they are meant to be viewed as one, it gave a completely new dimension to the work.

Deb with Clarissa Sligh

Some of the other art I found interesting included:

• A large canvas of 2 cartoon figures, one an African American man in "tidy whities" being offered an apple by a KKK clansman depicted as large triangles and rectangles with provocative words written on them.
• A wall hung sculpture of a young girl in a child's chair bent over with her wild black hair "brushed" forward tangled with bottles.  I wasn't sure of the significance or symbolism of the bottles. Entitled Rise Sally Rise, it shows the girls between childhood and adulthood, between two worlds.
• My friend Mary Lou's favorite was a whitewashed sculpture of a child with symbols embellished depicting the African American experience such as a cotton boll at his core and rubies of "blood" on his fingers.  It was entitled Cotton Demon.
• Another was of a Black Sambo dancing on a bed of hot coals depicting the dance African Americans do every day.
• The exhibition also included a video of an African American man crawling the whole length of Broadway from the harbor and 911 site to Times Square.  He had a skateboard on his back and sometimes flipped over and rode it.
• I did not understand the piece Under the Sheets which was a sheet embellished with globs of paint and found objects.  I got the intimacy of the sheet, but I did not understand or appreciate all of the symbolism.
• One of my favorites was a door embellished with 20 or more heads of Obama with the word CHANGE underneath each.  It did not seem to change from the top to the bottom, or in-perceptively so.  I think that was the point!

WHAT DID I LEARN...

I've thought about this before:  Dave and I are NOT art collectors.  Though we have a small collection of art, we still buy art for our houses to be displayed and "fit" in specific places.  Collectors buy art for arts' sake (and investment) and are able to exhibit their art in thematic exhibitions.

My friend Diane summed up the experience at the opening of 22 London and Say it Loud this way:  "It was a bunch of white people collecting and looking at African American art thinking they understood it, but only scratching the surface of the African American experience in America in 2018."  All three of us had noticed that with only a few exceptions, it was a very white crowd.

White wine for the white crowd
(a tradition at art openings?)

IF MON$Y WERE NO OBJECT, WOULD I PUT IT IN MY HOUSE?

Probably not. Most of the pieces needed too much explanation  to understand and appreciate them.

WE LIKED IT SO MUCH WE BOUGHT IT...

Nothing in our "collection" even remotely correlates with this exhibition, but since I am writing this from the mountains, I am including a piece we bought for Park's Peak.  This weekend the weather finally began to feel like Fall and there was just a hint of colored leaves around.  We bought this piece at a Folk Art Festival in Hickory.  I really like how the fused glass artist constructed stands for the trees to make them sculptural.  Each seasonal tree is about 9" tall.