The Color Line

Curated by Odili Donald Odita

July 6- August 3, 2007

THE COLOR LINE

In The Color Line, my main point of investigation is the relationships these selected artists have in their line of aesthetic inquiry with Africa and its Diaspora, as well as with intellectual notions of black, white and color as formats utilized to signify race and culture. Furthermore, I want to look into the psychological condition of color as separate from, and in relation to the philosophical condition of black and white. This is not an exhibition about formalism in contemporary art, on the contrary, this is an exhibition about the specific, complex and rich ideas these artists are investigating within their individual practices that have a direct or remote relation to Africa. And in turn, I want to consider the complex conditions of African identity within a global context.

BLACK & WHITE

The term, 'Black and White', is normally understood as a basic pragmatic idea of clarity within thought, reasoning, and presentation. Black and white is also seen as an absolute in terms of value judgment. I want this exhibition to investigate this pretense and research in a deep way the metaphoric conditions black and white has within the human consciousness. I want to look into aspects of desire/desiring in relation to black and white. And I want to look into notions of 'the missing' (obviously color), and speak about this absences identifiable within these spaces. On a psychological level black and white will be examined here as a repository for the unfathomable, the unquenched and the unfinished. I want to address the tension of this incompleteness found in this type of pictorial space where the viewer fills in and becomes the void that exists between the polar extremes of black and white.

The Color Line will also look into the ever-persistent problematic condition of black and white as it deals with race,and what manifests as a continued imbalanced state of power between these two absolute value positions. This project will utilize the production of the exhibiting artist working in black and white to bring some insight into this aesthetic/socio-cultural problem.

COLOR

The premise of color here is one of description. Color fills in the blank that is left open within a black and white format. Color describes the world in a more complex, if obvious way, and yet the specificity of color can make this newfound complexity that much more alluring and mysterious. Questions become even greater in a world of color as there seems to be more to see, and more to choose.

The issue of color also becomes interestingly rich when the intellectual notion of aesthetics with culture merges in its wake. Aesthetic concerns adapt

themselves quite well within a culture frame,as they qualify through narrative means the distinct character of particular histories and societal lines. The reaffirmation of these distinctions within a self can bring outward an understanding of the complexity of relations that weave together varying human experiences. The Color Line will look into the manifestations of culture as it comes to color. As previously stated, color in its descriptive state will also make reference to race in particular, as well as to culture and the aesthetic. This condition of multiplicity has always been inherent within color; it is now in these contemporary times that we can be freer to discuss these multiplicities without an impinging ideological/aesthetic censoring.

METHOD

The relevance of this and other curatorial projects that I have executed is the direct approach I take as an artist who curates with collaboration and partnership in mind. In the 21st Century, it is reassuring to understand that the role of the artist has become multivalent in ways that now allow us to write, curate, and hold positions of power over our own art production and careers. The artist today has the power and the potential to make their position ring clear within a global and societal context. In this way, the artist can be better equipped to challenge standards of cultural presentation within an art market structure. It is also imperative that we are able to find new ways to move ourselves forward and face the continued challenges involved in growth, success and survival as a community. The acceptance and responsibility of self-power is just a first step. In this exhibition it will be seen that we can present our voices together as contemporary artists without the acrimony of an extremely divisive market place.

Artists Include:

Tiong Ang

Radcliffe Bailey

Christiaan Bastiaans

Bili Bidjocka

Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons

Nick Cave

Jean-Ulrick Désert

Kira Lynn Harris

Fred Holland

Rashid Johnson

Remy Jungerman

Kerry James Marshall

Nzingah Muhammad

Senga Nengudi

Mario Cravo Neto

Olu Oguibe

Senam Okudzeto

Orgacom

Carl Pope

Miguel Angel Rios

The Trinity Session / Stephen Hobbs & Marcus Neustetter

Stanley Whitney