 – On view through February 6, 202 at the North Carolina Museum of Art in the Joyce W. Pope Gallery, “Break the Mold: New Takes on Traditional…){kind=link}
RALEIGH, NC (PNAN) – On view through February 6, 202 at the North Carolina Museum of Art in the Joyce W. Pope Gallery, “Break the Mold: New Takes on Traditional Art Making” showcases contemporary artists who use traditional modes of art making and crafting to tackle timely subject matter.
The exhibit features 25 contemporary artists as well as Sanford Biggers, Elizabeth Brim, Maria Britton, Julie Cockburn, Rodney McMillan, Rachel Meginnes, Katy Mixon, Gabriel de la Mora, Yasumasa Morimura, Thomas Schmidt, Shinique Smith and Do Ho Suh, whose artworks are displayed alongside their historical predecessors.
Embroidery, ceramics, quilting, furniture, interior design, and fashion accessories serve to explore diverse topics, such as gender assumptions and inequalities, prison reform, racial justice, memory and loss, including how objects transmit and transform social and cultural history.
Artists working today strive to make something new, to revolutionize subject matter or materials, or contribute something unexpected, but the art that came before provides an important context and, sometimes, much-needed contrast.
The quilt “Life” by Hank Willis Thomas is made of recycled prison uniforms, memorializes the legacy of incarceration imposed upon families of color just as traditional quilts embody the stories embedded in fabrics that transcend generations.
“The Great Enemy of Truth” by Elizabeth Alexander is a full set of Confederate commemorative plates to remove celebratory elements as a conscientious reminder of the negative ramifications of the Civil War.
“French Toile . . . Negro Toil” of Colin Quashie updates the luxurious, pastoral themes of traditional toile to highlight the work of enslaved laborers, who often made such leisure scenes and the elegance provided by such expensive fabrics possible.
The historic and the contemporary feed each other in meaningful ways as contemporary art extends the lineage of these craft and artistic traditions, while historical work expands the context for the contemporary.
For more on this show and the museum’s other programming, see: https://ncartmuseum.org.