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November Issue 2006
Sumter County Gallery of Art in Sumter, SC, Features Works by Arturo Lindsay
The
solo exhibition, Arturo Lindsay: Healing, at the Sumter
County Gallery of Art in Sumter, SC, will be on view from Nov.
16 through Dec. 30, 2006.
The exhibit examines the experience, past and present, of the African diaspora in the Americas in a direct, creative, and ultimately powerful way. The work is very accessible, employing bold colors and includes large-scale installations, mixed media paintings of men and women of various ages (Wanted Series -Charleston), incorporating "Ju-Ju" packs, feathers, and broken mirrors, and a series of brightly colored prints of African children (the Gorée Series). Other pieces are more personal in nature and explore subjects such as love, parting, and death.
A native of Colón, Panama, Lindsay is an artist-scholar interested in African spiritual and aesthetic retentions in contemporary Latin American cultures and in the Sea Islands of South Carolina. In recent years he has been creating large installations focusing on the Middle Passage of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Dr. Lindsay is Professor of Art and Art History in the Department of Art at Spelman College in Atlanta. He received a Doctor of Arts (DA) degree from New York University (1990). He also holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Painting from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1975). Lindsay was the Kemp Distinguished Visiting Professor in Art History in 2005 at Davidson College, NC, and is presently the Batza Distinguished Visiting Professor, at Colgate University, Hamilton, NY. Lindsay's work is represented in private and public collections nationwide and abroad.
Lindsay states: "Throughout history and across cultures human beings have turned to the sacred arts and rituals as a catalyst in the process of healing themselves and their communities after the death of loved ones. With the death of two beloved artists in the 1980s, Nuyorican playwright Miky Piñero and Cuban born artist Ana Mendieta, I began creating sacro-secular works of art to pay homage to their memory. In the early 1990s I established a studio in Portobelo, Panama and became enamored with the history and culture of the Congos - descendants of cimarrones - enslaved Africans who liberated themselves. In Portobelo I became acutely aware that so little has been done to heal the pain of the tragic lives of enslaved Africans, runaways, and the children that perished during the Middle Passage of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. I began to wonder if the pain we are experiencing in this post-slavery era is due, in part, to this oversight. This led me to create works of art to address this unresolved pain. In recent years I have turned my attention to the power of love and the role of art in the process of healing the heart and soul. Arturo Lindsay: Healing, is a collection of sacro-secular works of art that addresses my concerns with the healing powers of art".
The exhibition Arturo Lindsay: Healing is part of an ongoing effort by the SCGA to diversify the exhibition schedule, which began in earnest in Nov. 2005 with Juan Logan: Close Inspection. By stimulating the imaginations of adults and young people, it is our hope that this exhibit will spark a dialogue and serve as a springboard for embracing our similarities and understanding our differences. Bringing Dr. Lindsay to Sumter for an artist lecture on Nov. 16, 2006, 7-8pm, the same night as the opening reception, is a way to involve the community with the artist and his creative process.
For more information check out the SC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the Gallery at 803/775-0543, or at (www.sumtergallery.org).
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