Curated by: Amy Andrieux
Featuring works by: Komikka “Martian” Patton, Rujunko Pugh, Francisco Pinto, Julian Joseph Kyle
On View Dates: June 7-July 28, 2019 / Friday – Sunday 12pm-7pm Only
Location: MoCADA House, House 7A Nolan Park, Governors Island
Made possible thanks to the generous gifts made by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and NYS Council on the Arts, and Governors Island Trust
Opening Reception: Friday, June 7 | 6:30-9 PM
For the Governors Island Ferry Schedule, click here.
Additional Events:
Artist Talk – Julian Joseph Kyle -July 27, 2-4pm @ MoCADA House on Governors Island
Artist Talk – Komikka Patton -July 27, 2-4pm @ MoCADA House on Governors Island
SUMMARY
Explore Black identity through the prism that is the Antebellum South to witness the larger than life paintings of Julian Joseph Kyle, to the surreal, Afrofuturistic paper installations of Komikka “Martian” Patton. Continue to observe the idea of double consciousness as told through the portraiture of Rujunko Pugh who blends African and Asian cultures seamlessly, to the mind-boggling work of Venezuelan artist Francisco Pinto, whose work explores the idea of Blackness in the media and pop culture.
SELECTED WORKS
FEATURED ARTISTS
Komikka Patton is a 2D media artist based in New York City. She uses a ballpoint pen, ink, paper, and assorted printmaking techniques to create works that are centrally based on the human condition, each illustration and print tells a different story, reflecting life, death, and the tribulations of characters that are symbolic of the stereotypical black identity. She has been featured on Hyperallergic and in Botticelli Magazine. A solo show at The Ne’-Na Contemporary Art Space in Chiang Mai, Thailand as well as various galleries in NYC and Columbus, Ohio. She is the winner of the Tolesdet drawing prize and the May and Samuel Rudin Foundation Scholarship. She obtained her BFA in Fine Arts from Columbus College of Art & Design and an MFA from New York University.
Website: komikkathemartian.com
Instagram: @komikka_the_martian
Rujunko Pugh was born in Japan in 1970 to a Japanese mother and African-American father. Raised in California and North Carolina, she has lived around the world in places including Hawaii, Washington D.C. and Sydney, Australia. She initially studied molecular bioscience and bioengineering. Today she works across various media including printmaking, installation, paste-ups (street art) and murals. Her art draws on African, Japanese and African-American found imagery to explore themes such as identity, history, culture, and race as well as global movements of people, ideas and technologies.
Rujunko is based in Sydney, where she has a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Sydney, Sydney College of the Arts. She has exhibited in Australia, the United States, Italy, New Zealand, Kenya, and Spain.
Website: rujunkopugh.com
Instagram: @rujunko_pugh
The auto-didactic artist, Francisco Pinto, employs art as a means to denounce existing injustices. Pinto hopes to expose the societal structures that confine black populations in the Caribbean. Through his art, he addresses their history and the stereotypes that suppress them. Pinto adopts a multitude of mediums, ranging from painting and drawing to multimedia collages and assembly. He expresses that his application of art is a means of communicating in a language that is ever evolving. Pinto studied under the artist Juan Loyola while working as her assistant, and regularly takes part in masterclasses to further his techniques such as those provided by Taller de Arte Contemporáneo del Banco Industrial, Taller Tecnología de los materiales Museo de la Estampa, Diseño (Cruz Diezel), and the Museo Tezzari Rizzo.
Instagram: @cimarron09
Julian Joseph Kyle is a Brooklyn-based artist. While Julian’s work typically comes in the form of mixed-media painting on found wood, he also expresses his artistic abilities through screen-printing and glass etching. Julian attributes much of his influence to his alma mater, Texas Southern University. Here it was instilled in him that artists need to be making art that does more than serve as gratuitous decorative art. Artists need to be telling something, they need to be saying something. The purpose of Julian’s art is to take control of the narrative of Afrikan-American people, a narrative that has historically been controlled by people of European descent. Julian’s artwork takes a critical view of American social, political, and cultural issues. In his work, he deconstructs the Afrikan-American experience by enlarging or shrinking historical images with the intention of informing, recording, and beautifying the experiences of his people – his ancestors and those within the Afrikan diaspora.
Instagram: @julianjosephkyle
TOUR NOTES
Use MoCADA’s tour notes as your guide through the exhibit, which includes a deeper dive into our themes, the artists’ notes and bios, as well as a glossary for greater understanding of the exhibit’s subject matter. DOWNLOAD the FRUITS OF OUR LABOR tour notes (pdf).
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
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