Coon Alchemy
By Ibn Kendall

February 5 - 21, 2008

Artist’s Reception: Friday, February 6, 7 - 9pm

The artist creates large-scale mixed media pieces using photos of his ancestors and discarded objects on canvas.
While visiting family in Jamaica, Kendall sorted through old photos of his relatives and their friends from the 1940’s to the 1960’s. The photos impressed the artist because despite of having meager means, his family had “delightful expressions” and “possessed the costume and countenance of movie stars”. The artist quotes his grandmother: “just because you’re broke doesn’t mean you need to show it.”

The title of this series pairs coon, an inflammatory word for a black person, with alchemy a word expressing the resourcefulness of transformation. “Doing so I am changing the context of coon from an ethnic slur to a term of endearment achieved by the ability to make something out of nothing. This elevated them (portrait subjects) above their original limitations. I call this gift and curse Coon Alchemy. People of color in the colonized world have always had to use the discarded, and reinvent themselves and their culture, to create a sense of pride.”

About the artist

Ibn Kendall lives and works in his native Brooklyn. He holds a BFA from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia P.A. Solo exhibitions include Lichtpunkt Gallery in Munich, Germany, and Salon Ciel, New York, N.Y. Selected group exhibitions include 31 Grand Gallery, Exit Art, and Gale-Martin Gallery.

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NY Studio Gallery is pleased to present the “And Your Very Flesh Shall Be A Great Poem” An installation created by Barrie Cline, Richard Alvarez, and Cousin Frank.
Jan 27 thru Feb 3, 2009

The artists have crafted an installation that embodies themselves and their deep roots in New York’s 1980s underground culture –while creating an especially relevant and radical practice for the present age. Born of an era where the squalor created by the economic crisis of the 70s and the dark forbidding spaces in the city spelled possibility and a gritty kind of equal opportunity, this DIY sensibility facilitated their unique, unsanctioned versions of identity and beauty as well as adaptive and sensual life.

While their individual styles vary, each of these artists has adopted their own unorthodox approach to their genres, materials and the place for art itself. This show seeks to create a more inclusive environment for art, redefining the art-going public.

Poised as we are at the brink of another potential period of hard times for NYC, this installation suggests an adaptive and humanistic opportunity for bottom-up growth. A lush and cacophonous soundscape created by Jacob Cox of MO$FO shall accompany the exhibit.

WELCOME TO NYSG

NY Studio Gallery combines exhibition and workspace to create a dynamic atmosphere of interaction, collaboration and integration of media, styles and artistic genres. Visitors have the opportunity to interact with artists at work, participate in an ongoing portrait project, or attend a variety of artists’ events.

MISSION

NY Studio Gallery combines exhibition and workspace to create an atmosphere of interaction, collaboration and integration of media, styles and artistic genres for US and international artists.

NYSG • 154 Stanton St. • New York, NY 10002
PHONE: 212.627.3276 • EMAIL: info@nystudiogallery.com • URL: nystudiogallery.com