Bradley McCalllum & Jacqueline Tarry
Now, Tomorrow and Forever
October 20 - December 1, 2007
Police Clutch Black Neck, Hustle, California, 1965. (photographer unknown; New York World-Telegraph & Sun Collection, Library of Congress), 2007. Oil on canvas and toner on silk. 18" X 24".
Kinkead Contemporary in collaboration with Scenic, is proud to present Now, Tomorrow and Forever, a solo exhibition of Bradley McCallum and Jacqueline Tarry. Taking their title from the infamous George Wallace speech in 1963, this exhibition will feature paintings and video by the collaborative team that reveal the collective, and often brutal memories of the civil rights era in America.
While the recent events in Jena, Louisiana have exposed both current and age-old racial inequalities, McCallum and Tarry have examined these issues through their video and painting since they began their collaboration in 1998. Many of the images that McCallum and Tarry use are anonymous photographs from historical archives. These black and white images are first realized as oil paintings and later layered with a double-image in transparent silk. This appropriation of anonymous, yet familiar images enables McCallum & Tarry to act as "preservationists of endangered histories".
Now, Tomorrow, and Forever will also feature Exchange, (2007) a performance video that documents a simultaneous blood transfusion between the interracial couple. Exchange quietly refers to the "One Drop Rule" in which a person with as little as one drop of black blood in their heritage was considered "colored." Both intimate and unabashed, the video challenges historical notions of racial inequality.
About the artists
Bradley McCollum & Jacqueline Tarry's work has been widely exhibited in solo and
group exhibitions throughout the United States, Beijing and Tokyo. They have
been featured in numerous publications including The New York Times, Art in
America, ArtForum, and Frieze, among others. A hardcover catalog of McCallum
& Tarry's recent work, titled Whitewash was published in 2006.
About the gallery
Kinkead Contemporary is a new contemporary art gallery dedicated to emerging
artists. Founded by collector John Kinkead, the gallery's mission is to introduce
new voices through an ambitious series of solo and curated group exhibitions.
Over the next 24-months a series of co-curated group shows are planned in
concert with leading emerging gallerists from Chicago and New York. A native of
California, John Kinkead is a graduate of both The Art Institute of Chicago and
Cranbrook Academy of Art. A passionate art collector and patron, he is a member
of the MOCA Contemporaries as well as LACMA's Print and Drawing Council.
About the organizer
Scenic is a New York-based arts advisory and curatorial agency founded by Simon
Watson and Craig Hensala. With 35-years combined experience in the
contemporary arts scene, Scenic has created more than 20 solo and group
exhibitions over the past three years in association with clients such as Amnesty
International, Bergdorf Goodman, Chanel, Coalition for the Homeless/ARTWALK
NY, Susan & Michael Hort Collection, Kavi Gupta Gallery, LightBox, Marc Selwyn
Fine Art, Perry Rubenstein Gallery, Planned Parenthood/LA, Roberts & Tilton,
Rhona Hoffman Gallery and others.
