Chris Friday | Goulds, FL

Chris Friday | Goulds, FL

Artist Statement

My work explores themes of rest, privacy, and supplementing the archive as a way of advocating and claiming space for Black bodies that are historically excluded from it.

Utilizing the internet as an infinite source of archival samples, I collect iconography and anecdotes from the shared experiences of people of color to construct and preserve alternative historical and personal narratives.

Often incorporating a black-and-white Chalkboard aesthetic, which plays on concepts of learning and teaching, I analyze mainstream media to identify problematic perspectives and their origins, question the legitimacy of such perspectives, and offer possible solutions in my work.

Recent large-scale drawings depict Black bodies in acts of leisure, at play, and in repose, as a means of opting out of stereotypically portraying Black bodies in various scenes of trauma, pain, or over-sexualization. Accompanied by comic-style graphic illustrations that allude to desired and imagined environments and context, I give my subjects the rest and privacy they are entitled to, even while on display reflecting the longing to achieve this for myself, my family, and my community in waking life.

About the Artist

Chris Friday is a multidisciplinary artist based in Miami. Her work serves as both a contemplative reflection of and counter-narrative to the pervasive under/misrepresentations of Blackness in mainstream media and popular culture. Friday’s portfolio features large-scale works on paper, murals, video, ceramics, projections, photography, comic illustrations, and social practice/activism through curating.

Friday’s work has been included in exhibitions locally, nationally, and internationally, including recent solo exhibitions such as “Good Times” curated by Laura Novoa and presented at Oolite Arts (2023), “One More River” presented at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, and her work as part of “The Cartography Project” presented by the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (2022).

Friday has received numerous awards, fellowships, and grants, including a Knight Foundation “Knights Champion” support grant (2022), a “The Ellies” Creator award from Oolite Arts (2021), the GMBCV People’s Choice award in Miami Beach’s No Vacancy juried art show (2021), and residencies with MassMoCA (2023), Anderson Ranch Arts Center (2022), and the Visual Arts Residency at Chautauqua Institute (2019).

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Victoria Dugger | Athens, GA

Victoria Dugger | Athens, GA

Artist Statement

As a disabled Black woman, I have a desire for people to accept or appreciate me for both my surface and what’s below it; to humanize me not because of my appearance, but despite it. My paintings channel the complexity of my identity. Through bold colors, sly references to art history, fractured patterns, and overflowing viscera. I create a surface of works that are richly layered, both demanding attention and refusing any simple legibility.

My anthropomorphic figures are another way for me to visualize my own body. Their irregular extremities are intended to express a state of atrophy—a wasting away of muscles—which is a symptom of many physical disabilities. I render them joyful and beautiful, reclining and covered in gems. The sculptures’ long, lumpy limbs are adorned with pearls, sparkles, colorful braids, and other markers of exuberant femininity.

Ambivalence is a core theme in my work. These figures exist on the border of abstraction and representation. It is impossible to tell if they are inside or outside, or if they show the interior or exterior of their bodies. I’m interested in the evocation of nostalgia for girlhood, while also imagining possible futures. Neither utopian nor dystopian, I instead produce bodies that refuse to be contained.

Bio

Victoria Dugger is a visual artist currently based in Athens, Georgia. She holds a BFA from Columbus State University (2016) and an MFA in Painting from the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia (2022). Dugger works in painting, mixed media, and sculpture, creating pieces that challenge traditional categories and explore new modes of self-expression and embodiment. Her work examines her identity as a Black, disabled woman, blending playful compositions with grotesque imagery.

In July 2021, Dugger had her debut solo show “Out of Body” with Sargent’s Daughters in New York City, which received attention from Vogue, Hyperallergic, artnet, ARTnews, Whitehot Magazine, and artdaily. She was also selected as a 2023 Georgia Woman to Watch by the National Museum for Women in the Arts and has been featured in FRIEZE and The New York Times. Dugger is represented by Sargent’s Daughters.

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Rachel Moser | Lexington, KY

Rachel Moser | Lexington, KY

Artist Statement

In my work, I explore ideas of nature and its transformation over time. Addressing matters of ecological concern, my work frequently stems from field exercises both close to home and in remote locations with acute geophysical identities, such as rivers, ice fields, oceans, and forests. An ongoing reflection upon the mythos and policies of exploration in a globalized age is central to my practice. Working across media and conceptual paradigms, my expressions offer a vision of our landscapes while inviting consideration of its delicate ecology and fraught geopolitical condition in a world where human civilization and the natural landscape are intrinsically linked. As such, I use a mix of reclaimed, recycled, and natural materials alongside mass-manufactured products to reflect and showcase the intrinsic conflict of human existence on our planet. My goal is to create experiences available to all audiences in an effort to share my witness of the impact climate change has on our planet through the use of light, media, and sound.

About the Artist

Rachel Moser is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in central Kentucky. Her works feature an array of natural and manufactured materials presented through sculpture, video, installation, and sound. Moser graduated from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle with a BFA in Motion and Graphic Design, and earned an MFA in Studio Art from the University of Kentucky. Influences and inspiration come from Moser’s years of immersion in movement practice and performing as a ballet dancer prior to moving into the field of visual arts. In 2019, Moser received a grant from the Great Meadows Foundation to fund her travel to Svalbard for the Arctic Circle Residency, providing the foundation for her current exhibition. Her work has been shown throughout Kentucky, at places such as the Morlan Gallery at Translyvania University, Georgetown College, Lexington Art League, and the Parachute Factory. Her art has also been shown nationally at Waldemer A. Schmidt Art Gallery at Wartbug College in Iowa, and San Luis Obispo Museum of Art in California. Moser’s work has also been shown internationally in Svalbard, Norway as part of the Arctic Circle Residency. Her work is an ongoing study of climate change and human impact on the planet. Moser is currently Professor of Digital Art at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky.

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Alexis McGrigg| Bryam, MS

Alexis McGrigg | Bryam, MS

Artist Statement

In her current body of work, Alexis continues expounding on the narrative of Blackness that is the foundation of her conceptual ideas. For her, Blackness manifests itself in three forms: figurative abstraction, the notion of spirituality and its relationship to Being, and celestial & metaphysical space. Her narrative of Blackness asserts that in order for Black people of all descent to come into being, they must travel to and from a larger theoretical plane, the Further or the space of All Being. Her artwork is a visual examination of their mode of travel, how they venture to and from “Home”, and the planes through which they move. Alexis uses celestial space as a metaphor for the autonomy of Blackness, redefining its agency as a fixed idea or way of being and leaning into its fluidity and ability to be more complex than we allow ourselves to understand. With this in mind, on a larger scale, It – Blackness, having its foundation in the body and the black experience, has the ability to manifest as an intangible space that releases its dependence on the physical body. Through her paintings, she seeks to allow the viewer a wider perspective of the vastness of our existence.

Alexis employs an interdisciplinary approach to examine these concepts, utilizing painting, drawing, transmedia, and installation. Her choice of materials greatly impacts the visual language she is able to achieve within a work. For example, her paintings utilize layers of rich fabric dyes that have soaked into drenched watercolor paper and canvas. The many layers of dye allow her to push into the surface imagery, creating depth and what she thinks of as an opening into the picture plane. Similarly, the use of layers in her experimental videos imply what can be construed as a portal or expansive opening into an alternate world. While the method of application may differ, the concepts and exploration remain the same, linking a visual thread through the chosen media.

About the Artist

In her current body of work, Alexis continues expounding on the narrative of Blackness that is the foundation of her conceptual ideas. For her, Blackness manifests itself in three forms: figurative abstraction, the notion of spirituality and its relationship to Being, and celestial & metaphysical space. Her narrative of Blackness asserts that in order for Black people of all descent to come into being, they must travel to and from a larger theoretical plane, the Further or the space of All Being. Her artwork is a visual examination of their mode of travel, how they venture to and from “Home”, and the planes through which they move. Alexis uses celestial space as a metaphor for the autonomy of Blackness, redefining its agency as a fixed idea or way of being and leaning into its fluidity and ability to be more complex than we allow ourselves to understand. With this in mind, on a larger scale, It – Blackness, having its foundation in the body and the black experience, has the ability to manifest as an intangible space that releases its dependence on the physical body. Through her paintings, she seeks to allow the viewer a wider perspective of the vastness of our existence.

Alexis employs an interdisciplinary approach to examine these concepts, utilizing painting, drawing, transmedia, and installation. Her choice of materials greatly impacts the visual language she is able to achieve within a work. For example, her paintings utilize layers of rich fabric dyes that have soaked into drenched watercolor paper and canvas. The many layers of dye allow her to push into the surface imagery, creating depth and what she thinks of as an opening into the picture plane. Similarly, the use of layers in her experimental videos imply what can be construed as a portal or expansive opening into an alternate world. While the method of application may differ, the concepts and exploration remain the same, linking a visual thread through the chosen media.

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Nadia Meadows | Charlotte, NC

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Kelly Bryant | Auburn, Alabama

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Featured Gift Store Artist: Christian Bailey

Local ceramicist Christian Bailey is the self-proclaimed “dirty hairy potter from the piney woods of south Mississippi.” He earned both a BFA in Sculpture and a Masters of Education from the University of Southern Mississippi. Currently, he teaches art at Harrison Central High School and enjoys showing students the wonders of art.

 

Outside of the classroom, Bailey makes both funky and functional ceramic ware. When describing his process, Bailey notes that “[he has] always been drawn to the worn, the old, the soon to be replaced found in life. These things that served purpose but are no longer desired. The layers breaking down, showing through, being reborn even as they age and wear away.”

 

We are thrilled to offer a variety of Bailey‘s works here at the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, all of which are available for purchase in our gift store.

(Info from: https://www.christianbaileyceramics.com/)

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