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CHELLE BARBOUR “YOU IS PRETTY!” Surrealism & the Black Imaginary With Guest Curator Angela Bassett

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Date: 
Saturday, 15 September 2018 to Saturday, 13 October 2018
Opening: 
Saturday, 15 September 2018 - 6:00pm

OPENING RECEPTION

September 15, 2018 | 6pm - 10pm

ARTIST TALK

October 6, 2018 | 4pm

ON VIEW

September 15, 2018 - October 13, 2018

BAND OF VICES

5376 W. Adams Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90016

Band of Vices Art Gallery is thrilled to announce You Is Pretty!, the first solo exhibition of Chelle Barbour. Oscar-nominated actress Angela Bassett is pleased to serve as guest curator for Ms. Barbour's premiere solo exhibition. You Is Pretty! will feature nearly two dozen photographic collages of black women, sourced from magazines and books, and re-assembled as almost mythical beings that transcend the devalued representations historically broadcast in our culture and media. “Chelle Barbour has the rare artistic gift of being able to elevate a people, in this case the black woman, to heights of majesty and complexity that are so often overlooked in our everyday lives," says Bassett.

You Is Pretty! will be on view from September 15 to October 13, 2018 with an Opening Reception on September 15 from 6pm to 10pm. Barbour will hold an Artist Talk at the gallery on October 6, 2018 at 4pm.

“I have created a corpus of artwork that engenders questions about agency and beauty through layering visual metaphors across an iconography of black women that evoke Afro-surrealism,” says Barbour in her artist statement. “Though at times, the design elements may seem illogical and incongruent as they reimagine and celebrate hybrids of black female identity as mighty warriors, protagonists, sages, and interlocutors, the images portray females who are alluring, confident and regal, whose mystique envelops and draws you in while simultaneously disrupting the notion of black women as unattractive, threatening, and lacking economic value. These fictional beings are compelling, yet feminine and non-binary as well as vulnerable, and resistant to trauma.”

With recurring visual motifs of flower petals and leaves, butterflies, and household and industrial items, the images of black women are reclaimed and reconfigured as empowered archetypes of feminine strength and potential, work that is almost visceral for the artist. “During my creative process, I am endlessly questioning the representation and subjectivity of every image, element, and layer, which calls for an ongoing reinterpretation of inserted allegories while moving deeper into expanding the magical realism in the black female imaginary,” explains Barbour.

This is the first solo show of her career.

Band of Vices is located at 5376 W. Adams Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90016.

Curator :

Artist ( Description ): 

Chelle Barbour’s collage work explores the agency of the black female as muse, goddess, warrior, and woman. This collage portraiture series operates through the lens of Afro-Surrealism that envelops notions of desire, fantasy, femininity, fiction, fragility, myth, and resistance, strength and all that is complex and constructed in the black gendered imaginary. Chelle’s art practice also includes painting, digital video, photography, writing and curating. She has participated in group shows and collaborated on art projects with Black Lives Matter public art project at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery (2016); Simone Leigh’s international Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter presentation at the Project Row Houses in Houston, TX (2017). Barbour’s work is in the permanent collection of the California African American Museum, the J Paul Getty Museum, and private collections.

While cultural production is a critical part of Barbour’s work, her curatorial practice began while conducting field research in Cuba, resulting in a published thesis, “Performance and Memory by Selected Cuban Artists: Ana Mendieta and Tania Bruguera.” A California native, Chelle began her foray into the arts as an actress. Her education includes the completion of undergraduate programs at Oxnard College and UCLA. Barbour returned to school to study photography and graphic design at Santa Monica College and Glendale College and earned a BFA in Digital Media Design & Fine Arts and a Master’s in Art History & Curatorial Practices from the USC Roski School of Fine Art & Design.

Telephone: 
323-480-4220
Venue ( Address ): 

5376 W. Adams Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90016

Hijinx Arts , Los Angeles

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