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Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility

By 7th November 2023December 19th, 2023No Comments
A face emerges from a storm of Black etches and scribbles.

Charles White, Nobody Knows My Name #1, 1965 (detail). Wolff crayon and charcoal on illustration board, 30 × 40 inches (76.2 × 101.6 cm), composition: 29 1/2 × 39 1/2 inches (74.9 × 100.3 cm). Courtesy Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York and ACA Galleries, New York. © The Charles White Archives. Photo: Courtesy Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York

A collage image depicting a person in a yellow, red, and green t shirt which reads 'Extra Ginger Brew Reed's'. Their face has been replaced with an image of a treeline.

Sable Elyse Smith, 8345 Nights, 2020 (detail). Chromogenic print and suede in artist frame, 48 × 40 in. (121.9 × 101.6 cm). The LumpkinBoccuzzi Family Collection. © Sable Elyse Smith. Photo: Courtesy the artist; JTT, New York; Regen Projects, Los Angeles; and Carlos/Ishikawa, London

A collection of black and white and coloured images of Black performers. The prints are arranged in black frames.

Carrie May Weems, Slow Fade to Black II, 2009–10. 17 inkjet prints, 11 3/4 × 8 3/4 in. (29.8 × 22.2 cm) each. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund. © Carrie May Weems, courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Photo: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

A woman, whose face is completely covered in green cloth, wears a light pink hijab and green gloves.

Farah Al Qasimi, It’s Not Easy Being Seen 2, 2016. Inkjet print, 47 1/4 × 37 13/16 in. (120 × 96 cm), A.P. 2/2. Courtesy the artist and François Ghebaly Gallery. © Farah Al Qasimi. Photo: Courtesy the artist and François Ghebaly Gallery

A landscape photograph of a darkly coloured sea, overcast with dark clouds.

Dawoud Bey, Untitled #25 (Lake Erie and Sky), 2017. Gelatin silver print, 44 × 55 in. (111.8 × 139.7 cm). Rennie Collection, Vancouver. © Dawoud Bey. Photo: Courtesy Sean Kelly

A posterised photograph overlaid with translucent coloured strips.

Tomashi Jackson, Day Glow (Backlash), 2022. Acrylic, Yule Quarry marble dust, and paper bags on canvas, linen, and textile with PVC marine vinyl, mounted to wood with brass hooks and grommets, 76 1/2 × 77 × 9 in. (194.3 × 195.6 × 22.9 cm). Tilton Gallery © Tomashi Jackson. Photo: Pierre le Hors, courtesy the artist and Tilton Gallery, New York

A close up of one of the humanoid sculptures from Sandra Mujinga's Spectral Keepers, 2020.

Sandra Mujinga, Spectral Keepers, 2020 (detail). Tulle fabric, cotton fabric, nylon thread, threaded rods, wire clamps, cellular concrete. Each Figure: 109 7/16 × 31 1/2 × 14 3/4 inches ( 278 × 80 × 40 cm). Each Basket: 30 5/16 × 30 5/16 × 38 3/16 inches (77 × 77 × 97 cm). Private collection. © Sandra Mujinga. Photo: Plastiques, courtesy the artist and The Approach, London

A person obscured by collage emerges from a collaged background; only their eyes and arm are left unpatterned.

Joiri Minaya, Irreducible Convergence, 2020. Inkjet print, 60 × 40 in. (152.4 x 101.6 cm). Bill and Christy Gautreaux Collection, Kansas City, Missouri. © Joiri Minaya. Photo: Courtesy the artist

Four sculptures the the shape of humanoid figures stand in a room lit by bright green lighting. Four sculptural 'baskets' lie on the wooden panelled floor.

Sandra Mujinga, Spectral Keepers, 2020. Tulle fabric, cotton fabric, nylon thread, threaded rods, wire clamps, and cellular concrete, four figures, 109 7/16 × 31 1/2 × 15 3/4 in. (278 × 80 × 40 cm) each; four baskets, 30 5/16 × 30 5/16 × 38 3/16 in. (77 × 77 × 97 cm) each. Private collection. © Sandra Mujinga. Photo: Plastiques, courtesy the artist and The Approach, London

A profile of a person wearing a red hoodie, their face obscured.

John Edmonds, Untitled (Hood 13), 2018. Inkjet print, 50 × 33 in. (127 × 83.8 cm). Collection of the artist. © John Edmonds. Photo: Courtesy John Edmonds Studio

An exercise machine is arranged in front of three screens depicting a human face.

Sondra Perry, Graft and Ash for a Three Monitor Workstation, 2016. Digital color video, with sound, 9 min., 5 sec.; and bicycle workstation, 68 × 42 × 16 in. (172.7 × 106.7 × 40.6 cm). Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Gift of Jim Cahn and Jeremy Collatz, 2019. © Sondra Perry. Photo: Courtesy the artist and Bridget Donahue, New York

A stylised portrait painting of two Black people. One figure wears bright blue eyeshadow and red lipstick, and rests their head on the other person's shoulder.

Faith Ringgold, Black Light Series #4: Mommy and Daddy, 1969. Oil on canvas, 30 × 23 1/8 in. (76.2 × 61.3 cm). Courtesy ACA Galleries, New York. © 2023 Faith Ringgold / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, courtesy ACA Galleries, New York

A figure sits beneath a black and white checked sheet.

Stephanie Syjuco, Total Transparency Filter (Portrait of N), 2017. Inkjet print, 40 × 30 in. (101.6 × 76.2 cm). Courtesy the artist; Ryan Lee Gallery, New York; Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco; and Silverlens, Manila. © Stephanie Syjuco. Photo: Courtesy the artist; Ryan Lee Gallery, New York; Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco; and Silverlens, Manila

Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility

Until 7th April 2024. This large-scale exhibition features a multigenerational, multiracial group of artists who address pressing questions around what it means to be seen, not seen, or erased in society, through formal experimentations with the figure.

Recently opened at The Guggenheim Museum (20th Oct 2023), Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility, revolves around a dual concept of the figure; ever-present, yet obscured at the “edge of visibility.” Across a range of media — painting, photography, drawing, prints, sculpture, video, and installation — the selected artworks articulate pressing questions around what it means to be seen, not seen, or erased in society. 

The exhibition’s 28 artists, a multi-generational group comprising a majority of Black and women artists, explore obscurity via a variety of guises. They darken their images through lighting techniques, paint selections, reversing or otherwise concealing the body, and post-production tools such as “chroma-keying” – a method typically used in media production to remove elements from footage (known most commonly as a ‘green screen’.)

In Going Dark suggests that these approaches to depicting the figure engage discussions regarding social visibility: invisibility and hypervisibility within public and private spaces, as well as within institutions, history, popular media, and social media. Through revealing and concealing the body, Going Dark probes a key point of conflict in representation: both the desire to be seen and the desire for obscurity, especially as technology offers more opportunities for exposure than ever before.

Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility is organized by Ashley James, Associate Curator, Contemporary Art, with Faith Hunter, Curatorial Assistant. The featured artists are American Artist, Kevin Beasley, Rebecca Belmore, Dawoud Bey, John Edmonds, Ellen Gallagher, David Hammons, Lyle Ashton Harris, Tomashi Jackson, Titus Kaphar, Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall, Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Joiri Minaya, Sandra Mujinga, Chris Ofili, Sondra Perry, Farah Al Qasimi, Faith Ringgold, Doris Salcedo, Lorna Simpson, Ming Smith, Sable Elyse Smith, Stephanie Syjuco, Hank Willis Thomas, WangShui, Carrie Mae Weems, and Charles White.

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