April Bey, You About to Lose Yo Job ‘Cause You Are Detaining Me, for Nothing, 2020, Watercolor drawing on wood panel in archival epoxy resin. Hand-drilled holes and hand-sewn “African” wax fabric with oil paint impasto, 30x24. Loan courtesy of the Escalette Permanent Collection of Art at Chapman University.
July 15 - October 24, 2021
Summer of Women Suite of Exhibitions
GENEROUSLY FUNDED BY THE GOODE FAMILY FOUNDATION
It has been a historic year for women. Not only did the country elect the first woman Vice President, the Commonwealth of Virginia voted to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, becoming the 38th state to do so, thereby removing an important barrier to the inclusion of the ERA in the U.S. Constitution. On the other hand, women faced new challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Virginia MOCA organized the Summer of Women suite of exhibitions in response to these advances and setbacks. Together, She Says: Women, Words and Power, Amplify, and Lauren Keim: Everyday Magic provide much needed platforms for the exploration of the rich and complex lives of women.
EXHIBITION SUPPORT PROVIDED BY: PRA Group with additional support from Arleen Cohen, Susan and Andy Cohen in honor of their mothers Irene Fritsch and Lolly Cohen, Jodi and Jay Klebanoff, Southern Bank, and Kaufman & Canoles, P.C.
NOW ON VIEW¬
Main Gallery
She Says: Women, Words and Power
July 15 - October 24, 2021
She Says presents the work of eight women artists who include text as a fundamental element of their art practice. Each one engages with text directly, navigating its power and reflecting its influence back to the viewer. They all move in and out of its flow, whether the text is from a poem, a religious tome, or simply something that is shouted on the street. They start with a personal history, a narrative that has deep roots in the written word.
Main Gallery
AMPLIFY
July 15 - October 24, 2021
Amplify focuses on the experiences of woman-identifying artists in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. Virginia MOCA curators connected with curatorial colleagues and asked them to share their recommendations of woman-identifying artists who are exploring identity and the gendered roles of women.
Community Gallery
LAUREN KEIM: EVERYDAY MAGIC
July 15 - October 24, 2021
Everyday Magic features a selection of recent photographs by Lauren Keim celebrating and exploring the vitality and beauty of overlooked moments in everyday life. Like the artist, we surround ourselves with everyday spaces and objects whose small details often unveil who we truly are. The nature of noticing is intuitive to Keim. She is most comfortable when she has a camera in her hand and is fascinated with making images that reveal simple moments that cannot be repeated.
ARTISTS WE LOVE¬
April Bey grew up in the Caribbean (Nassau, Bahamas) and now resides and works in Los Angeles, California. Her interdisciplinary work is an introspective and social critique of American and Bahamian popular culture, immigration, contemporary pop culture feminism, generational theory, social media, Afrofuturism, and race.
She received her BFA in Drawing in 2009 from Ball State University and her MFA in Painting in 2014 at California State University, Northridge in Los Angeles. Bey is in the permanent collection of the California African American Museum, the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, and Baha Mar in Nassau, Bahamas. She has exhibited internationally in biennials NE7, NE8, and NE9 in The Bahamas, and in Italy, Spain, and Ghana.
April BeyEXPLORE MORE¬
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