Thursday, September 29, 2016

Artmatism & Geometric Abstractions: Bill Dallas & John Whitehead at Joyce Gordon Gallery

John Whitehead’s steel sculpture pieces juxtaposed to the effluent majesty of Bill Dallas’s abstract paintings map the visual wonderland a.k.a. Joyce Gordon Gallery at least until Oct. 1.  Dallas’s swirling colors or smooth panes of colored canvas—Japanese script, paint brushes or textured surfaces, seen in such works as the recent (2016) “In the Second Beginning: ‘The Saints Will Not Come Marching in This Year, Until. . .”. The inscription includes song titles and recording artists –Eddie Harris “How can you live like that”; Faye Carol & Marcus Miller “Strange Fruit.”

Dallas’s work is visual meditation—a single color with contrasting line breaking across its horizon about noon. The artist says of an older work, “Point of Decision,” that the paint brushes mark the end of his two years living in his van when he lost his West Oakland studio. Tragedy seems to haunt Dallas’s sojourn, yet he is not bitter nor remorseful, each experience – even the loss of hundreds of pieces of work, a framed optimism we could all learn something from.

Point of Decision (17x72) is a large work, narrow where the companion work “In the Second Beginning” (48x60) is black concentric circles spinning out of a universal darkness. . . deep melatonin darkness. These two works are juxtaposed with Whitehead’s “Circles Within” and “Reflections in Geometric Space”. These stainless steel pieces are all reflections—if souls are easily separated from their corporal containers, then these geometric abstractions are posed for an easy capture. Enter cautiously.

For some reason, housing stability is not something this fine artist can count on. Dallas’s paintings are historic manuscripts which chronicle periods within context. Wild acrylic brush strokes fill “Journey to Oku” surface. Where “A Mountain Village in East Oakland” is characterized by measured even brush strokes, “Oku” indicates a freedom or spiritual abandon absent in the carefully crafted “Mountain Village.”

Japanese characters rain into a wet starburst or fall as a crashing wave of color. Dallas moves his color in large thick brush strokes finely articulated with a variety of artist tools. The patterns etched or scraped across canvases, twin surface textured brocade.

“Artmatism” is participatory. The Whitehead/Dallas query posits no answers, yet within this aesthetic space answers arise.  There is a familiarity here as Dallas recycles old themes in new ways – his inscriptions or titles are mini sermons which place the “I” within a context. His work give us language, houses thought as wandering ideas fit together into and on top of diagrammed linear spaces.

The bright colors or enveloping darkness present in such as mixed media Dallas’s “Nakasaki Urakami” which has a crane floating in the top right corner of the canvas, a golden scroll etching affixed then painted on top of the black surface leaves space for greater visibility. Dallas’s cavases are both dense and open, full of activity and stark. A Dallas painting is an exercise in perspective. It’s moving yet, we can catch glimpses of the moments if we stand still long enough with our eyes open.

Mr. Whitehead’s steel pieces stand in opposition to Dallas’s work, as if the sculptures are how a Dallas piece might look if abstracted then rendered multidimensional.  Whitehead renders the body, Dallas its soul, not that the transcendent fails to rest here too. Steel has a mystery which might not lend itself to motion, yet, Whitehead’s work moves—it turns as we turn, it grows in height—it expands to hold that which we are unable to grasp.

Dallas is a Kansas City, Missouri, native, Whitehead from Demerara, Guyana. Whitehead grew up in West Oakland, while Dallas lived many states away in Kansas City. Both men loved making art and were talented, yet neither pursued art seriously until much later in life. 

Whitehead decided to begin sculpting once he was to retire from a tenured position at City College of San Francisco. The professor entered his first piece in an art composition and won he knew very soon he could get back to the place where the road parts and he took the fork to the left.

To understand the process of taking a concept or idea and making it visual, is to see a dialectic discourse actualized. And like most conversations, the art is a product of the fused dispositions – material or matter and man.  In the back room we see a sculpted piece in wood. Precision marks all of Whitehead’s work. We see intention and great skill reflected in each of the seven sculptures. Once again, we are encouraged by the titles given to certain work, “Without Limits” features a multiple tiered cube with extensions like fingertips pointing outward, one arm looks to be sheathed in a sword. The base is a pyramid. Whitehead states he is influenced Fletcher Benton’s geometric abstractions and David Smith’s “Cubi” series. The artist says, “One of my evolving visions is to integrate the geometric abstract aspect of my work with a variety of contemporary and traditional African artistic paradigms.”

Half circles, full, spheres within spheres – his an accessible abstraction. Dallas color designs captured by Whitehead’s sculptures’ refracted light add a reflective tone to the combined work. It is a tonal dialectic.

Dallas who moved to Berkeley in 1963, graduating ten years later (1974) from UC Berkeley, with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in painting hadn’t a clue what the plan was. Though he was surrounded by Kansas City Blues, Dallas had no idea he would end up in Oakland, an artist. But here he is back in town, if only for a short time before he hits the road, not like Jack, rather like Oshosi the warrior. Waving his brush like a baton, his canvas the place where his orchestra performs, Dallas calls what some might see as abstraction, Artmatism.  Kansas City blues and jazz form the soundtrack Dallas performs to. It is visible in the linear conversations crisscrossing the gallery—“Euclidian Park” waves to “St. John 15”; “Blue Rachel” and “King Pharaoh and His Powerful Army drowning in the Red Sea” wave to “Without Limits.” We see them hailing and waving at each other as the cacophony peaks when Whitehead’s sculptures shift their positions on the pedestals. Purposeful, imaginative and energetic even when distilled— Dallas’s work reflects a muse which lives in a place beyond the temporal. Perhaps the work dictates his path— whether this is a jaunt to Korea or Japan, back home to Kansas City or from Alameda to East Oakland.

Poverty has little aesthetic value, so Whitehead took parental advice and went into a career that would ensure his escape. In 1971 he graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Economics, followed by a Master’s Degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in Economics. From there he went into academia 1990 to 2015.

Whitehead and Dallas’s “Artmatism & Geometric Abstractions” at Joyce Gordon Gallery show that dreams deferred can have life once we allow ourselves to wake up.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Wanda's Picks Radio Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

1. "Black Folks Don't. . . " enters its 4th and final season Sept. 26, and we join creator, Angela Tucker (tuckergurl.com) to talk about her popular series.  https://www.youtube.com/user/BlackFolkDont

2. Darryl V. Jones (Director), Tarell Alvin McCraney's "The Brothers Size" at Theatre Rhinocerous, where he has directed several world and West Coast premieres of new plays, including Xtigone by Nambi Kelley and Follow Me to Nellie’s by Dominique Morisseau. He holds a Bachelor of Music from The Catholic University of America and an M.F.A. in Directing from Boston University. Visit www.TheRhino.org

3. Bruce Graham, playwright, professor, actor, joins us to talk about "White Guy on the Bus" which closed Sept. 24 at Theatre Aluminous in Oakland. We also talk about writing, acting and the importance of character (smile).

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Wanda's Picks Radio Wed., Sept. 21, 2016


This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

1. Donald Lacy "Colorstruck" 2016-17 Conversations N'Color Tour begins Sept. 30-Oct. 1 in Oakland at Laney College Theatre, 900 Fallon Street, Oakland. 

2. Jarrel Phillips, curator, "I Am San Francisco: Black Past and Presence Exhibition, including magazine release party for "Power in Place," the latest issue of "Race, Poverty and Environment" (published by Reimagine!) at City College of San Francisco, 40 Phelan Ave., at the Rpsenberg Library, 3rd floor Atrium & room 305.

3. Cast from the SF Playhouse production of All of What You Love and None of What You Hate: Tristan Cunningham (Girl B) and Indiia Wilmont (Mother).


4. Justice for Kayla Moore. Join supporters in court this Friday, Sept. 23, 9 a.m.


                                                       



Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Wanda's Picks Radio Show, Wednesday, September 14, 2016

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

Show Link: http://tobtr.com/s/9262795

1. Brother Malik Rahim & Dr. Robert H. King join us to talk about the First Annual Louisiana/Angola Black Panther Party Film Festival Sept. 15, 6 p.m. (Oct. 4), at Ashé Cultural Center in New Orleans, La. King also reports on the FICPFM Conference in Oakland, Sept. 9-11.

2. Souls at Sea founder Regina Hartfield, Michael Campbell, Co-founder, Universal Sailing Club, and Marcellus Butler, owner, Butler's Marina, a black owned marina in Annapolis, MD, join us to talk about the fourth annual commemoration Sept. 17.

3. Frank B. Wilderson III is Professor of African American Studies and Drama at the University of California, Irvine, is featured at BAMPFA at UC Berkeley this weekend, Sept. 17, 5-7 p.m. He will be screening his 2005 film "Reparations . . . Now," a critical documentary that captures the terror of unnamable loss shouldered by twenty-first-century descendants of slaves, followed by a group conversation about the issues raised by the film. UCB is located at 2155 Center St, Berkeley, (510) 642-0808. http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/

4. Pastor Kenneth Glasgow, The Ordinary People's Society (TOPS) joins us to talk about the hunger strike, work stoppage called Sept. 9, to end legal slavery. He also gave input on the FICPFM Conference. https://freealabamamovement.wordpress.com/category/free-alabama-movement-fam/

Music: Opening with Zion Trinity's Esu Elegba Opening Prayer

Wednesday, September 07, 2016

Wanda's Picks Wed., Sept. 7, 2016

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

Show Link: http://tobtr.com/9262773

1. Pastor Kenneth Glasgow joins us to talk about the work stoppage and fast which begins Sept. 9 to end slavery. 

Pastor Glasgow's life is one of redemption.  He currently serves as the Executive Director for The Ordinary People's Society (also known as TOPS).  TOPS is a faith-based organization that bridges the gap between the have and have-nots.
Pastor Glasgow's direction of TOPS provides rehabilitation to repeat offenders while creating a program that target  the youth before they reach the Criminal Justice System.  Since his own release from the criminal justice system, Pastor Glasgow has remained committed to saving souls and ensuring that redemption is in the lives of those who have served their debts to society. https://www.facebook.com/paskenny.glasgow

2. We speak to Kinetik Justice Amun, one of the founders of FAM sponsors of the Sept. 9, 2016 Fast and Work Stoppage to end prison slavery.

https://freealabamamovement.wordpress.com/f-a-m-pamphlet-who-we-are/ 

Music: Zion Trinity, Wild Magnolias

Friday, September 02, 2016

Wanda's Picks Friday, September 2, 2016

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

Link to show: 
http://tobtr.com/9262765

1. Hackathon Weekend Event Chris Norwood and Stephen Van Heflin Sept. 3-4 in NorCA & SoCAL speak about the first annual live streaming 'We Are Code' Virtual RealityHackathon programming competition between youth teams in Compton, CA (SoCal) and Oakland, CA (NorCal). 

Dhat Stone Academy and Bay Area Tutoring Association host: "We Are Code" VR Hackathon | NorCal vs. SoCal | 7-to-12th graders. Saturday & Sunday, Sept. 3-4, 2016 | 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in NorCal at:  East Oakland Youth Development Center (EOYDC), 8200 International Blvd., Oakland, CA 94621.  In SoCal at: NASA Columbia Memorial Space Center (CMSC),  12400 Columbia Way, Downey, CA 90242. 

2. Wanda Ravernell joins us to talk about the the 3rd Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival, a family friendly celebration of African American traditional food, music and art, Sat., Sept. 10, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m at Mosswood Park,Broadway and  Macarthur Boulevard in Oakland
Dameion Brown as Othello

3. Actor, Dameion Brown as Othello in Marin Shakespeare production through 9/25 
Dameion played Macduff in Solano State Prison’s Macbeth in 2015 under the direction of Lesley Currier as part of Marin Shakespeare’s Arts-in-Corrections programs funded by the California Arts Council and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. After serving 23 years of a life sentence, he is delighted to be giving back to the community through his work at Community Works West, teaching parenting skills with the EPIC Program – Empowering Parents In Our Community – and cultural awareness classes with an emphasis on anger management and conflict resolution. He is a Case Manager for Transitional Age Youth (TAY), helping youth ages 18 to 25 realize they can make better choices about their lives.