Image: Christl Stringer, Bootleg Post Vacation Blues, 2024 - Detail

Chaos Theory: The Spectrum of Black Abstraction

On View: October 31 - December 7, 2024

Opening Reception: October 31st, 6pm-8pm

Click Here to RSVP for Opening Reception

Austin Sley Julian, Sinister Limit of a Bicentennial Imposter, 2023

Chaos Theory: The Spectrum of Black Abstraction is a group exhibition of new and recent works by a group of black artists interpreting the theme of black abstraction through sculpture, assemblage, photography, printmaking, and painting. Depictions of voids, deconstructed bodies, and synesthetic emotional states offer diverse approaches to how blackness might be defined. Precarious, intricate, and even ephemeral materials depicting the human form underscore its fragility. Yet through abstraction, the self dissolves into textures, feelings, and concepts left open to observation and interpretation. Chaos Theory: The Spectrum of Black Abstraction features work by Abreale, Amani Heywood, Austin Sley Julian, Christl Stringer, Freddie L. Rankin II, Garry Grant and Shangari Mwashighadi. The exhibition is curated by Ciaran Short.

The exhibition draws its inspiration from Black Studies and Humanities scholar Christina Sharpe’s likening the black experience to the weather: “The weather is the totality of our environments; the weather is the total climate; and that climate is anti-black. When the only certainty is the weather that produces a pervasive climate of anti-blackness, what must we know in order to move through these environments…?” (Sharpe 2017). What we must know is how to navigate the weather and – in an ideal climate – learn how to predict the weather. While the weather is widely acknowledged to be unpredictable, there are a series of very real factors that determine weather systems. However, since these factors are seemingly beyond human control and direct interference, it can feel easier to assume the weather is random, rather than accepting the limitations of human understanding. Yet there is an inherent power that stems from accepting the inevitability of chaos; from such an admission comes a greater sense of sovereignty over one’s self. 

The artists on view offer interpretations of abstraction and blackness that were equally diverse, demonstrating an absence of a monolithic black identity, as well as artistic identity. If black experiences are anything but singular, this suggests that there is also no singular way to achieve disruption. Chaos Theory: The Spectrum of Black Abstraction seeks to foster an environment that is not only permissive but also encouraging of difference and multiplicity of identity. The exhibition exemplifies that even when we enact definitions to create a semblance of order – blackness, abstraction – the borders of these definitions are permeable. This anarchical, chaotic disruption makes room for fluidity, coexisting and even conflicting truths.

                          Click Here to RSVP for Opening Reception

Christl Stringer, Bootleg Post Vacation Blues, 2024

About the Artists:

Abreale hails from Bethesda, Maryland, and now resides in Brooklyn, New York. She received her BFA from the University of Virginia. Her interdisciplinary studies were based in African American Studies, Philosophy, and Painting. Her  work revolves around how ‘paintings’ occupy space, how they bend, contort and physically interact with the viewer via residues of process and somatic motion. This approach to making has blossomed from a desire to sit within the discomfort of being ‘unresolved’. The uncertainty that lies between the ‘start’ and ‘completion’ is an incredibly generative place to inhabit. Abstraction provides the freedom to play in this ‘space’ defined by imagination. Abreale’s embrace of uncertainty invites research, experimentation, and introspection into all that she creates.  

Amani Heywood is a Bronx-born Trinidadian artist. He uses his  love of fashion, philosophy, and architecture to invoke a feeling that he then translates into an abstract mindscape. As a child, he  was diagnosed with dyslexia. This made him  see letters morph into the swirls and squiggles we see today in his work. It always felt like he wasn’t reading, but more like interpreting these symbols so he could move through the world. Now that he has an understanding of what his brain was doing, he  likes to show people what he saw then. Pouring, dripping, throwing, and spraying are only some of the application techniques he uses to apply color to whatever object he’s painting. Matching and blending colors until he has a photo that represents his feelings is what he loves.

Austin Sley Julian is an experimental composer, performer, and multimedia artist based in New York, NY. A Brooklyn Native, Austin was brought up immersed in the underground music scene of New York City, performing alongside Leila Bordreuil, Neil Cloaca Young, Julia Santoli, Tamio Shiraishi, Daniel Carter and Id M Theft Able. Austin has toured internationally with several music projects he has founded, namely Sunk Heaven, Sediment Club, and Signal Break, releasing over 20 albums. Throughout his career as a performer, Austin has taken to challenging the conventions of instrumentation, composition and the limits of musicianship. Austin has brought this pursuit to his creative collaborations such as Christian Marclay: Festival retrospective at the Whitney Museum, as part of the piece “Screen Play” (2010) / Felix Bernstein Bieber BathosElegy (2016) and Leila Bordreuil: Void and Dismissal. In his Sculptural work Austin integrates Kinetic sound sculpture with jagged gestural form, showing work recently at Spring Break Art Fair in 2019. With Austin’s work ranging from sound terrorist to sound artist, he is able to seamlessly navigate the tightrope of performance art, avant-garde and song. In ASJ’s most recent residencies at Issue Project Room and Pioneer Works in 2021, he bridged these multidisciplinary practices into audio/visual performed sculptures, moving forward into the decade Austin’s work moves more towards finding powerful invocations in these linked media.

Christl Stringer is a Black surrealist figurative painter, writer, and filmmaker whose work has shown at SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Latela Curatorial, Hot Bed Gallery, Maake Projects Gallery, and more. Through her art and writing she explores the interiority of the Black millennial womanhood and childhood experiences. Her films and scripts have been accepted into Nashville Film Festival, Thuh Film Festival, New Haven International Film Festival, and more.

Freddie L. Rankin II, a native of Memphis, is a photographic artist whose passion for the medium ignited when he received his first camera at the age of twenty. Despite being self-taught, Rankin has cultivated a remarkable affinity for film photography, embarking on journeys throughout the Caribbean, Europe, and the United States. Through his lens, he captures what he perceives as a profoundly "personal narrative... the untold story of life as an African-American male in a cross-cultural world."In 2019, Rankin achieved a significant milestone in his artistic journey as he graduated with an M.F.A. from Bard College, further enriching his understanding and practice of photography. During his time at Bard College, he developed a mixed media technique that seamlessly connects photography with sculpture and painting. This innovative approach allowed Rankin to push the boundaries of visual storytelling and explore new dimensions of identity, race, and cultural intersections. Rankin's body of work is a testament to his dedication and commitment to storytelling. His photographs, sculptures, and mixed media paintings are imbued with a raw honesty, offering viewers a glimpse into experiences often overlooked or underrepresented. By skillfully capturing poignant moments and intertwining different artistic mediums, he invites us to engage with the nuanced layers of the African-American male experience in a global context.

Garry Grant, an esteemed artist hailing from New York City, has carved a name for himself with his captivating large-scale abstract creations that often span across multiple canvases. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Grant embarked on his artistic journey through formal education at the College for Creative Studies and Wayne State University. It was during the preliminary stages of his career that Grant honed his skills as a master gilder, working alongside renowned framing companies and specializing in the restoration of antique period frames. Garry Grant's artistic journey is a testament to the power of creativity, curiosity, and passion. With every layer of wood and every gilded detail, he leaves an indelible mark on the art world, captivating hearts, and minds with his profound artistic expression. As he continues to explore the interplay between ancient history and contemporary art, Garry Grant's legacy as an artist continues to unfold, enriching the world with his evocative and timeless creations.

Shangari Mwashighadi is a New York-based interdisciplinary artist working in sculpture, wearables, sound, and more. Currently, they are in the Fine Arts Program at Parsons School of Design attaining their MFA. Shangari’s practice currently is concerned with analyzing how value is assigned to certain aspirational experiences, objects, and resources. How the sense of sight is manipulated in the process of making something perceived as valuable or valueless. Seeking to subvert conventional notions of value as a way to challenge the viewer & themselves to decolonize internally. They investigate how time shifts value and how its passing can magnify or diminish it.

About the Curators:

Ciaran Short is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and activist born and raised in NYC. His work explores New York culture and tackles issues of race and masculinity. His writing has been featured in publications such as The Independent, Newsday, and Honeysuckle Magazine. Since the Spring of 2022, Ciaran opened an art gallery and multipurpose creative space in the East Village called All Street NYC, where he has curated and organized various exhibitions featuring the works of local emerging and underrepresented artists. In addition to his curatorial practice, Ciaran has had his work most recently featured at the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation's 8th gallery in New York City. He holds a masters degree in Media Studies from the New School and is adjunct faculty at NYU Tisch’s IMA undergraduate program.