In the Black Fantastic
At the Hayward Art Gallery in London, an exhibition brings together
11 contemporary artists who have used the fantastic and ‘Afrofuturism’ in their works for over 20 years, but here together, take us on an exciting and innovative visual journey. Till September 18.
There is something surreal in the air. Not as a reference to the world’s political or environmental climate, but as a response to it. In Paris, an exhibition em honour of the designer and Dalí’s collaborator, Elsa Schiaparelli — “Shocking! The Surreal World of Elsa Schiaparelli” at the ‘Musée des Arts Décoratifs’ is electrifying visitors, and at Tate Modern the exhibition ‘Surrealism Beyond Borders’ promised to rewrite the history of the revolutionary art movement according to the gallery itself. But, near the same Tate, in the artistic centre of brutalist architecture called ‘Southbank’, the wall reads: ‘There Are Black People in the Future’. It is like a call and a warning to a utopian and surreal reality addressed in the Hayward Gallery, belonging to the cultural complex, in its new exhibition entitled ‘In the Black Fantastic’.
The Hayward Gallery is usually off the “radar” of the common tourist, used to famous London museums, which mostly have free admission and grandiose halls. Hayward, despite prestigious, may go unnoticed in the Southbank’s tangle of concrete, but its rustic grey rooms are the perfect “background” for this new exhibit.
With a universe that is so abstract, utopian, and impressive that it makes us dream, ‘In the Black Fantastic’ is an exhibition that brings together the work of 11 contemporary artists from the African diaspora, who resort to science fiction, myth and ‘ Afrofuturism. ‘ to question our knowledge of the world. The group brings together established artists such as the Americans Kara Walker and Ellen Gallagher and the British Chris Ofili and Hew Locke, and other lesser-known but brilliant ones, such as Lina Iris Viktor who lends one of her “queen paintings/self-portraits with a futuristic touch” in red, blue and gold for the show’s poster.
However, as we entered the first room, we began to understand why the title was “fantastic”. It is the space dedicated to the American sculptor and performance artist Nick Cave (namesake of the Australian musician) who was commissioned to create a dramatic sculpture made up of hundreds of casts of his own arm, joined like links in a chain and forming a ‘wall’, called ‘Chain Reaction’. This central work is surrounded by several of the artist’s colourful works and some of his ‘Soundsuits’. But what are ‘soundsuits’? These are wearable works of art that the artist “invented” 30 years ago in response to the brutal police beating of an innocent black man named Rodney King in Los Angeles. Nick wears the costumes — but exposed in the exhibition in a static way — and dances creating sounds, “disappearing”. He becomes a camouflaged, masked being and, in this “second skin”, hides race, gender and class, forcing the viewer to look without judgment. It’s like a cry from the artist who asks not to be judged by the colour of his skin or his gender. It is a garment that alludes to joy. The sound costumes are richly composed of materials such as dyed human hair, sisal, plastic buttons, beads, wire, sequins, feathers, embroidery, etc. Nick has been the subject of several fashion articles and editorials, for obvious reasons, and called by the New York Times “the most cheerful and critical American artist”.
The exhibition continues with Wangechi Mutu, a Kenyan-born American artist who has worked for more than 20 years using painting, collages, immersive installation, performances, and video animation to break ‘certain hierarchies’ concerning race, class and gender and ecological awareness. . His living room is oddly dystopian, with sculptures of surreal beings made with horns, hair, rocks and earth and a 2013 film/collage entitled ‘The End of Eating Everything’ with singer Santigold embodying a gluttonous planetary being, a metaphor of the exacerbated consumerism of humanity. The images are grotesque and spectacular, holding us until the end… of 8 minutes!
It is not surprising that the curatorship chose to line up Lina Iris Viktor and Hew Locke in the following rooms. The paintings by the Libero-British artist Lina are incredibly beautiful, especially against the red walls of her brightly lit room, which also elevate her elegant sculptures. They are a series of photographs/portraits of the artist disguised as corrupt queens, tyrants and bandits, in a reference to the diaspora and the violent tyrannies of the African continent.
Similarly, in the next room, British sculptor Hew Locke also explores figures and symbols of power, such as authority, through regalia and military-style clothing. Locke, who is also currently present at Tate Britain with the work “Procession” (which can be seen until January 2023), here presents 4 “ambassadors”. The “small” black statues in ornamental costumes on horseback are a third of their natural size, are of incredible detail, as are different outfits (the Rastafarian-style hat and Jamaican colours give the clue that they come from the former colony) who seem to be from fantasy land, dignified, brave on their horses, marching into the future frozen in time. The “visit” to these little men alone would be worth the exposure.
Myth, science fiction, spiritual traditions and the legacy of Afrofuturism are all showcased, reimagined and recontextualized throughout “In the Black Fantastic”, but artists Tabita Rezaire and Rashaad Newsome also bring the fantastic to bear on gender and duality. Tabitha uses a projection onto a pyramid, which is considered a sacred shape, to criticize Western conventions of binaries and heterosexuals, invoking a spiritual connection to pre-colonial Africa. And Rashaad explores the “queer” universe with collages, videos and powerful sculpting of a performer under a table — wearing Louboutin high heels — hyperrealistic.
On Hayward’s upper decks, one of the standouts is 1998 Turner Award winner Chris Ofili. The British artist of Nigerian origin deals with the sacred and the profane, black culture and exoticism. His paintings are large and colourful, but his 2006 sculpture ‘Annunciation’ is enigmatic and controversial. Another highlight is Ellen Gallagher, who uses intertwined mythologies and history to address the horror of the Atlantic slave trade. Her paintings are inspired by mythical underwater realms inhabited by the ancestors of drowned Africans as ‘Black Atlantis’. The artist manages to take us to this strange world and imagine the sad saga of these slaves.
When visiting an art exhibition we look for escapism. We seek to emerge in a universe seen through the eyes of someone who is perhaps more sensitive than ourselves. And many of us are fascinated by beauty, creativity, technique and the so-called “message”. In ‘In the Black Fantastic’ case, this looks more like a scream. The ‘message’ of these black artists, who have achieved recognition and success individually, seen here together, is so poignant and revealing. The splendour of the curatorship of Ekow Eshun — writer, journalist and art curator born in London but of Ghanaian origin — was to “group” these artists, making us go from room to room and visualize these surreal realities, with their monsters, “ambassadors”, legends and sacred beings, and showing us how they refuse to be stereotyped and coerced. Showing, as Eshun cites, the vitality, imagination and ambition with which they deal with the stigmas of racism and their complex history.
Ekow explained at the opening that what these artists are doing through this show is “showing other ways of seeing, perceiving and looking in another way at the struggle with the everyday radical, and look beyond, touch beyond the ways in which Black people are confined and contained by the imagination of the West”. He continues “and this West offers them historically as underdeveloped citizens who came from cultural traditions that are less sophisticated, less modern, less contemporary, less present than the Western world.” Artists do offer extraordinary ways of seeing the different aspects of being black in today’s world, which is still so difficult and complex in their work. And this exhibition is without a doubt a surreal immersion in these “worlds”, which amaze us but reach us and make us think. The brilliant ‘In the Black Fantastic runs until the 18th of September at the Hayward Gallery in London. Unmissable.
Note:
The show even has an accompanying book featuring a wider range of fantastic works by various black artists in all genres, published by Thames & Hudson.
Southbank is also hosting a series of lectures and exhibition-related events as well as a season of films that Eshun has selected for the British Film Institute, BFI. Complete escapism to the surreal queue stretching alongside the Thames for the next 3 days.
‘In the Black Fantastic’ is curated by Ekow Eshun with assistance from Thomas Sutton and curated assistance from Debbie Meniru.
In the Black Fantastic
Until September 18, 2022.
The Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX
www.southbankcentre.co.uk
Twitter: @haywardgallery
Instagram: @Hayward.Gallery
Facebook: www.facebook.com/haywardgallery/
#intheblackfantastic #haywardgallery #ekoweshun #afrofuturism #blackart #blackartist #southbankcentre
#nickcave #sedrickchison #ellengallagher #hewlocke #wangehimutu #rashaadnewsome #chrisofili #tabitarezaire #cauleensmith #linairisviktor #karawalker
