Explore
Learn more about the works of art in our exhibitions from our own education team. Highlights include short articles and videos that offer a deeper dive into the artwork and the artist.
New Man | ... He | Axe | Procession 1 | It Took Generations to Build | Bargain Basement Sovereign | Untitled (Car Girls)
Content is appropriate for most audiences, although some artworks may reference mature topics.
NEW MAN
A Closer Look: Yoan Capote, New Man
From Curator of Education, Truly Matthews
Yoan Capote has a reputation for his smart yet witty artwork. He takes facets of his Cuban identity that translate to universal themes. Capote often merges objects with human forms as he did in New Man. Bronze cast human vertebrae are stacked between handcuffs. The handcuffs echo the form and add to the spinal curvature in place of cartilage. The sculpture hangs as though it was a true anatomical specimen for study in a lab.
Living and working in his native Cuba, Capote is curious about power structures in society. Here, a tool used by authorities to restrict movement establishes the backbone of humanity. It might be a source of comfort and protection for some, but is also a source of pain, aging, and prosecution for others. This backbone upholds the laws of the land.
...He
A closer look at ...He by artist Ebony G. Patterson from the exhibition Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of the Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art
From Curator of Education, Truly Matthews
The looking requires thought, it requires engagement, it requires awareness, and it requires presence. —Ebony G. Patterson
Ebony G. Patterson explores the idea of masculinity within Jamaican popular culture. She references many aspects of her culture, including dancehall culture, living in an inner-city, violence, bling funerals, and its current cultural transformation. They act as a platform for her discourse about masculinity. She weaves this exploration with symbols that have traditionally been associated with the feminine. Patterson employs a festive palette, sequins, and colorful found objects to create three-dimensional tapestries. The works are hand-made and labor intensive. They allude to womens' roles associated with fabric and needlework.
The circular tapestry tells the story of loss that seems inevitable. Bullet holes create empty spaces amid the chaotic and stunning picture plane. Carnival beads drip. Flowers, toys,and crochet work spring forward. To the right, an anonymous boy, stares forward. His gaze is sullen and piercing. The empty shoes, left at the floor suggest that the child is no longer with us. Whether it is his innocence or his spirit that has departed, the memorial haunts us. See more from Ebony G. Patterson at moniquemeloche.com/artists/ebony-g-patterson.
AXE
A DEEPER DIVE into AXE by Nate Lewis, from the exhibition Shifting Gaze : A Reconstruction of The Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art
From Curator of Education, Truly Matthews
What does movement do for you? What does it sound like?
“The sounds that can be heard within the body, the different textures of the sounds: [there’s] a musical composition within. I think about music and sound like textures. They influence how I create … the feel of them, the movement of them.”- Nate Lewis
Shifting Gaze exhibiting artist Nate Lewis explores the possibilities of paper as art-making material in his sculptures. Lewis cuts, scrapes, adds, and subtracts while creating large-scale paper human figures. He combines elements of drawing, portrait photography, etching, cutting, and embroidery.
Lewis has experience as a professional critical care nurse. He made his first works using a scalpel knife on EKG paper. His sculptures move along accurate anatomical structures, cellular tissues, and bodily movements—both internal and external. The effect is a gorgeous, tactile, and juicy surface that celebrates the body’s strength, movement, and agility. The marked and patterned body, Axe, is muscular and masculine, but also a somewhat foreign, exotic, and other, an alienated body. It both dances in isolation yet conveys a full circular sinuous motion that empowers.
View our Close Looking Guide featuring Axe by Nate Lewis. Close Looking Guides are designed to help make meaningful connections between art and everyday life. We would love to hear about your learning and discoveries through our Close Looking Guides. Tag us and share @VirginiaMOCA #VirtualVAMOCA. See more from Nate Lewis at natelewisart.com.
Procession 1
A DEEPER DIVE into PROCESSION 1 by Mark Thomas Gibson, from the exhibition Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of The Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art
From Curator of Education, Truly Matthews
Who is leading this parade and who is witnessing it? Are the spectators complicit in the action?
Shifting Gaze exhibiting artist Mark Thomas Gibson weaves difficult truths with semi-fictional narratives. In a graphic, comic book style, (po)lice in full riot gear lead a group of four men of color past a storefront building. Shields obscure the faces and identities of the police. The men are in orange prison jumpsuits and shackled together at the neck. Three of them have down-turned faces. But the man at the center of the composition wears a mint green, mask/head covering. The prisoner number on the back of his jumpsuit is his only form of identity.
In the center of the composition, a reconfiguration of an American flag rises. It has too many stripes and a diamond-shaped symbol have replaced the unified field of stars. To the right is a golden, cruciform staff topped with a winged-diamond. These signs and symbols hint at a repressive doctrine. The title, Procession 1, and down-turned heads suggest that this activity is not a moment of celebration.
“I want to have a conversation about our shared understanding that things need to change, and that everything is very much at stake. We are all in this together.” - Mark Thomas Gibson
See more from Mark Thomas Gibson @darthgibson
It Took Generations to Build
A DEEPER DIVE into IT TOOK GENERATIONS TO BUILD by Andrea Donnelly, from the exhibition New Waves 2020
From Curator of Education, Truly Matthews
Would you take apart or destroy something that you invested care and time into?
“This piece is part of an ongoing series of collages exploring a circular process of growth and destruction. In these works, I create my own raw material through painting, dyeing, and handweaving cloth. Weaving by hand is slow and exacting. But when I cut that cloth to build a collage, I work spontaneously, responding to the visual field that unfolds as the predictable structure of a weaving becomes chaotic. The graphic, linear elements of the cloth come together in new and unexpected ways. The final artwork is an artifact of these processes of construction, destruction, and rebuilding.” - Andrea Donnelly.
Donnelly's process is meticulous and time consuming. She uses a loom to weave her cloth. Weaving is the intersecting of threads running lengthwise, with transverse threads or weft. The cloth she creates is made with care and precision, only to be taken apart, painted, weaved, and unwoven. Swipe to see images of Donnelly’s loom and studio.
@andreadonnellyart #virginiamoca #NewWaves
Watch Donnelly discuss her process and inspiration in a video produced by the North Carolina Museum of Art in conjunction with her 2017 exhibition We've Met Before.
Bargain Basement Sovereign
A closer look at Bargain Basement Sovereign by artist Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz from the exhibition Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of the Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art
From Curator of Education, Truly Matthews
Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz claims worth in a world where the experiences of women of color aren't always seen or valued. She creates characters to take on roles in portraits and performances. They are fictional and mimic stereotypes that distance her from reality. More at raimundiart.com.
untitled (car Girls)
A DEEPER DIVE into UNTITLED (CAR GIRLS) by Luis Gispert from the exhibition Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of The Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art
From Curator of Education, Truly Matthews
What defines you? Is that clothes that you wear? What cultures you identify with? Do others see you as you see yourself?
“When somebody is a wearing uniform, you immediately think about them in a specific way, like police, nurses, or even sport teams, you immediately jump to a conclusion of what that person’s life is.” - Luis Gispert
Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of The Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art exhibiting artist Luis Gispert stages photographs to question how we choose to define others. Gispert is of Cuban heritage and was part of a significant group of artists in Miami informed by 80's and 90's Hip-Hop culture. He fuses ideas about personal expression through fashion, self-made identity, and popular culture.
This photo is from the Cheerleader Series. Here, two women wearing cheerleading uniforms sit in the back seat of a leather-clad car. They wear symbols of Hip-Hop finery – yellow gold rings, bamboo hoops, and watches with motifs of money, music, bling, and violence. The women’s necklaces float away, as though they are levitating. The car could be bouncing on hydraulics in tune with music or moving quickly. One is the logo of the Wu Tang Clan and the other is an embellished Tec-9 submachine gun. The Tec-9 is a firearm invented in Miami. It was used by rival gangs in the city and was popular as an assault weapon throughout America. The women seem nervous as they hold each other’s hands and gaze in opposite directions. Something has gone wrong here in front of the chroma-key green screen – a film tool giving the viewer the ability to place the subjects anywhere, in any situation.
See more from Luis Gispert through the Morán Morán Gallery.