The exhibition Imagining New Worlds is divided into three parts: a retrospective of the twentieth-century artist Wifredo Lam and responses to Lam’s legacy by contemporary artists José Parlá and Fahamu Pecou.
Past Exhibition
Imagining New Worlds: Wifredo Lam, José Parlá, Fahamu Pecou
February 14 – May 24, 2015
Campesina Castellana, 1927
Wifredo Lam
Cuban, 1902-1982
Campesina Castellana, 1927
Pencil on paper
Private Collection
Wifredo Lam © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkThis drawing of a Castilian peasant demonstrates Lam’s mastery of the realist style during his early years in Madrid. Smooth curves and patterns in the woman’s shawl and headscarf complement a softer visage. Her suspicious gaze meets the viewer’s eyes. Distressed by the abject poverty he encountered in Spain and sympathetic to the plight of peasants, Lam would later declare his support for the anti-monarchist second Spanish Republic; a move that would eventually lead him to relocate to Paris in 1938.
Composición, II, 1931
Wifredo Lam
Cuban, 1902-1982
Composición, II, 1931
Oil on canvas
Rudman Collection
Wifredo Lam © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkThis complex image, filled with mysterious references and strange occurrences, presents a kind of “dream reality.” Lam plays with scale in details such as a colossal foot, which eclipses a number of buildings and tiny figures. Painted in the year Lam lost his wife and son to tuberculosis, the cluster of women in the foreground takes on personal significance. The woman dressed in red on the far right holds s small child. They are caught up in the chaos surrounding them and the green pallor of their skin is symptomatic of tuberculosis.
Le Repos du Modèle [Nu], 1938
Wifredo Lam
Cuban, 1902-1982
Le Repos du Modèle [Nu], 1938
Oil on Canvas
Private Collection
Wifredo Lam © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkThis composition’s flattened shapes – which lack painterly illusions towards space, shadow, natural tones, or the traditional perspectives so masterfully framed in his earlier work – reveal Lam’s changing style after his move to Paris in 1938 and his introduction Pablo Picasso. The reclining female nude is a recognizably historical subject, with roots in classical art, and favored by Renaissance and later academic artists. Lam reconceived in a modern aesthetic, simplifying the form and placing it against a geometric background indebted to the work of Picasso.
Anamu, 1942
Wifredo Lam
Cuban, 1902-1982
Anamu, 1942
Oil on canvas
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Gift of Joseph and Jory Shapiro
Wifredo Lam © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkIn works from his first Cuban period, Lam distinguished himself from other Cuban avant-garde artists by inventing new motifs. This composition introduced rich vegetation in the form of leaves on either side of the figure’s face. By the end of 1942 Lam was working closely with Cuban ethnologist and folklorist Lydia Cabrera, who helped to reacquaint him with Cuban culture. In consultation with Lam, Cabrera named this painting Anamu, after an herb used by practitioners of Palo Monte, an Afro-Cuban religion from the Congo.
Le Sombre Malembo, Dieu du carrefour, 1943
Wifredo Lam
Cuban, 1902-1982
Le Sombre Malembo, Dieu du carrefour, 1943
Oil on canvas
Rudman Collection
Wifredo Lam © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkIn “Dark Malembo, God of the Crossroads” various orishas, spiritual manifestations of god in the Yoruba religion, emerge from the prismatic green background. Rather than presenting Malembo – one of the most active ports of departure for the slave ships from Africa – as a solemn place, Lam instead filled the scene with a profusion of rich color, evoking the stunning transparency of light he experienced in his native Cuba. The lush forest perhaps references a mythical Africa that welcomes back wandering sprits of the diaspora from across the ocean.
L’Annonciation, 1944
Wifredo Lam
Cuban, 1902-1982
L’Annonciation, 1944
Oil on canvas
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Bergman
Wifredo Lam © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkLam fuses the iconography of various religions in this interpretation of the moment the angel Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary that she will become the mother of Jesus. To the right is the upside-down Elegguá, a mischievous Afro-Cuban deity, whose wings associate him with the Angel Gabriel. Here, the multiple winged spirits encroach upon the praying figure at the left, who also bears wings. The effusion of forms imbues a traditionally peaceful scene with far more ambivalence, suggesting that this momentous encounter will bring difficult demands.
Femme-Cheval, 1948
Wifredo Lam
Cuban, 1902-1982
Femme-Cheval, 1948
Oil on canvas
Private Collection
Wifredo Lam © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkLam’s femme-cheval, literally ‘horse-woman,’ demonstrates the surrealist infused personal iconography that defined Lam’s mature work after returning to Cuba. The femme-cheval reappeared as the subject of many of Lam’s paintings during the mid-to-late 1940s. This particular rendition has two heads, one faced away from the viewer, the other engaging the viewer’s gaze. The cartoonish figures that appear a few times throughout the painting is the mischievous Yoruban deity Elegguá, who is also important in Cuban Santería.
Untitled, 1958
Wifredo Lam
Cuban, 1902-1982
Untitled, 1958
Mixed media on paper mounted on canvas
Private Collection
Wifredo Lam © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkIn this painting, a dense, almost violent, explosion of line and color reflects Lam’s response to Abstract Expressionism. The work, part of a series called La Brousse (The Brush), features gestural splattering and splotching, both commonly seen in the action paintings of the 1950s and 60s. Although Lam was certainly experimenting with new forms of abstract imagery, the painting also preserves the artist’s preoccupation with the natural world by depicting an impenetrable network of bamboo stalks.
Grande Composition, 1960
Wifredo Lam
Cuban, 1902-1982
Grande Composition, 1960
Oil on canvas
Private Collection
Wifredo Lam © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkIn this monumental composition, Lam reintroduced many of the motifs he explored throughout his career. Ethereal blue and white femme-chevals and hybrid figures with mask-like faces emerge from a mottled blue background. Although the work is a painting, Lam emphasized drawing by using thin, meticulous lines to demarcate and embellish his figures.
À la fin de la nuit [Le Lever du jour], 1969
Wifredo Lam
Cuban, 1902-1982
À la fin de la nuit [Le Lever du jour], 1969
Oil on canvas
Private Collection
Wifredo Lam © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkIn this nightmarish composition, a kaleidoscopic frenzy of angled lines and pointed shapes emerge from a somber background. At the bottom left of the picture, a curious creature rests its head upon two spindly arms. A long thin neck connects its face to another visage above. The two-headed creature, whose winged body – suspended from a branch – recalls that of a bat, likely references Lam’s earliest memory of a frightening encounter with one at the age of five.
Native Tongue / Ogbe Oyeku, 2015
Fahamu Pecou
American, born 1975
Native Tongue / Ogbe Oyeku, 2015
Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas
Courtesy of the artistFor this painting, Fahamu Pecou took as his inspiration Negro Digest, the first publication of Johnson Publishing Company. Negro Digest was initially conceived in 1942 as an alternative to Reader’s Digest, and in a second incarnation served as an important voice in the Black Arts movement. At the center of the painting, Pecou placed a self portrait, which operates as a commentary on contemporary and historical black masculinity.
Sound station, 2015Pictured with Talking Drum, 2015
Fahamou Pecou
American, born 1975
Sound station, 2015
Pictured with Talking Drum, 2015
Mixed media
Courtesy of the artistIn both his artwork and scholarship as a PhD candidate at Emory University, Pecou finds commonalities in hip hop and Négritude, a twentieth century literary and visual arts movement that sought to establish a black identity separate from that of their French colonizers. Both appropriate aspects of other art forms to create original work. This interactive sound station allows viewers to mix lines of Aimé Césaire’s poetry with hip hop lyrics, beats, and sound effects, to create a novel, ephemeral composition.
Sound station, 2015Pictured with Talking Drum, 2015
Fahamou Pecou
American, born 1975
Sound station, 2015
Pictured with Talking Drum, 2015
Mixed media
Courtesy of the artistIn both his artwork and scholarship as a PhD candidate at Emory University, Pecou finds commonalities in hip hop and Négritude, a twentieth century literary and visual arts movement that sought to establish a black identity separate from that of their French colonizers. Both appropriate aspects of other art forms to create original work. This interactive sound station allows viewers to mix lines of Aimé Césaire’s poetry with hip hop lyrics, beats, and sound effects, to create a novel, ephemeral composition.
Sound station, 2015Pictured with Talking Drum, 2015
Fahamou Pecou
American, born 1975
Sound station, 2015
Pictured with Talking Drum, 2015
Mixed media
Courtesy of the artistIn both his artwork and scholarship as a PhD candidate at Emory University, Pecou finds commonalities in hip hop and Négritude, a twentieth century literary and visual arts movement that sought to establish a black identity separate from that of their French colonizers. Both appropriate aspects of other art forms to create original work. This interactive sound station allows viewers to mix lines of Aimé Césaire’s poetry with hip hop lyrics, beats, and sound effects, to create a novel, ephemeral composition.
Sound station, 2015Pictured with Talking Drum, 2015
Fahamou Pecou
American, born 1975
Sound station, 2015
Pictured with Talking Drum, 2015
Mixed media
Courtesy of the artistIn both his artwork and scholarship as a PhD candidate at Emory University, Pecou finds commonalities in hip hop and Négritude, a twentieth century literary and visual arts movement that sought to establish a black identity separate from that of their French colonizers. Both appropriate aspects of other art forms to create original work. This interactive sound station allows viewers to mix lines of Aimé Césaire’s poetry with hip hop lyrics, beats, and sound effects, to create a novel, ephemeral composition.
The Messenger I, 2014
Fahamu Pecou
American, born 1975
The Messenger I, 2014
Graphite and acrylic on paper
Courtesy of the artistThis work is one of a series of three works on paper in which Pecou experimented with imagery related to contemporary hip hop and Yoruban spirituality. The double sided-mask worn by this work’s subject represents the deity Eshu, who appears in both Yoruba and the syncretic religion Santería. Eshu guards the crossroads and is said to see both backward and forward. Cowrie shells line the frames of the three works in the Messenger series, referencing both the use of shells as currency in West Africa and in Yoruban divination.
Segmented Realities, 2014
José Parlá
American, born 1973
Segmented Realities, 2014
Wood, acrylic, enamel, plaster, paper, gel medium and gesso
Courtesy of the Artist and Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New YorkSegmented Realities is a group of ten sculptural paintings by José Parlá that suggest cultural fragments salvaged from urban sites that have experienced social and cultural upheaval and transformation. As do segments of the Berlin wall, Parlá’s sculptures bear witness to waves of history that seem to be inscribed on their surfaces, told in an expressive and poetic language of the street. These works act as palimpsests, surfaces bearing layers of marks, on which ensuing generations might imagine their own manifestos and declarations of selfhood.106th Street and Park Avenue, Spanish Harlem, New York 2003
Ghetto, Fontainebleau Boulevard and 92nd Avenue, Miami, Florida 1986
Wakefield, White Plains Road and E. 242nd Street, Bronx, New York 1998
Asmalı Mescit Mh. Pera, Istanbul, Turkey 2014
West Liberty Street and Whitaker Street, Savannah, Georgia 1991
Sar, Coral Way and S.W. 93rd Court, Miami, Florida 1987
San Lazaro y Genios, La Habana, Cuba 2012
16th Street and Lenox Avenue, Miami Beach, Florida 1992
Flitcroft Street, Soho, London, United Kingdom 2007
Calle Sol y Calle del Cristo, San Juan, Puerto Rico 2003
Segmented Realities, 2014
José Parlá
American, born 1973
Segmented Realities, 2014
Wood, acrylic, enamel, plaster, paper, gel medium and gesso
Courtesy of the Artist and Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New YorkSegmented Realities is a group of ten sculptural paintings by José Parlá that suggest cultural fragments salvaged from urban sites that have experienced social and cultural upheaval and transformation. As do segments of the Berlin wall, Parlá’s sculptures bear witness to waves of history that seem to be inscribed on their surfaces, told in an expressive and poetic language of the street. These works act as palimpsests, surfaces bearing layers of marks, on which ensuing generations might imagine their own manifestos and declarations of selfhood.106th Street and Park Avenue, Spanish Harlem, New York 2003
Ghetto, Fontainebleau Boulevard and 92nd Avenue, Miami, Florida 1986
Wakefield, White Plains Road and E. 242nd Street, Bronx, New York 1998
Asmalı Mescit Mh. Pera, Istanbul, Turkey 2014
West Liberty Street and Whitaker Street, Savannah, Georgia 1991
Sar, Coral Way and S.W. 93rd Court, Miami, Florida 1987
San Lazaro y Genios, La Habana, Cuba 2012
16th Street and Lenox Avenue, Miami Beach, Florida 1992
Flitcroft Street, Soho, London, United Kingdom 2007
Calle Sol y Calle del Cristo, San Juan, Puerto Rico 2003
Bomboro Quiña, 2015
José Parlá
American, born 1973
Bomboro Quiña, 2015
acrylic, enamel, plaster on wood
© Artist Rights Society NYPart of a series of five paintings, Bomboro Quiña plays with the syntax of graffiti and the idea of a signature, or tag, that acts as a singular identifier for a given artist. Taken together, this symbolic system acts as a coded language legible to a select few. Layered underneath swaths of color, Parlá’s calligraphic marks appear as beautiful, abstract messages left behind by some departed herald.
Altar to the Imagination, 2015
Collaboration between José Parlá and Fahamu Pecou
José Parlá (American, born 1973)
Fahamu Pecou (American, born 1975)
Altar to the Imagination, 2015
Mixed mediaThe final gallery of the exhibition features a collaboration between José Parlá and Fahamu Pecou. The intersecting walls in the center of the space represent a crossroad, an idea bearing multiple cultural significances. The crossroad serves as a liminal space between the past and present, between life and the afterlife. On the surrounding walls, students from Atlanta’s LaAmistad program contributed a layer of drawings and aphorisms, upon which the artists built.
Altar to the Imagination, 2015
Collaboration between José Parlá and Fahamu Pecou
José Parlá (American, born 1973)
Fahamu Pecou (American, born 1975)
Altar to the Imagination, 2015
Mixed mediaThe final gallery of the exhibition features a collaboration between José Parlá and Fahamu Pecou. The intersecting walls in the center of the space represent a crossroad, an idea bearing multiple cultural significances. The crossroad serves as a liminal space between the past and present, between life and the afterlife. On the surrounding walls, students from Atlanta’s LaAmistad program contributed a layer of drawings and aphorisms, upon which the artists built.
Altar to the Imagination, 2015
Collaboration between José Parlá and Fahamu Pecou
José Parlá (American, born 1973)
Fahamu Pecou (American, born 1975)
Altar to the Imagination, 2015
Mixed mediaThe final gallery of the exhibition features a collaboration between José Parlá and Fahamu Pecou. The intersecting walls in the center of the space represent a crossroad, an idea bearing multiple cultural significances. The crossroad serves as a liminal space between the past and present, between life and the afterlife. On the surrounding walls, students from Atlanta’s LaAmistad program contributed a layer of drawings and aphorisms, upon which the artists built.
Overview
Imagining New Worlds traces the lengthy career of Wifredo Lam (1902-1982), perhaps best remembered as a member of the Surrealist group in the 1940s. Born in Cuba to a Chinese father and mother of African and Spanish descent, Lam gave expression to his multiracial and cultural ancestry through a signature hybrid style of painting that blended Surrealism, magical realism, modernism, and postmodernism. The exhibition begins with the academic work made while studying painting in Madrid, and includes the fantastical mid-century canvases that incorporate figures from the syncretic religion Santéria. His work is informed by a cross-cultural fusion of influences such as Afro-Cuban symbolism and Negritude, a movement that rejected the French colonial framing of African identity.
Wifredo Lam
Wifredo Lam (1902-1982) was a global figure whose work cut across stylistic and philosophical boundaries between and among established artistic movements of the 20th century.
Lam, like his native Cuba, was a product of many cultures. His multiracial ancestry found expression in his art as he engaged with the political, literary, and artistic circles that defined his century. He witnessed important historical events – the Spanish Civil War, the Nazi invasion of France, and the Cold War – and befriended key intellectuals and artists of the day.
The works in this exhibition reveal the imprint on Lam’s style of cubism, surrealism, magical realism, and other key artistic and philosophical movements of the twentieth century. Lam combined these ideas with an exploration of Cuban subject matter to create a hybrid artistic style that was distinctly his own.
José Parlá
Brooklyn-based artist José Parlá (born 1973) is a documentarian of urban life. Drawing upon New York City and many other locations for inspiration, he responds to the chaos and rush of the metropolis as a painter. Parlá made his first paintings on city walls while growing up in Miami, often under the cover of darkness. Parlá wrote of these early works, “My thought and impulse behind the gesture was as primitive as that of cavemen marking and drawing in their dwellings to assert their existence in a place and time.”
Parlá’s large-scale abstract paintings evoke impressions of the landscape as well as decaying walls along city streets, suggesting both an urban density and density in nature that evolve over time through an accumulative process. Layers of mark making on the surfaces of his work evoke transgenerational histories and memories.
Fahamu Pecou
Atlanta-based artist and scholar Fahamu Pecou (born 1975) pushes the boundaries of fine art and popular culture through his blending of performance and traditional visual media. Pecou is particularly engaged with the commonalities found within the intersections of Négritude – the mid-century movement by black Francophone intellectuals to create a black identity separate from that of their French colonizers – hip-hop, and Yoruba spiritual cosmology.
In both his performance art and painting, Pecou presents an alter-ego that operates as an intermediary within the fraught dynamics of black masculinity. A virtuosic painter, Pecou takes visual cues from the covers of vintage periodicals from the Johnson Publishing Company. The first black-owned publishing company, Johnson Publishing fought American stereotypes of blackness by showcasing a rising black middle class beginning in the 1940s. This body of work challenges the viewer to reimagine the roles individuals are asked to play in the production of art and culture.