kinship: the legacy of gallery 7 at museum of contemporary art detroit
“Curated by Abel González Fernández, this is a group exhibition showcasing the cultural legacy of Gallery 7, one of the first art venues in Detroit dedicated to the work of Black artists that was founded and run by Charles McGee from 1969 to 1979.
In 1969, Gloria Whelan, the then director of Detroit Artists Market, asked Charles McGee to curate an exhibition featuring all-Black artists. This was in response to the lack of visibility of Black artists in the broader arts ecosystem of the city. The exhibition, entitled Seven Black Artists, featured works by James Dudley Strickland, Lester Johnson, James King Jr., Robert Murray, James Lee, Harold Neal, Robert J. Stull, and McGee himself. The first gallery exhibition of its kind in Detroit, Seven Black Artists received excellent reviews across the local arts scene. Inspired by the presentation’s success, McGee opened Gallery 7, an exhibition space that represented a new generation of Black artists.”
This painting is in a style unfamiliar to most as it was created in McGee’s early period. Foreshadowing appears in his affinity for the figure in this dynamic configuration masterfully employing perspective to create space. Use of red draws the eye through the scene while text lends clues to the environment.
Snowden made several of these intensely personal self-portraits, this one more furious and obscure than most. These images narrate a story every artist knows. One day enlivened and the work comes easy. The next it’s difficult just lifting the pencil. Highly expressive and raw, this piece is heavy with paint, scoring and marks.
In West African cultures wrapping objects with fabric sought to preserve energy and ceremonial meaning attributed to Yoruba gods. Johnson references this practice through approaching industrial remains as sacred in The Sorceress and Dreamtime Spirits. Variety in fibers from feathers to dried vegetals grant depth and interest complementing visible fabric seams looping around each pole.
Youngblood offers a stark contrast to the other exhibitors in this minimal rendering. The metallic paint’s reflective properties combine with changes in value as the swipe is laid down. The transparent mylar surface, allowed to retain its perforated edges, curves to the left as the subject bends to the right in gentle movement.
The eight artists in this exhibition continue influencing younger makers, gallerists and curators who now regularly feature Black artists thanks to their vision, commitment and perseverance during a resistant era blowing through barriers and ceilings.
Kinship: The Legacy of Gallery 7 exhibition presents the works of Lester Johnson, Gilda Snowden, Allie McGhee, Charles McGee, Harold Neal, Robert Stull, Elizabeth Youngblood and Naomi Dickerson.
On view through September 8th at MOCAD 4454 Woodward Detroit
*images are mine
direct quote from gallery materials
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