Art Update 2

Interconnecting with his first exhibition at Lisson Gallery in 1967, Dom Sylvester Houédard: tantric poetries revealed the linguistic mysticism and the breadth of influences synthesised by the artist, beatnik and monk Dom Sylvester Houédard. At the time known variously by his pen name Sylvestre, ‘the Dom’ or by his signature and initials: ‘dsh’, he was also conspicuous for his sartorial combination of cloak, habit, dark sunglasses and black beret. Most of the collages and typewritten arrangements in this exhibition have never been seen before, aside from a few that were first shown by Nicholas Logsdail in the inaugural year of the gallery’s existence, which included, in dsh’s own words: “extracts from the mantra jrim, hum, ho, ho phat, some cosmic patches (attempts at repairing the universe) and some particles of antimatter from Gloucestershire.”

This new display is curated by Nicola Simpson, an expert in Houédard’s life and work, who has further drawn on his religious grounding and far-ranging intellectual interests to create an immersive environment that responds to the ideas, forms and grammar of his meticulously constructed textual compositions. While dsh was already associated with the international Beat movement and with other British concrete poets of the 1960s such as Ian Hamilton Finlay and Bob Cobbing, his position as a practicing theologian and member of the Benedictine order, based at Prinknash Abbey in Gloucestershire, imbued his work with a communicative and transcendental power beyond mere lexical dexterity. His studies of every faith from Christianity to Sufism and Taoism, what he termed “a wider ecumenism”, has led Simpson to consider installing Houédard’s works in response to his particular engagement with Tantric Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist practices. The works selected specifically respond to dsh’s enthusiasm for the meditative spiritual geometries of the mandala (as exemplified in a talk dsh gave in 1966 at the infamous Destruction in Art Symposium).

In 1969 AA Bronson formed the artists’ group General Idea with Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal. Since his partners died in 1994, AA has worked and exhibited as a solo artist, often collaborating with younger generations, most recently in his performance series Invocation of the Queer Spirits. Since 1999 he has worked as a healer, an identity that he has also incorporated into his artwork. From 2004 to 2010 he was the Director of Printed Matter, Inc. in New York City, founding the annual NY Art Book Fair in 2005. In 2009 he founded the Institute for Art, Religion, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, which he now co-directs.

The Kunstverein Hamburg recently restaged Fin de Siècle by General Idea. This installation was originally a guest in the small Deichtorhalle in November 1992, referred to the central installation of the exhibition: three stuffed baby seals lost themselves in a gigantic sea of ​​ice floes, which, in their arrangement, quote the famous painting Das Eismeer (1823-1824) by Caspar David Friedrich. The painting was also known for a long time under the title The Failed Hope . The installation Fin de SiècleUsing the title, which addresses an art movement of the late 19th century that was also known as decadentism, addresses the social disintegration to which the artist trio felt exposed, like the three seals in the Arctic Ocean. Mitchell-Innes & Nash are currently showing General Idea: P is for Poodle, an exhibition of works by General Idea (1969-1994) focusing on one of the central motifs in the artist group’s oeuvre: the poodle. This exhibition brings together two major installations dating from the early- to mid-1980s. Previously exhibited at the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris as part of General Idea’s retrospective in 2012, these works will be on view in the United States for the first time, along with a selection of paintings, drawings and sculptural wall works.

Black Art in America recently highlighted the work of Stephen Arboite and Steve Prince:

Evidently influenced by his Haitian heritage, Stephen Arboite, intends to depict those things about the human anatomy that cannot be seen. Using a stain technique that includes ground coffee, metallic powders, and organic pigment, Arboite portrays the spiritual essence of his subjects. Whereas the spirit is largely manipulated in African spiritual practices, his artworks perform a sort of ritual that allows the aura to be seen up front and center. As the ability to see the inside or the acute periphery of human being that make up the spirit and the soul is quite challenging, Arboite imagines the dynamic energy that the spiritual essence free of embodiment might look like. Taken apart from the physical form, spiritual essence flies free from captivity, but Arboite captures this illusive thing and shapes it on canvas revealing the dynamism of human energy and making a statement that speaks for our genuine and inherent vitality.

Steve Prince’s intricate prints and drawings are steeped in the artist’s faith. His works speak to the human condition in a way that unravels unending with narratives associated with the Bible. Symbolically rendering Biblical stories through his work, Prince portrays black life in relation to religion. Some of his work features married couples who express their love for one another through eye contact, like concerns, or closeness. Reminiscent of 1970s figuration, Prince puts a religious and moral spin on the rather sensual themes of the time. He depicts the everyday in intricate detailed prints and drawings. While Prince takes on worldly issues and employs art historical techniques, his work relies on the black experience and its relationship to a higher power. Through painstaking detail, the artist is able to craft narratives that render meaning on a communal level.

Prince's Rosa Sparks is currently a Collection Highlight at the Trout Gallery, presents a tableau of black experience in America by recreating the momentous event in Montgomery, Alabama, where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to white passengers. At the front of the bus, a haloed Parks sits defiantly in response to the standing bus driver’s gesture that she move to the back. At the left, a line of figures, some in silhouette, represent the experiences of black Americans—from the chains of slavery to present-day threats of gun violence. They are joined by references to others inspired by Rosa's spark, civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. A rider at the back of the bus holds a Bible turned to Matthew 5:3–10. This passage describes the Beatitudes, beginning with "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven...."

Arboite exhibited most recently in Translating Valence, at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids, which propagated ideas regarding black masculinity that lie in conjunction with, and opposition to, widely held historical and stereotypical beliefs. The title references the psychological theory of emotional valence, which generally refers to values expressed in reference to stimuli, ranging from attractive to aversive. While commonly not discussed regarding individuals, it can be argued that stereotypes about black males create negative valence. Although valence is said to be intrinsic, the idea of questioning the relevance and objective nature of valence was at play in this exhibition.

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Theotis Taylor - Something Within Me.