The Arkansas Arts Center's latest exhibition, "30 Americans," comes with a warning regarding its content. Patrons are advised it contains mature themes -- those that could be deemed harmful to one's tender sensibilities.
Several of the 42 mostly large-scale works on view from the 71 pieces in the traveling body of work could be perceived as having that effect, though none as much as Gary Simmons' 1992 work, Duck, Duck Noose.
The installation of wood, cloth, metal and hemp encompasses wooden stools situated in a circle -- in the style of musical chairs -- topped with replicas of the white cloth hoods identified as those worn by the Ku Klux Klan. A noose hangs from the ceiling in the middle of the circle.
It's a startling sight -- so repulsive to some visitors that they first had to look away before bringing their attention back to take it all in. Still others appeared to be too put off to approach it.
Billed as the largest traveling show of works by multiple generations of black artists, the intent of "30 Americans" is to engage viewers in conversation about race, sexuality, gender, history and pop culture, some of which derived from decades-old advertisements that stereotyped black people.
An anonymous note written on a chalkboard provided for feedback at the center read: "Arkansas was once a place where art like this would not be tolerated, much less appreciated." Another said: "Race is not real, racism is." The latter was a quote from one of the featured artists, Hank Willis Thomas of New York, considered an unofficial spokesman of sorts for "30 Americans."
Thomas, a conceptual photo artist, spoke to a members-only crowd at the Arts Center on April 9; the exhibit opened to the public the next day. Admission is free. It runs through June 21.
"It's definitely a different kind of exhibition than the Arts Center has ever had," executive director Todd Herman said at the member preview.
The traveling exhibit is on loan from Donald and Mera Rubell of Miami, owners of one of the largest private collections of contemporary art in the world. The couple have amassed nearly 7,000 works, enough to fill a 45,000-square-foot museum run by the family.
With 85 pieces, Thomas has more works in the Rubells' collection than any other artist.
Darrell Walker, the former Razorbacks basketball star and NBA player, is also a fan and collector of Thomas' work, and was instrumental in bringing "30 Americans" to the Arkansas Arts Center, Thomas said. Many of the "30 Americans" artists are represented in Walker's collection.
Thomas is particularly enamored of advertising campaigns and their impact on pop culture. Works by him in the Little Rock configuration of "30 Americans" are his digital C-prints Branded Head (2003) and his MasterCard spoof Priceless (2004), which depicts family and other mourners at the funeral of his cousin, a former high school football star who was murdered during a 2000 robbery outside a Philadelphia nightclub.
Thomas used the emotion-provoking photo to turn the tables on MasterCard's "Priceless" campaign. He listed the shopping expenses associated with the cousin's murder: "3-piece suit: $250; new socks: $2; 9mm pistol: $80; gold chain: $400; bullet: 60¢; Picking the perfect casket for your son: priceless."
Thomas' Branded Head is a 99-by-22-inch image of a black athlete's shaved head bearing a raised depiction of the Nike swoosh logo.
The artist brought the idea for "30 Americans" to the Rubells in 2006. He connected with Donald Rubell over a four-hour conversation at a party thrown by emerging artist Kehinde Wiley, whose works Equestrian Portrait of the Count Duke Olivares (2005) and a triptych, Triple Portrait of Charles I (2007), are featured.
The Rubells were no pushovers when Thomas pitched the idea for the traveling exhibition, the 39-year-old artist said.
"They were wondering if it made sense -- in the 21st century -- to do a show of African-American artists. They were wondering if it was too limiting or marginalizing," he said. A multi-generational exhibition by black artists had never been done in the United States.
The Miami couple and the director of their family collection will be at the Arts Center for a lecture May 6 in the Lower Lobby Lecture Hall.
Other standout pieces in the exhibition include David Hammons' 1990 work Esquire (or John Henry), a sculpture of human hair on a rock mounted atop a vertical steel beam; four of Nick Cave's human life-form-size Soundsuits from 2006 and 2008; and Rashid Johnson's 2008 piece The New Negro Escapist Social and Athletic Club (Thurgood), which is featured on a hardcover book accompanying "30 Americans."
Barkley L. Hendricks' quintessential depiction of a dapperly dressed 1970s man, Noir (1978), and Henry Taylor's 2010 acrylic painting The Long Jump by Carl Lewis got a lot of attention and smiles at the member opening.
In addition to Thomas, another handful of featured artists will be traveling to Little Rock to discuss their works. One of them is Thomas' mother, Deborah Willis, a longtime artistic photographer who inspired her son to follow in her footsteps.
Style on 04/26/2015