Exhibition Runs: April 6 – 30, 2020
Virtual Artist Talk: Friday, April 17 @ 5:30pm
EXHIBITION UPDATE
Originally slated to take place in the Harwood gallery, WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW?! will now take place at a private satellite space to comply with the statewide stay-at-home order. Pedestrians passing by the hidden space on their way to access essential services might catch a surprise glimmer of the exhibition.
The public is invited to experience WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW?! through online engagement components, including time-lapse documentation of the exhibition’s installation, images of the installation, and a virtual artist talk.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW?! is a body of work that visually deciphers my personal experiences in an attempt to better understand and cope with them. The installation is an assemblage of the various ways I make, fusing works on paper with art I draw directly on the wall. I’m interested in the dissonance created when these pieces interact with drawings created in spaces that are static and temporary. This is relative to the thoughts that run through the semi-confined space that I call my brain—all the memories, the triumphs, the doubts, and the emotions. To be blunt, I hone in on the intuitive and candid thoughts that fly around my head and make something visual out of them. I think this is so that I can understand myself better. I say “I think” because I’m still discovering what it means to exist in this world as a unique individual yet influenced by the prejudices and reality of the world around me. WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW?! is part of that discovery process.
“I’m a proudly-black, usually stressed-out, anime-watching nerd who couldn’t step away from art even if I tried. I mean, this may be selfish, but I make art about my own personal identity: my blackness, my queerness, my me-ness. It all comes from my direct experience. I investigate how I see the world and how the world sees me. This world that I so gladly inhabit is the same world that makes me the “other”. In the words of the beautiful Erykah Badu, “if we were made in his image, then call us by our name”. I just want people to know we’re important, you know?” – André Ramos-Woodard
André Ramos-Woodard, Sumi Tiana, 2020
