Fahamu Pecou’s first solo exhibit at the High Museum of Art opened last weekend, just as his first solo exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia was closing. And just around the bend is another solo show opening at Paris’ Backslash Gallery in June.
It’s a heady time for the Atlanta artist, whose works address contemporary representations of black masculinity, commenting in the process on hip-hop, fine art and popular culture.
He and Brooklyn artist José Parlá were invited by the High Museum to produce solo shows that reflect on the concurrent exhibit of the late Spanish surrealist Wifredo Lam, "Imagining New Worlds." Pecou's show includes mixed-media paintings on canvas, screenprints and, most uniquely, a sound station with headphones that invites museum-goers to take on the role of co-creator, producing their own musical compositions inspired by hip-hop and DJ culture.
Asked, with everything else going on his career, if it was meaningful to have a solo exhibit in his adopted hometown, Pecou nodded affirmatively, and responded with remarkable humility.
“I grew up mostly in South Carolina,” said the Brooklyn-born artist, 39, who moved south with his young siblings to be raised by a great aunt after a family tragedy. “In the town that I lived in (Hartsville), there were no such things as an art gallery or museum. Growing up, I was just the boy who liked to draw.
“Then I came here to Atlanta, to the Atlanta College of Art, with aspirations of being an artist. At that time (1993-97) I was planning to be an animation major. So I got here and I remember a friend who used to come to my dorm room all the time, and I’d be drawing my cartoons and stuff, and she was like,’Those cartoons are cool and everything but come over with me to this museum and look at these paintings.’
“And she would bring me to the High Museum and we’d walk through the galleries and look at the work and it just really blew my mind. I can remember thinking, ‘One day I want to be in the High Museum,’ and here I am.”
Through May 24. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays (until 9 p.m. Fridays), noon-5 p.m. Sundays. $19.50; $16.50 ages 65 and older and students (ID required); $12 ages 6-17. 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-733-4444, high.org.
ARTS
Field Experiment art project seeks risk-takers
Atlanta's Goat Farm Arts Center and northeast Georgia's the Hambidge Center have partnered to fund "Field Experiment," an art project with a $20,000 commission attached that will bring the winning presentation to Atlanta this fall.
The opportunity (proposal deadline: Feb. 24) is open to a wide array of creative talents nationally, from artists and architects to scientists and visionaries of various stripes. Individuals or collectives may apply.
Organizers are seeking “extraordinary projects that are interactive, community-driven, collaborative, cross-disciplinary and accessible to the public,” according to an announcement.
Five finalists will each receive $2,000 and technical and production support. Their concepts will be presented at the Goat Farm Arts Center in late spring.
The artist or artists selected for the final commission also receives a two-week residency at the Hambidge Center, a Rabun Gap refuge that offers artists space and time to hone creative expressions.
“Both Hambidge and the Goat Farm uniquely celebrate and nurture risk-taking, and this ‘Field Experiment’ aims to foster a new level of creative freedom and appreciation in our city streets,” Hambidge Executive Director Jamie Badoud said.
Information: www.fieldexperimentatl.com.
THEATER
Alliance announces second lab project winners
The Alliance Theatre has announced three projects chosen for development as part of its second annual Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab, launched in 2013 to provide opportunities for artists seeking a producing home for undeveloped work.
The selected works are from creative teams led by Nichole Palmietto (an untitled story weaving three interconnected pieces of writing about a trio of characters’ journeys of self-discovery after loss), Mark Kendall (“Morgan Freeman Presents the Magic Negro and Other Blackness,” a one-man sketch show about depictions about black men in the media) and Haddon Kime (“The Untitled Red Book Project,” the story of a student who meets Carl Jung in an alternate universe).
Each project will receive $10,000 toward additional exploration and development, as well as access to the Alliance’s artistic, educational and production staffs and its rehearsal spaces. Free performances will follow in spring 2016.
VISUAL ART
Mint brings fresh focus to Lucas’ folk art
In a bit of a departure, the alternative art space Mint is exhibiting folk art master Charlie Lucas in the solo exhibit "In Transition" through March 22.
Known as the “Tin Man,” Lucas is a self-taught artist based in Selma, Ala., known for inventive found-object sculptures and personal-narrative paintings.
“In Transition” will feature a curated selection of Lucas’ works alongside scavenged materials from his studio, serving as a document of his studio practice and artistic process.
Noon-6 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays. Free. 636 N. Highland Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 770-595-4248, www.mintatl.org.
Folk and fine art meet in Commerce
The Commerce Civic Center will be chock-full of regional pottery, paintings and found-object creations during the third Folk to Fine Arts Festival, March 6-8.
Look for works by John “Cornbread” Anderson, Richard E. Roebuck, Betty Bivins Edwards, Marie Elem, the Crocker family and Steve Turpin, among other Georgia makers.
The Civic Center, a repurposed Blue Bell overalls factory, is in the middle of the pedestrian-friendly downtown, home to antique emporiums and other shops in this self-proclaimed “City on the Right Track.” From Spaghetti Junction, it’s a little more than an hour north up I-85.
6-9 p.m. March 6 with a meet-the-artists reception ($15, includes weekend readmission), 10 a.m.-5 p.m. March 7 and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. March 8 ($7; free for 10 and under). 110 State St., Commerce. 706-335-6417, www.folk-finearts.com.
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