Barry Whistler Gallery is pleased to present Collage / Assemblage, a group exhibition featuring works by Reed Anderson, Wallace Berman, Joseph Glasco, Sam Gummelt, Luke Harnden, Lawrence Lee, Michael Miller, John Paul Phillipe, Adam Raymont, Dan Rizzie, Lorraine Tady, Alison Saar, Jessica Sinks, Danny Williams, and Mark Williams.

15 artists will present an assorted approach to Collage, and its frequent counterpart Assemblage. Of the works included, an early large scale Assemblage work by gallery artist Dan Rizzie will greet the viewer as they enter the gallery. The main gallery will feature large scale collaged works by Joseph Glasco that command the room with their explosive collaged picture planes.

Congolene Resistance, a featured work by Alison Saar, reimagines the lid of a tin of congolene, a hair relaxer made from lye popularly used by Black men during the 1920s to 1960s to straighten naturally kinky hair. This piece references the history of Black hair being punished and denied its natural texture. Still, Saar presents a figure with natural "stubborn and kinky" hair, determined eyes, and a hot comb clenched between his teeth. In this depiction, the object of conformity becomes a tool of resistance and survival, playing off the trope of a bad-ass character holding a knife between their teeth. In addition to the pomade tin reference, this artwork could also be viewed as a shield, considering the warrior characteristic of the depicted figure.