13 December 1-7, 2022 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC | Month XX–Month XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | solo museum exhibition, “Nina Chanel Abney: Royal Flush,” debuted at the Nasher Museum of Art in North Carolina and traveled to other institutions including the Chicago Cultural Center and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The new work for “Big Butch Energy” ref- erences the traditions of baroque portraiture and fraternity composites and scenes from movies like Animal House. Abney’s use of Greek student life as a springboard to a discus- sion of race, gender, and sexuality is especially significant in light of recent reports that un- dergraduate degree admissions are down and Greek life recruitment has decreased since the onset of the pandemic. Abney cuts those same seams of taboo through the simplified symbol- ogy in each rendering — everything from the pastel Vineyard Vines-like collegiate clothing the figures wear to the varied tartan patterns that ground the work in the cultural incubator and aesthetic zeitgeist of college life in Amer- ica in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. “This is the artist’s first large-scale instal- lation dedicated to the notion of gender, and it was inspired both by Nina’s experience and her observation that female figures in her work were misgendered by audiences,” Alex Gartenfeld, ICA’s artistic director, tells New Times. “The resulting compositions make a broad range of art-historical references, from baroque still life to posters popular in college dorm rooms to the works of Barkley Hendrix. “Nina is an artist who is constantly challenging herself to take on new topics and techniques,” adds Gartenfeld. “With this exhibition, we sought to provide the artist an opportunity to experiment with a large-scale installation. The results are an astounding and personal new chapter in Nina’s exploration of how we gender forms. She has also continued to experiment with the medium of collage, creating ever-more-complex compositions.” Gartenfeld’s assertion that this marks a new chapter for Abney notwithstanding, the inspiration for “Big Butch Energy” is rooted in the artist’s reinterpretation of the gender norms she saw in media. “About a year ago, I decided to rewatch movies such as Animal House and Porky’s — a certain genre of movie that in my younger years had an impact in informing my percep- tions of masculinity and femininity. ‘Big Butch Energy’ is not about the realities of Greek life, specifically,” Abney explains. “I used depictions of Greek life and college in films as the catalyst to explore representa- tions of masculinity and how these references are in opposition with my own identity as a masculine-presenting woman. This is among the first exhibitions to foreground the repre- sentation of masculine-of-center Black women.” Inviting viewers to “I spy” cut-and-paste panels of found materials riddled with clues and allusions to films portraying college life at its most raucous and raunchy, Abney recontextualizes a fact of American media that leaks into global perceptions and stereotypes relating to gender performance and toxic expressions of masculinity and femininity. (Not to mention the lack of Black and brown bodies actively participating within these environments.) Yet there’s humor in the works on view, and for the artist, there’s a playful game that taunts at the fleeting hilarity of these social environments of belonging. With pieces titled Homiesexuals and The Light Skinned Comeback, Abney subverts the absurdity of the media’s portrayal of Greek life while empowering the potential of having Black and brown people inhabit the lead roles. From an all-Black cast of cheerleaders proclaiming “Go Femmes” to the messiness of pizza stains on a white shirt surrounded by a tie-dye background, the works simultaneously invoke college life and the experience of being Black and queer in America. Abney’s ability to construct a collage of pa- per in a range of colors, shapes, and sizes, em- ploying mediums like spray paint, is innovative in and of itself. What appears to be a traditional painting entirely rendered on a single layer is a jigsaw puzzle wherein the artist asserts agency in molding and gluing together sharp geometric shapes to form a smooth, cohesive composition. “Big Butch Energy” calls out to the viewer with its ani- mated color schemes and combos, resonating with each individual’s lived experience and encounter with the social realities and media representation of collegiate life. Says Abney: “I hope the audience will have an enjoyment and a greater appreciation for the printmaking and collaging process, and perhaps will reflect on ways in which they have or have not been complicit in perpetuat- ing harmful ideas around identity and gender.” “Nina Chanel Abney: Big Butch Energy.” On view through March 12, 2023, at Institute of Con- temporary Art, Miami, 61 NE 41st St., Miami; 305-901-5272; icamiami.org. Admission is free. Nina Chanel Abney brings "Big Butch Energy" to ICA Miami. © Nina Chanel Abney, courtesy of the artist Frat Race from p10
Miami 12-01-2022
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