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Ben F Jones
Acrylic on 30 plaster casts

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Ademola Olugebefola
Mixed media and collage on paper

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Curated by Jedidiah Collins

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Before colonization and slavery everything seemed to be in order, indigenous tribes had their way of living and it worked for them. They were already in a state of thriving in terms of cultural richness, ecological knowledge and sustainable development. These were believed to be the definition of wealth within the community until colonizers came and told them otherwise. This led to disagreement and conflict which ultimately led everyone down a path of disaster. When talking about indigenous tribes I want to focus specifically on the African tribes such as the Yoruba, Ashanti etc. During colonization they were stripped of everything that made them who they were and taken into to slavery in pursuit to “nourish” the growth of America. Things such as music, art, dance, etc. were prohibited to practice among each other in fear of self realization and rebellion of the slaves.

During these dark times slaves had no way of expressing themselves openly so in fear of being punished they had to secretly come up with new ways to hold on to their culture. Under western imperialism they were assimilated to the western customs. So things such as new ways of living, faith, and cultural customs were shifted for them. In this process of assimilation, the slaves with the little bit of culture they still had in them found a way to Africanize whatever they touched, whether it had been food, music or faith. So within this state of oppression they were able to survive and make it through.

Post slavery when they began to migrate from the south to the more industrial areas a beautiful movement ignited a flame that inspired African Americans to return to their ways before colonization. That movement was the New Negro Movement/ Harlem Renaissance and one of the ways in which they felt they would be able to root themselves again were through the modes of art making. Rather it had been through music, fashion, painting, sculpting etc. The idea was to turn away from the westernized style of art making and turn to the ways in which their ancestors had practiced. Later there became more groups/movements that focused on this idea more acutely but during this time majority of the African American Artist were aiming to reclaim the African aesthetic. I have taken the time to research different artworks by different artists to give the viewer a better understanding of what this reclamation looks like, so this Exhibition is meant to navigate the viewer through the different ways in which African American artists took to reclaim the African aesthetic.

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James Wells
Woodcut on thin laid Japan paper

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Lois Mailou Jones
Oil

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James Lesesne Wells was a woodcut print maker whose style revolved around African sculpture and German woodcut traditions. In his piece Twin heads Lesesne uses the profile of two African figures, one male and one female to convey this idea of family and everyday life. In the image the two abstracted figures profiles are facing to the left side of the composition. The features on these figures are very much minimalized, but are clear enough to make sense of a face. The features on the faces within the piece are simplified and geometricized similar to those features of African mask. The heads are surrounded by what seems to be plants on the bottom right and left side of the image to suggest that they are placed in naturalistic environment such as Africa. The neck of these figures and the plants bleed out into the border of the image and bleeds back into the the composition above the two African figures through what seems to be a depiction of clouds. The African mask like features of the the figures and the setting in which they are placed in are meant to call attention to everyday family and everyday life particularly in the context of being African.(Lisa Farrington, African American Art: A Visual and Cultural History)

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Being apart of the Weusi movement Artist Ben F Jones’ subject matter revolved solely around African culture in service to regain, learn and express the culture that was stripped from his ancestors. In this piece Jones uses multiple casts of his face and arm to convey this idea of the human experience while composing a variety of stripes, circles, and spirals on the surface with acrylic paint to suggest this idea of human diversity and how similar yet different we all are. The reason why I found this to be interesting was because he used African cultural aspects such as scarification and body painting to convey the message that he was trying to get across. Even though the Weusi aesthetic solely focuses on pulling inspiration from African culture, Artist Ben F Jones used the aesthetic to communicate a human experience as a whole rather than focusing on one particular group. (Sharon F. Patton, African American Art)

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Ademola Olugebefola was another artist apart of the weusi movement that aimed to re-root themselves in their lost culture and gain inspiration within that. In Ademola Olugebefola’s Emerging spirit he expresses his African heritage by producing an image that revolved around the African spirituality rather than the western spirituality. In exploring this territory, he uses the vodou spirit of the moon Kalfu to express this African aesthetic and content. In the piece the vodou figure Kalfu is wearing what seems to be an African inspired mask, which is a big turn away from the traditional western style of art. The figure is made up of mostly red and blue juxtaposed patterns, which is a concrete element in the visual culture of African tribes. On the stomach of kalfu is what Lisa Farrington describes to be a cavity filled with sacred soil, which symbolizes fertility and and virility. For artists of this time and movement Creating something like this would have been viewed as a big shift in the art world because its content began to uncover a history buried and untold. (Lisa Farrington, African American Art: A Visual and Cultural History)

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Lois Maliou Jones was an African American artist who enjoyed exploring African forms and combining them with her knowledge of the African American experience. Her style uses a fusion of realism and geometric forms that speak to the aesthetic of African symbols and patterns while using a very colorful and vibrant palette. In Lois Mailou Jones’ Deux Coiffeurs d’Afrique, Jones uses oil paint to display African American heritage through form, color and black subjectivity. In this piece Jones is setting a scene of a young black girl looking down in a state of focus. She seems to be wearing a garment that has a pattern similar to that of kente cloth, which subtly blends into the geometricized background of abstracted and African forms. There is also a rendering of a profile of an African woman, which in the style it was done, looks similar a sculpture. The figure rendered in the background also has this stoic gaze and is wearing a head piece that may suggest a position of royalty. In the way this painting is rendered it seems as if the young black girl is in deep thought about her culture, which suggests this idea of learning and rooting herself in her culture. (Samella Lewis, African American Art and Artists)

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Aaron Douglas 19
Oil on masonite

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Aaron Douglas was one of the well known artists of the Harlem renaissance and just like W.E.B Dubois he believed that African American artists should incorporate African motifs into their art to educate themselves and solidify themselves in this new concept of the “New Negro”. In this piece Aaron Douglas uses the African aesthetic to depict the Christian biblical story of Noah. Aaron Douglas does this by incorporating aspects of African aesthetics such as angular/flat forms and patterns. Douglas sets the scene by having placing the ray of the sun in the upper right corner of the the composition shining down onto the Ark, which is being filled with animals by a figure on the ship who seems to be Noah. At the bottom right side of the composition he places a figure there who’s face resembles the style of African masks due to its use of angular and geometric form. This figure could represent the people who did not make make it on the ship due to their lack of faith in Noah’s word. Throughout the whole image Douglas uses echoing and juxtaposed patterns to represent lightning, wind, birds and the sun. The use of echoing and juxtaposed patterns borrow from the African aesthetics of body painting, mask painting and quilt making, which only shows how Aaron Douglas used African motifs to communicate different things within his art. (Lisa Farrington, African American Art: A Visual and Cultural History)

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Lisa farrington "African-American Art: A Visual and Cultural History", 2017

Samella Lewis, "African American Art and Artists", 1978

Sharon F. Patton, "African American Art", 1998