With and Within
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 8, 6-8pm
On view: February 8 - February 29th, 2024
Artists Talk: February 29, 4-5:30pm
With and Within
Ryan Davis
In nature I feel a sense of being and find curiosity in the most mundane yet unusual moments. In these moments I pull memories from a Black-African heritage and our ancestral relationship with the natural world. However, as a means of survival our ways of being in nature has gone through many forms of transformation and adaptation making these memories incomplete, disorienting, and mystifying. Understanding this dynamic is where I begin the process of building a personal relationship with the natural world. My work reflects this journey as representations of surreal ways of being with and within nature. I build these spaces by incorporating West African and indigenous agriculture practices and photograph references from my various hikes. Each composition reveals a coexistence between the materials and the marks, reconciling the push and pull between finished and unfinished aspects of the surface into a singular moment.
Ryan Davis
In nature I feel a sense of being and find curiosity in the most mundane yet unusual moments. In these moments I pull memories from a Black-African heritage and our ancestral relationship with the natural world. However, as a means of survival our ways of being in nature has gone through many forms of transformation and adaptation making these memories incomplete, disorienting, and mystifying. Understanding this dynamic is where I begin the process of building a personal relationship with the natural world. My work reflects this journey as representations of surreal ways of being with and within nature. I build these spaces by incorporating West African and indigenous agriculture practices and photograph references from my various hikes. Each composition reveals a coexistence between the materials and the marks, reconciling the push and pull between finished and unfinished aspects of the surface into a singular moment.
Artschoolscammer (Denae Howard) is A Brooklyn-based Conceptual artist, educator, curator and advisor. At the moment she is solely a collaborative artist. Working with her cooperative #Dayonesart and other Black creatives invested in making work that forces necessary conversation. Her work is a coded-guide that promotes discussions that reveal the similarities and differences in the way individuals’ experience systems. Her practice stems from a need to create space and conversation around the systems that govern our natural existence. As a visual artist and contributor to culture she feels it is imperative to create art that reflects cognitive, emotional and social pedagogy. Her works are re-appropriations of negative archetypes and stereotypes to reclaim and transcend positive meaning for Black people. But also re-imaginings of the limitless opportunities of Black Existence.
Artschoolscammer (Denae Howard) is A Brooklyn-based Conceptual artist, educator, curator and advisor. At the moment she is solely a collaborative artist. Working with her cooperative #Dayonesart and other Black creatives invested in making work that forces necessary conversation. Her work is a coded-guide that promotes discussions that reveal the similarities and differences in the way individuals’ experience systems. Her practice stems from a need to create space and conversation around the systems that govern our natural existence. As a visual artist and contributor to culture she feels it is imperative to create art that reflects cognitive, emotional and social pedagogy. Her works are re-appropriations of negative archetypes and stereotypes to reclaim and transcend positive meaning for Black people. But also re-imaginings of the limitless opportunities of Black Existence.
My work from the "The Journey" series stems from seeing a spiritual reader in New Orleans, and being advised to study Aboriginal Dot Art, to help me with my writing. As I am not an Indigenous Australian, my work does not fall into the same category, but I do use some of their symbols to create stories that speak to me. Many of my paintings start with black backgrounds, representing the darkness before creation, layering on vibrant colors and muted metallics. CIrcles recur in my paintings, representing unity and movement. The repetitive, layering process is probably what I love the most, because it feels like an expansion of the mind.
In this body of work I think about Creation of all, How we function in our time here, and the Cycle of life. Above all else, I believe that Woman is the beginning of life and the keeper of life. The symbol for Woman can be found in many of my paintings. - Yolonda Ross
My work from the "The Journey" series stems from seeing a spiritual reader in New Orleans, and being advised to study Aboriginal Dot Art, to help me with my writing. As I am not an Indigenous Australian, my work does not fall into the same category, but I do use some of their symbols to create stories that speak to me. Many of my paintings start with black backgrounds, representing the darkness before creation, layering on vibrant colors and muted metallics. CIrcles recur in my paintings, representing unity and movement. The repetitive, layering process is probably what I love the most, because it feels like an expansion of the mind.
In this body of work I think about Creation of all, How we function in our time here, and the Cycle of life. Above all else, I believe that Woman is the beginning of life and the keeper of life. The symbol for Woman can be found in many of my paintings. - Yolonda Ross
Akwasi Gyambibi is inspired by everyday life, painting from his memories to create pyrographic portraits of friends, neighbors, and family. Gyambibi’s process involves pyrography, employing heat and fire while using a small torch and or dremel to burn and etch into the surface of wood. These works are sometimes adorned with other materials including tapestry, wallpaper, metal, and often embellished with acrylic paint. Gyambibi focuses on figurative portraiture), where the flame is the only medium used.
His compositions explore universal themes of culture, race, politics and religion. “Life inspires what I depict,” reflects Gyambibi. “The wood surface is where I express my deepest emotions, thoughts and experiences… my style of free-hand decorating on wood with controlled application of fire from a torch or heat gun directly onto wood creates textures to define my works, [bringing]…something beautiful, healing and respite,…to the world.” Gyambibi, originally from Ghana, lives and works in Queens, NYC. His work has been shown internationally and across the United States.
Akwasi Gyambibi is inspired by everyday life, painting from his memories to create pyrographic portraits of friends, neighbors, and family. Gyambibi’s process involves pyrography, employing heat and fire while using a small torch and or dremel to burn and etch into the surface of wood. These works are sometimes adorned with other materials including tapestry, wallpaper, metal, and often embellished with acrylic paint. Gyambibi focuses on figurative portraiture), where the flame is the only medium used.
His compositions explore universal themes of culture, race, politics and religion. “Life inspires what I depict,” reflects Gyambibi. “The wood surface is where I express my deepest emotions, thoughts and experiences… my style of free-hand decorating on wood with controlled application of fire from a torch or heat gun directly onto wood creates textures to define my works, [bringing]…something beautiful, healing and respite,…to the world.” Gyambibi, originally from Ghana, lives and works in Queens, NYC. His work has been shown internationally and across the United States.
Ojuang Mayenga, is a 26 year-old visual artist/filmmaker from Tanzania. He moved to Jersey City New Jersey with his family when he was 13 years old and currently still resides as an artist.
Recently, Ojuang has gained somewhat of an enlightenment through his paintings by looking for the contradictions and connections between nature and technology. Each one of his paintings acts as a moment captured within a surreal timeline, with inspiration from emotions of the self, and the current world filled with hysteria
His goal is to create "visual thought" pieces for current and future audiences.
Ojuang Mayenga, is a 26 year-old visual artist/filmmaker from Tanzania. He moved to Jersey City New Jersey with his family when he was 13 years old and currently still resides as an artist.
Recently, Ojuang has gained somewhat of an enlightenment through his paintings by looking for the contradictions and connections between nature and technology. Each one of his paintings acts as a moment captured within a surreal timeline, with inspiration from emotions of the self, and the current world filled with hysteria
His goal is to create "visual thought" pieces for current and future audiences.
Floyd Strickland is a multi-disciplined artist from Los Angeles, CA. Strickland’s works are an introspective and critique of aspects of American culture, through the lens of black and brown children. Drawing inspiration from his own childhood environment, Strickland often uses realistic figures that are juxtaposed with aspects of American cultural figures creating ethereal figurative paintings.
Strickland garners inspiration from Kerry James Marshall, famed Birmingham-born, Chicago-based contemporary artist exhibiting works since 1981 and his all-time favorite artist Aaron Douglas, the most prominent Harlem Renaissance artist-illustrator dubbed the “father of African-American art,” highly active in the 1920s.
The unconventional path that brought Strickland to the art world contributes to the uniqueness of his work. After working building and renovating elementary schools throughout the country, Strickland noticed the lack of confidence in many black and brown children, something he struggled with as a child as well. To combat this, Strickland began painting large scale figurative oil paintings depicting the beauty, strength and potential, aspects that aren’t too divergent from typical American culture but which were underrepresented before now. - Art Angels
Floyd Strickland is a multi-disciplined artist from Los Angeles, CA. Strickland’s works are an introspective and critique of aspects of American culture, through the lens of black and brown children. Drawing inspiration from his own childhood environment, Strickland often uses realistic figures that are juxtaposed with aspects of American cultural figures creating ethereal figurative paintings.
Strickland garners inspiration from Kerry James Marshall, famed Birmingham-born, Chicago-based contemporary artist exhibiting works since 1981 and his all-time favorite artist Aaron Douglas, the most prominent Harlem Renaissance artist-illustrator dubbed the “father of African-American art,” highly active in the 1920s.
The unconventional path that brought Strickland to the art world contributes to the uniqueness of his work. After working building and renovating elementary schools throughout the country, Strickland noticed the lack of confidence in many black and brown children, something he struggled with as a child as well. To combat this, Strickland began painting large scale figurative oil paintings depicting the beauty, strength and potential, aspects that aren’t too divergent from typical American culture but which were underrepresented before now. - Art Angels
Dáreece Walker (b.1989) is a Visual Artist currently living in Brooklyn, NY. Walker creates figurative narrative paintings, drawings, and sculpture that combine race, identity and religion into socio political responses.
Walker received his B.F.A. in Visual and Performing Arts from the University of Colorado and his M.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. His work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Hyperallergic. Recent shows include, 'Respond' at Smack Mellon Gallery in Dumbo, the 10th Annual Governors Island Art Fair, Prizm Art Fair in Miami and 'Black is the Giant', a Solo Exhibition at the Long Gallery in Harlem, among others.
One of the things Dáreece has been consciously trying to do is create some sort of balance between talking about the harsh realities of racism and police brutality against black people in the USA on one hand and on the other, offering a glimpse into the beautiful, simple aspects of black people’s lives – his most recent project ‘Black Fathers Matter’, for example, documents black fathers simply hanging out with their children. Reimagining the past and integrating elements to create what it should have been also make his work especially powerful – Payal Khandelwal, The Floating Magazine
Dáreece Walker (b.1989) is a Visual Artist currently living in Brooklyn, NY. Walker creates figurative narrative paintings, drawings, and sculpture that combine race, identity and religion into socio political responses.
Walker received his B.F.A. in Visual and Performing Arts from the University of Colorado and his M.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. His work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Hyperallergic. Recent shows include, 'Respond' at Smack Mellon Gallery in Dumbo, the 10th Annual Governors Island Art Fair, Prizm Art Fair in Miami and 'Black is the Giant', a Solo Exhibition at the Long Gallery in Harlem, among others.
One of the things Dáreece has been consciously trying to do is create some sort of balance between talking about the harsh realities of racism and police brutality against black people in the USA on one hand and on the other, offering a glimpse into the beautiful, simple aspects of black people’s lives – his most recent project ‘Black Fathers Matter’, for example, documents black fathers simply hanging out with their children. Reimagining the past and integrating elements to create what it should have been also make his work especially powerful – Payal Khandelwal, The Floating Magazine