Drawn Truly
ruby onyinyechi amanze
Al Burts
Alphonso Dunn
Vernando Rueuben
Curated by Charlotte Mouquin
January 26th – March 15th 2014
Opening Reception Sunday January 26th 4-6pm
Corridor Gallery Project Space is pleased to present Drawn Truly, an exhibition curated by Charlotte Mouquin, that includes ruby onyinyechi amanze, Al Burts, Alphonso Dunn, and Vernando Reuben. January 26th-March 15th 2014. Located at 334 Grand Ave, Brooklyn, NY. Drawn Truly brings together identities and tender artists’ thoughts through figurative rendering, abstraction and the imagined reflecting contemporary cultures.
ruby onyinyechi amanze, a Brooklyn based artist of Nigerian birth and British upbringing, is influenced by her own cultural hybridity. Her portrait of Ada, an afro-futurist alter ego born in the galaxy of black-eyed peas, has her partially seated above her birthplace with ghostly eyes. The portrait shows a statuesque figure with fully rendered forms and areas of openness using the whiteness of the page. Amanze was recently awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Nigeria 2012-2013.
Two time Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series finalist in Washington, DC Al Burts, explores identity through portraiture by combining realism and symbolism. His portraits on unprimed canvas and raw wood panels depict strong figures with intimate tribal tattoos covering their skin. The detail and softness in the mark making is done using a ballpoint pen.
Through drawing, Alphonso Dunn, Jamaican born with a recent MFA from the New York Academy, reflects the inner workings of people and their interactions. Paraphernalia of Perception examines the contrasts between abstraction and representation, reflecting adult themes with childlike drawing punctuating the compositions. These drawings become letters asking questions about the society we have created.
The layered mixed media drawings of Vernando Reuben examine the multiple facets of identity through the creation and destruction of mask like-forms, collage, and mark making. His portraits are metaphors for post-millennium cultural integration that combine spiritual and altruistic sensibilities.
Each of these drawings are Drawn Truly and speaking a societal truth about the artist and community. Though intimate rendering and explicit mark making each artist is bringing a new perspective to drawing, combining the personal with the world at large.
