You Can Dance Under Water and Not Get Wet

TONE, Memphis, TN
2022

A series of collages on panel that are then painted through the act of stepping in buckets of paint and dancing across the surfaces. The collages combine charged print materials from the artists hometown of Memphis, TN, as well as his current personal life. The works are meant to render visible the act of living while being black in America, Memphis in particular; where one must perform fluidly, with style and class —sliding past the historical detritus and daily attacks that mean to stick one in a place of subjugation. The show title is taken from Parliement Funkadelics “Aquaboogie” in which they sing “With the rhythm that it takes to dance to what we have to live through, You can dance underwater and not get wet”

In the first work “Black Minute Waltz//Your Lap Is a Crooked Seat'' posters from popular rom-coms of the 2000’s, Nevada escort calling cards, and personal photos of the artists and his partner, are pasted over a map of the Atlantic Ocean and attendant coasts, with ropes marking the triangular trade routes and costal edges. The work is a meditation on love; the histories of exchange and power; and how the triangular trade exits as a forced waltz between Europe, Africa and America—where hate, history, and love forever bind these cultures. More intimately the piece is a reflection of the struggle to hold together a relationship amid cultural tropes, temptations, and historic trauma; which can feel a bit like dancing on a tilted stage— gravity constantly threatening to spin the lovers apart.

The installation piece “...Like Nobody’s Watching” places a linoleum dancefloor next to two walls. One wall depicts a police recruitment ad adorned with four infinity mirrors etched with the words “Me”, “You”, “Your Mother” and “Your Cousin” repreating indefinitely into the mirrored space. On the other wall a painting of leering animal eyes in the dark is covered by thin party tinsel blowing under four box fans.

The final work “Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm” is the artist's critical edit of a retelling of the 1866 Memphis Massacre in a 2015 book by a Memphis historian in which the author refuses to call the murder of black citizens by decomissioned Confederate soldiers a “massacre”—perhaps an effort to protect long dead ancestors and deny historical truth. The text is shaped into the Stars and Bars and adorned with a cover story from a Vibe magazine feature and the VHS cover of an instructional dance video. It is a dance floor that the artist refuses, a space not deserving of grace or fluidity.

Black Minute Waltz//Your Lap Is a Crooked Seat, 2021
Movie and boxing posters, escort calling cards, personal photos, rope, maps, acrylic paint on panel, mirror ball, and stage curtain
~84 x 84in

Black Minute Waltz//Your Lap Is a Crooked Seat (paint process detail)

I Walk the Line, 2021
Mugshot rag, society pages, and traffic paint on panel
48 x 48 in

Ain’t I’m Cleen, 2021
Mall dresscode bulletin, party flyers, magazine ads, and acrylic paint on panel
48 x 72 in

And Your Mama Too, 2022
Redlining maps, movie poster, home classifieds, realty ads, and acrylic paint on panel
48 x 48 in

...Like Nobody’s Watching, 2022
lionoleum dancefloor, fans, infinity mirrors, police recruitment ad, paint, and tinsel

...Like Nobody’s Watching (detail), 2022
Lionoleum dancefloor, fans, infinity mirrors, photo paper, and tinsel

Escape Velocity, 2021
Tahitian Treat soda logo, magazine ads, and acrylic paint on panel
48 x 72in

The Moonwalk Ain’t Got Shit to Do with the Moon, 2022
Moonscapes, protest documentation and acrylic paint on panel
48 x 48in

Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm (Lost Cause), 2022
Historical writing, magazine page, vhs jacket cover, stars and bars, and red sharpie on panel
48i x 48in

Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm (Lost Cause), 2022
detail

Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm (Lost Cause), 2022
detail