From July 17 to August 29, 2024, the Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba is pleased to present Figures Light and Abstraction, an exhibition co-curated by Lamerol Gatewood and Michael Marshall. The figure in art has been represented since the beginning of time in a myriad of forms, shapes, and sizes. In this exhibit, artists work together to create compositional and symbolic possibilities and delineate elements of the ideal of figure, light, and abstraction. The featured artists are Ashley Cole, Kevin Cole, James Andrew Brown, Cynthia Hawkins, and Debra Priestly. Ashley Cole uses the concept of light and abstraction in a constant search to convey her interpretation of freedom, and what freedom looks like in all aspects. Cole’s canvases evoke light and abstraction to build upon black and brown tones inspired by all shades of melanin. She stated in an interview with Voyage LA “I use color and texture to convey feelings and emotions. I use acrylic paint and other mediums to achieve different styles of abstraction. I have a signature writing style that was inspired by growing up in the inner city of Watts, and a bold color pattern that was inspired by Basquiat”.

Kevin Cole while evolving from a more expressionistic place to one of abstraction, continues to evoke the necktie as a foundational aspect of his work. Cole makes use of figure, light, and abstraction aiming to communicate both the struggle and human spirit of African Americans. The importance of the necktie was introduced to Cole as a teenager when his grandfather, who lived through the Jim Crow era, told him how black men were lynched by their neckties for attempting to cast their ballots. Using the necktie as a motif of this history contrasts with the use of bright colors to evoke a sense of hope. He says, “Since 1992, I have deeply explored the interplay between color and music, particularly influenced by the musical art forms of African American culture: such as jazz, blues, rap, and gospel”.

James Andrew Brown experiments with figures, light, and motion. He uses the juxtapositions of scale, color, and false deities as a technical way to achieve family images and icons of his religious faith and beliefs. His work subtly confronts the black American experience often including the abstraction of caricature-like figures that may unconsciously bring about beliefs from the viewer surrounding American culture. Brown’s, visual language allows viewers to decide what is being compared consciously or unconsciously. Brown states “I aim to create a visual language that challenges, and subverts conventional notions of representation. By fusing disparate elements, I seek to craft a dreamlike narrative that invites the viewer to step into a realm where the figurative and abstract converge”.

Cynthia Hawkins employs methodologies of figure, light, and abstraction within her prints and paintings. Hawkins says she uses, "natural forms, astronomic forms, maps, and interstellar locations to construct and reconstruct positionality and distance.” Hawkins uses a kind of scientific language of abstraction as a tool to mediate musical forms in colors. This is a kind of method of jazz idioms and call-and-response compositional forms as abstractions in the visual and plastic arts.

Debra Priestly encompasses the figure, light, and abstraction within her use of historical family objects such as her grandmother’s Mason jars. Priestly explores themes of memory, ancestry, history, and cultural preservation. In the "Mattoon series", canning jars are repurposed to pay tribute to her elder relatives by superimposing their images onto the jars. This is a model of abstraction where the shape and structure of the object are in conversation with the visual context of the photographs. Priestley’s intricate design paper pattern cutouts are pulsing with life from memories of her great aunt’s intricate handmade lace tablecloths. Priestly’s sensitivity to her media and attention to detail are scintillating with light. The nine paper cutouts are visual explorations of intrigue and discovery, bringing back resonant memories.