press release
Rico Gatson: When She Speaks
For Immediate Release:
Studio10 is pleased to present When She Speaks: a special project with Rico Gatson. The exhibition engages with a specific voice and notions of resistance through Gatson’s use of historical material in his single channel video installation titled “When She Speaks.” The exhibition will also include sculpture, painting and other selected works.
Gatson takes as his source a clip of original footage recorded at a Black Panther Party rally on the day of the funeral of slain member, Bobby Hutton. Kathleen Cleaver addresses the crowd. The tone of her voice stands as an alternative to the predominantly incendiary male speakers.
Through his reworking of the clip, Gatson makes space for poignancy and peace to be received beyond language to transcend grief. Black spaces are used in the video as formal elements that provide the viewer a moment of rest and contemplation.
The focus is directed from the image to the voice vacillating back and forth. The circuitous presentation, coupled with the occasional fragmentation of Cleaver’s voice, invokes a rhythmic pattern. The tone and cadence of her voice becomes as important as her message.
In the video, colorful forms hover over the black and white footage as an additional element, furthering the dissolution of the image. These processes interrupt the original footage with kaleidoscopic layering. Gatson uses sound and images in contemplation and consideration of a profound and resolute protest while remaining firmly pragmatic.
Special thanks, and all works courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Art and the artist.
Rico Gatson is based in Brooklyn, NY. He has been exhibited at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and MIT List Visual Arts Center. He is also in public and private collections including The Denver Art Museum, Norton Family Foundation, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and Yale University.
STUDIO10 is located at 56 Bogart Street
(Morgan Avenue stop on the L train) in Bushwick.
Gallery hours: Thursday through Sunday 1 - 6 pm or by appointment
Contact: studio10bogart@gmail.com (718) 852-4396 www.studio10bogart.com