André Leon Gray: figment of the pigment
Exhibition Images
Apr 2, 2010 - May 1, 2010
Read Amy White's review of "figment of the pigment," (Indyweek.com)
http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/andr-leon-gray-adds-it-up-at-flanders-gallery/Content?oid=1385681
Read Dave Delcambre's review of "figment of the pigment," (ncartblog.org)
http://ncartblog.org/?p=907
figment of the pigment – April 2010
Frederick Douglass wrote in his autobiography that, “A man’s character always takes its hue, more or less, from the form and color of things about him.” While for Douglass this statement was a hesitant explanation for the abuses of which a former slave owner was capable, it is reflected in a different manner through André Leon Gray’s most recent mixed media pieces in figment of the pigment. The exhibition reveals the simultaneous progress and pitfalls of a culture that alternately claims color blindness and celebrates diversity.
The concept of figment of the pigment is, as Gray explains, “to imagine one’s power in this world and to manifest it, whether or not the world views your skin color as a determining factor of your success.” As one of Raleigh’s most established conceptual artists, Gray has plainly achieved that goal. However, in doing so through parsing and dissecting questions of race and ethnicity in his art works, Gray complicates his own statement. While it should not matter if the world views these as defining traits, they still influence the dynamics of society, and thus the “form and color” of those within it.
The presidency of Barack Obama, America’s first black Commander in Chief, would seem to be a watershed moment in demonstrating a nation that has moved past preoccupations with ethnic heritage, and in many ways it does demonstrate a manifestation of individual and group power over prejudice. However, Gray’s Temporary Government Housing, a tar painting depicting the White House, examines the relative novelty of Obama’s tenure against its significance. It is interesting to observe, also, that Gray’s wry identification of the White House as temporary government housing happened once it was filled by a black family, suggesting that perhaps a man’s character can equally influence the hue of the forms and things about him.
In no piece is the issue of the passage of time versus progress more apparent and locally significant than in ctrl/alt/delete (mama said knock you out). Pairing two repainted Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em robots against the trappings of a schoolroom not only brings up a discussion of history being written by the victors. This 2008 piece also eerily predicts the recent March 23 vote by the Wake County School Board to end its diversity policy. After a decade of efforts at socioeconomic desegregation through busing, is at the center of a historic decision to essentially reverse efforts that attempted to insure interaction among many walks of life. If one’s very character – and thus, in many ways, the potential to live up to it – is dictated by his surroundings, then what will this change in surroundings mean for future generations?
Gray considers his own Southern upbringing in Manchild in the Promised Land, a piece alluding and paying homage to the titular novel by Claude Brown detailing a mid-twentieth century Harlem childhood. Gray’s piece addresses living in the shadow of both the message of Martin Luther King, Jr., and his tragic fate. It will be interesting to see how, in future years, this piece may resonate with the generation currently being raised under the many contradictions of contemporary society, a society which heralds influential historic moments while also willfully ignoring lessons and trials of the past. Only then can the true figment of the pigment be evaluated.
Lauren Turner 2010
