Radical Vision and Imagination:
Black Abstract Art in the 21st Century
September 10th - October 8th, 2021
Curated by Roger C. Tucker III of Tucker Contemporary Art this exhibition brings together the work of four artists, of two generations, setting the stage for a broader and more dynamic conversation about the direction of Abstract Art.
Artist Talk Panel
moderated by author/curator/art advisor
Halima Taha
Sunday, September 26th
2:30 - 3:30pm
*seating at 2pm
Roger C. Tucker III, Curator
"It is vital that a broader conversation include Black artists and Black art professionals, with the public and art institutions, about where art is and where it is going." – Roger C. Tucker III
Roger is Founder/Director of Tucker Contemporary Art. TCA works with collectors and institutions interested in acquiring, exhibiting and promoting the work of emerging contemporary artists. Leveraging extensive experience in fine art, marketing and education, Roger advances the careers of African American and other underrepresented artists – academically trained or outside the mainstream. He is a recognized art industry influencer, using social media and live events to advocate for a more inclusive art community that embraces the unique voices of diverse artists.
As an art educator, Roger spent fifteen years harnessing the artistic talents of students, resulting in admission to top-tier U.S. universities and art colleges. The podcast, “What’s Newark Got To Do With It?”, was recently launched by Roger, a proud Newark, NJ native. Featured on Spotify, Audible and Apple ITunes, the podcast interviews authors, curators and other cultural thought leaders from/of Newark, NJ about the cultural impact and life-long influences the Brick City has, and continues to have, on their lives and careers.
Roger curated, and exhibited at Art In Flux Harlem, The Cooper Union, The Jersey City Museum, Canvas Paper and Stone Gallery (NYC), Art In The Atrium, (Morristown, NJ) and Brooklyn Fireproof Gallery (Williamsburg, NY).
Tucker received a BFA from The Cooper Union, an MS from Pratt Institute and holds an Art Business Professional Certificate from New York University.
Tucker served on the board of trustees of The Cooper Union and is currently the Board President of GlassRoots, an arts and education nonprofit in Newark, NJ.
Halima Taha, Moderator
Halima Taha is recognized throughout the United States as a leading authority on collecting African American art and arts management. For more than twenty years, she continues to contribute to the field as an appraiser, art advisor, educator and speaker. Author of best-selling book, Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas and Three Decades of American Printmaking: the Brandywine Collection. Ms. Taha is a highly sought media personality and consultant.
Ms. Taha received her Master's Degree in Arts Management & Cultural Policy from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts from Sarah Lawrence College, New York.
Exhibition Artists
Dominant Dansby
Victor Davson
Adebunmi Gbadebo
Cynthia Hawkins
Curated by
Roger C. Tucker III
OPENING RECEPTION
Friday, September 10th, 2021
7:00-9:00pm
Image: (detail) Victor Davson, Misogyny Paper/Apology #1 (2019-2020)
Dominant Dansby, artist
“My collage series is deeply influenced by my relationship to jazz and the idea of communicating through the exchange of energy.” – Dominant Dansby
Dominant trained at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and received the Silas H. Rhodes Scholar award upon graduation. He was a studio assistant to the artist Willie Cole for two years before working as an art preparator at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City and Gander and White in New York City. Dominant has exhibited at N'Namdi Contemporary in Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach, the FLUX Art Fair, NYC and exhibitions throughout New York and New Jersey.
Victor Davson, artist
"My imagination as an artist was shaped by the anti-colonial and civil rights struggle in the 1960s: artists and activists like Norman Lewis, Martin Carter, Frantz Fanon and Amiri Baraka inform my work. More later." — Victor Davson.
Notable solo exhibitions include Misogyny Papers-Apology, Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ; Victor Davson: Full Circle, Berrie Center Kresge and Pascal Galleries, Ramapo College of New Jersey, Mahwah, NJ; Bad Cow Comin': Recollections and Transformation, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY; and The Chain Link Series, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ. Notable group exhibitions include African American Artists & Abstraction, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba; Aljira at 30, Dream and Reality, The New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ; Timehri Transitions: Expanding Concepts in Guyana Art, The Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba House, NYC.
Adebunmi Gbadebo, artist
“My material is human hair from people of the African Diaspora. Our hair is so connected to our culture, politics, and history! It is history and DNA.” – Adebunmi Gbadebo
Gbadebo’s work is included in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, and the Newark Museum of Art. Gbadebo’s work has been presented in numerous exhibitions in the United States, Asia, and Europe, including the Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh; 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London; Untitled Art Fair, Miami; Rutgers University, New Jersey; College of Saint Elizabeth, New Jersey; amongst others. In 2019 Adebunmi participated in the museum exhibition Mapping Black Identities, organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Art. She has been written about in numerous notable publications including The New York Times, Hyperallergic, and Afropunk. She has also been broadcasted internationally in the U.K. and Nigeria and has given talks at the Museum of the African Diaspora and the Newark Museum.
Adebunmi is currently serving as the research and community engagement apprentice for Architect Nina Cook John the designer and architect of Newark’s newly commissioned Harriet Tubman Monument to replace a statue of Christopher Columbus that once stood at Washington Park. Adebunmi is currently represented by Claire Oliver Gallery, Harlem, NY.
Cynthia Hawkins, artist
“Abstraction in the visual and plastic arts is misrecognized as incomprehensible when in fact, abstraction in the visual is imbued with elements similar to jazz. Those elements are call and response, movement, and color.” – Cynthia Hawkins
Cynthia Hawkins has exhibed work at many galleries and museums including Rush Art Foundation, NY, Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba, NY, Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries, GA, Buffalo Science Museum, NY, Queens College Art Center, Queens College, NY, Cinque Gallery, NY, Frances Wolfson Art Center, Miami-Dade Community College, and The Bronx Museum of the Art, NY.
Hawkins received a BA in Art from CUNY, Queens College, an MFA from Maryland Institute, College of Art, an MA in Museum Studies from Seton Hall University, and earned her Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Buffalo, SUNY. Until recently she held the position of gallery director and curator at the Bertha V.B. Lederer Gallery at SUNY Geneseo.
Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. Black Lives Matter has brought this and other imperatives of social and racial justice to the attention of America and the world. These imperatives are also being called out and realized in the art world. A multitude of Black artist voices and works are seen and heard in the media today, both in print and online.
It wasn’t always so. This exhibition will bring the picture of abstraction to the fore to audiences that may only be familiar with, or associate, Black art and artists with the figure. It will continue, and build on, the current effort to bring about the systemic structural change of inclusion in the history of contemporary art. It is imperative that a broader conversation, with the public and art institutions, about where art is and where it is going, include Black artists and Black art professionals.
The history of Black abstraction began with the Abstract Expressionist paintings of Norman Lewis in the 1940’s. It continued with the artists Alma Thomas, Ed Clark and Jack Whitten. It continues with Howardena Pindell, Sam Gilliam, Julie Mehretu, Leonardo Drew and Mark Bradford.
This exhibition, curated by Roger C. Tucker III of Tucker Contemporary Art, will further the conversation to the present with the Radical Vision and Imagination of artists, Dominant Dansby, Victor Davson, Adebunmi Gbadebo and Cynthia Hawkins. The Artist Talk Panel will be moderated by, Halima Taha, a leading authority on collecting African American art, arts management and the author of Collecting
African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas.
Four artists, of two generations, present the broader and more dynamic conversation, with the public and art institutions, about the direction of Abstract Art.
US+U/Warburton Galerie is proud to be a grantee of Arts Westchester with funding made possible by Westchester County government with the support of County Executive George Latimer, as well as a gracious CDBG recipient with support made possible by the City of Yonkers and Mayor Mike Spano.
Name of Press Contact: Melissa Starke
Phone: 732-829-2511
Email: melissastarkeusu@gmail.com
