In collaboration with visionary curator Destinee Ross-Sutton, Christie's is presenting “SAY IT LOUD,” a virtual retail exhibition dedicated to the promotion and empowerment of black art. The exhibition, which will be open from July 31 to August 18, spotlights 22 emerging Black artists who each explore the concept of identity and perception, providing them with a global platform for the celebration and amplification of their work. Named after James Brown's 1968 hymn "Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud", this exhibition marks the first in a series of exhibitions and educational initiatives organized by Christie's CSR Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives that will provide a necessary platform for the voices of the Black Art community to be amplified and empowered.
All works are available for sale through the artists and their representatives. All parties interested in individual works can email sayitloud@christies.com to be put in direct contact with the appropriate artist contact. 100% of the sale price of each work will go to the respective artist.
Ms. Ross-Sutton has co-curated and curated successful international group exhibitions at renowned institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) and CFHILL, Stockholm, Sweden. Independently, she advises several private institutions and international collectors on contemporary art acquisitions with a focus on African and African-American art. In her eyes, “showcasing a diverse range of opinions, voices, and countless expressions of beauty is essential in a world where compassion and connection are needed now more than ever” (D. Ross, quoted in catalogue, Black Voices/Black Microcosm, April 8-May 9, 2020.
Incorporating deeply personal aspects, each of these artists uses their mediums as driving forces to construct images of identity – be it their own, a society or a neglected community – in order to empower voices that have traditionally been silenced.
The vulnerability of identity is displayed in these works, both prominently, with the work of Josh Paige, who depict black men with lenses on their bodies, and Nelson Makamo who confront black stereotypes head-on, or more subtly, as with the work of Yoyo Lander and Barry Yusufu who respectively evoke the universal emotionality and vulnerability of time and progress.
Among the highlights of the exhibition is Nelson Makamo's Untitled, from Blue Series, 2020.
Johannesburg-based artist Nelson Makamo is best known for his charcoal and oil paintings of young women, men and children who are making up for decades of images that have perpetuated the stereotype that Africans are destitute; his work provides a source of hope and optimism. For some sixteen years since he received his formal training at Artist's Proof Studios in Johannesburg, Makamo has been busy distracting from that demeaning image by portraying Africans in a way that reverses this kind of thinking.
Makamo's work has always represented a sense of yearning for the freedom of existence, a freedom that seems alien to most black and brown communities around the world – due to both systematic and direct violence that the black community has historically been experiencing. all over the world as well as today. The sick house at home and blue represent some of the themes Makamo is exploring in depth in studying him right now, creating figures that inspire and spread optimism during these challenging times for Black communities globally.
Artist Yoyo Lander is represented by two works in the exhibition, including The Deeper Longing is Greater Than Discomfort, 2020, which is pictured at right. Lander's works prove to inhabit a stark contrast of tone and color. He achieves this painting by painting with watercolors and by collecting his works together, reusing them in fragile portraits of identities. The vulnerability is palpable, but the strength outweighs any trepidation to be found in his works.
In 2018 Lander started thinking about the ideas surrounding vulnerability and what it means for people of color, especially women of color. She decided to call the series Time Off. Her work Have Tears Tales tackles the same idea, but for black men. These series marked a shift in Yoyo Lander's artistic approach, where context now plays a significant role in the depiction of individuals.
The exhibition will also include Collins Obijiaku's Untitled, 2020 which is a prime example of the artist's celebration of darkness through elegantly constructed portraits. Through their gaze, the viewer must be transported to a world where Black people exist as themselves, innately elegant and undistracted by the world and its infinite constructs. Obijiaku has a remarkable relationship with lines; his brushstrokes are seemingly topographical, taking the viewer into a landscape of facial wonder and magic.
As these artists play on perception, they call attention to historical perception of “Blackness” and put it in their heads, ambitiously challenging the viewer to redefine their pre-conceived and systematically taught notions of Black perception and identity. The exhibited works live in their own self-constructed worlds, prompting us to confront perceptions of Black identity, the value we place on conversations and the healing engagements necessary to move our society forward.
