vanessa german: Inaugural Joyce Foundation Fellowship
The Gray Center for Arts & Inquiry is proud to announce a long-term collaboration with self-taught citizen artist vanessa german in preparation for her first museum solo exhibition in Chicago at the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago. Supported by the Gray Center’s inaugural grant from the Joyce Foundation, this two-part residency and exhibition project will unfold at a critical point in the artist’s career and bring together the conceptual manifestation of her visual art practice with german’s community activism.
Red Bird, 2022
street bird: like fast-talking street corner creatures with leather jackets, a stud, wood, grace, tar, oil pastels, cowrie shell, plaster, wood glue, for how we love to talk about the flying Africans, love, earthling love songs, wood, carved wood ashtray feet, hot pink golden so-flat, red so-flat, radiance in my hands, Astro turf, how it feels to outlive children, a love song for the open sky, liberty, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. 583/4x241/2x443/4inches
149.2 x 62.2 x 113.7 cm
(PK 28751). Photo: Diego Flores. Image courtesy of the artist and Kasmin Gallery, New York.
White Flag Rag/e: A protective garment for the human soul, 2023
All the white things, old white things, new white things, 100%cotton white things, bundles, beads, prayers, rage, horror, horror shows, micro-dosing mushrooms. to get by, binge drinking, masturbation, outright hate, a soothing forehead kiss, wood, white pigment, yarn, twine, there’s no noose in here, get over it, Florida, Florida, Florida, plaster, wood glue, cowrie shell, one almost black mannequin hand, one ‘flesh-toned’ mannequin hand, Samantha from sex in the city, the facts, naps, a grown man weeping in the parking lot of a steak house in Cincinnati, it’s ok, cry my ni$$4 this $hi# is painful as 4uck, plaster gauze, wire, something invisible to the naked eye, love, naps, a miracle. 73x46x32inches185.4 x 116.8 x 81.3 cm (PK 30264). Photo: Wendy Timana. Image courtesy of the artist and Kasmin Gallery, New York.
Light Being 1, 2023
saw horse, for how loud the Soul is, adhesive, for how loud the Soul can be in the body, found quilt, wood, hope, wire, grace, cloth, knowing, keys, awareness, love, locks, grace, metal atom forms, hope, hope, hope, hope, hope, ohdeargood, i am praying for you, porcelain bells, my own good and loving heartbeat, beads, a measure of compassion, cowrie shells, the equanimity of wholeness, chandelier crystals, healing balm, wood ashtray feet, fire of heart, mannequin hands, someplace to go that is on the inside of the inside of the inside, a river, 1400 miracles, desert glasses, a survival against the odds, beaded rhinestone trim, hope, handblown glass shapes, hope, bottles, hope.
75x24x68inches
190.5 x 61 x 172.7 cm
(PK 30614). Photo: Charlie Rubin. Image courtesy of the artist and Kasmin Gallery, New York.