KENDELL CARTER: MARVEL

Edward Cella Art & Architecture is proud to present KENDELL CARTER: MARVEL, an exhibition of cast paintings, sculpture, installation, and guided meditation by Kendell Carter. Carter's sustained commitment to observing and exploring race, gender, history, and consumer culture manifests in a studio practice that pushes beyond that of a black artist making art about politics, and towards one that acknowledges the rapidly integrating nature of today's visual culture.

MARVEL will present site-specific installations of new works. One installation, entitled Cranes for Solange includes an authentic restroom sign from the "Jim Crow era" of American history. Pairs of used white jeans are suspended from inverted shelf brackets, each pair locked with the simple combination lock code "sick," and a lightbox mirrors the restroom sign. Another installation will include a gold-plated sewing machine on a custom plinth, a 19th century quilt found in Alabama, and a pile of used garments. A massive wall installation will be comprised of a new series of cast paintings which act as visual manifestations of Carter's meditative process. These works inherit the subtle impressions of the ground they were poured on, as well as intricate, organic textures in the aerosol of Carter's iconic "LOVE" graffiti. Carter's masterfully orchestrated installations connect scale, form, texture, and surface with contemporary socio-cultural realities and historically rooted gestures.

The gallery floor will feature a large cast latex sculpture which will serve as a mat for a series of meditations on the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, and weakening protections for the LGBT community of North Carolina. 

EXHIBITION PROGRAMS

Meditation for North Carolina
Saturday, March 25, 2017 | 2pm

Join us in a guided meditation by licensed practitioners T. Dorje Immanuel, Andrea Yarbrough-Morris, and Mackala Lacy to reflect on the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott and weakening protections for the LGBT community in North Carolina.

In Conversation: Dr; Jill Moniz and Kendell Carter

Saturday, April 8, 2017 | 4pm

Please join Dr. Jill Moniz, Founder of Transformative Arts and former Head Curator at the California African American Museum of Los Angeles for a discussion with Kendell Carter about changing artistic practices and community engagement strategies.

Dr. Jill Moniz has worked on engagement programs at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California and is the former Head Curator at the California African American Museum in Exposition Park in Los Angeles. From 2009-2012 she was curator for the Dr. and Mrs. Leon O. Banks Collection of Contemporary Art, and is a founder of Transformative Arts which leads initiatives around Los Angeles.