A brief history
In celebration of Black History Month, RJD Gallery in Bridgehampton, New York, will mount the figurative exhibition A Brief History curated by Dexter Wimberly, an independent curator and executive director at Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art. The show, as Wimberly explains, “celebrates the presence of the black image in art. The exhibition includes a cross-generational group of painters who grasp the centrality of race and cultural identity in understanding contemporary portraiture.”
Phillip Thomas’ painting Sunday will be on display in the exhibition. It is reflective of Bedwardism, a religious movement in Jamaica founded by Harrison Woods and named for Alexander Bedward.
“Bedwardism was a seminal step in the direction of presenting the black church as more than just a religious outpost, but more importantly, as an institution for resistance and freedom. This movement later influenced movements such as Garveyism, which became a part of the civil rights movement and ultimately functioned as the bedrock for Rastafarianism in Jamaica and several other forms of resistance movements all across the diaspora,” says Thomas. “In Sunday I was thinking of presenting a figure of the church juxtaposed with a very important church in Jamaica. The figure is of no specific preacher or congregant but more so a representation of, or standing for, the movement itself.”
A portrait from Sylvia Maier’s Currency Series— which questions what people value as a society—is another painting in the show. The piece features fashion designer Kevin Stewart and is titled Currency Series – Kevin Professor Badass.
“What if your spiritual currency is the measure of your life? Not what you acquire but the freedom in fully realizing yourself,” says Maier. “This sense of individuality raises your currency. Reaching your maximum potential by being true to your individuality. Kevin exudes this. In his creativity, style and graceful battle with MS, he inspires and is worth commemorating.”
Bantu Belle is from Jules Arthur’s body of work Culture and Commerce that examines “the narratives lost in the uneven accounting of history—as many voices