RICO GATSON 2024 by Miles McEnery Gallery

RICO GATSON, ABOVE AND BELOW

Erica N. Cardwell

One of the many standout paintings in Rico Gatson’s exhibition, “Above and Below,” is Untitled (Mother Star). The prismatic element of the bullseye, incorporating shades of yellow, blue, and pink set apart by the strips of black and white in the background, could readily be attributed to the emotional pulse of the exhibition, specifically for the movement it portrays. Much of Gatson’s recent career celebrates Black iconography, notably featuring jazz musician Cecil Taylor, Black feminist theorist bell hooks, and queer author James Baldwin. Each figure is represented with a black and white photo transfer in a classic rendering, with bright colorways stretching outwards like rays of the sun. For Gatson’s latest series, “Above and Below,” the artist has taken a more visionary approach to his connections to iconography and developed what he describes as “utopic landscapes.”1 In these works, the artist revisits his primary-colored palette by introducing complex surrealist compositions, and the direct intent to heal.

“Above and Below” contains fourteen new works, painted with acrylic on large hollow core doors, several spanning over six feet in length. Still inspired by Black icons, but instead honing into a metaphysical mentality or transcendent approach to the world. Afrofuturist artist and musician, SUN RA, in particular, is a long-time inspiration for Gatson, who is known for his performance art and belief in space travel as a means of Black people obtaining liberation beyond this world. Gatson’s concept of “utopic landscapes” directly aligns with SUN RA’s visionary philosophy, insisting that not only is another world possible, but it is already available within the Black imagination. “Above and Below” is a collection of works elevated beyond metaphysical concept and more deeply intertwined with a forward-thinking mentality invested in collective healing.

1 Virtual Studio Visit with Rico Gatson, August 5, 2024

Serigraph

25 15/16 x 24 1/8 inches

61.2cm).

Smithsonian American Art museum, Washington, D.C., Gift of Donald A. Brown (1978.168.39)

the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, Gift of the Society for Contemporary Art (2020.338)

Gatson studied sculpture at Yale and graduated in 1991, beginning his painting practice in the early 2000s. By 2016 Gatson became involved with public art installations, and other large-scale projects. As a self-described, “sculptor who paints,” Gaston’s work is exemplary of hard-edge abstraction, a category that initially connotes contrast—edges or lines and geometric forms are often considered counterintuitive to abstract formation. However, within the legacy of Black abstraction—specifically artists in the Washington School, such as Sam Gilliam, Kenneth V. Young, and Emma Amos—the presence of opacity needn’t ameliorate a capacity of focused vision. In a memorable public project, Gatson’s work was featured on various walls and columns throughout New York Penn Station under the title Untitled (Collective Light Transfer). Gatson’s signature infusion of geometric compositions, primary colors and overall tone of movement creates a vibrant display.

Gatson considered, “The idea that someone could assign their work to healing. This was a desire for the work. This was something that spoke to me. I like the concept of trying to make something related to healing as art. I approach the making that way. A transference. It’s rooted in care and love.”2 In his Brooklyn studio, Gatson has the tendency to develop his works “in conversation.”

June 21, 2024

Virtual Studio visit with Rico Gatson,

Sam Gilliam, G.D.S., 1978, Printer: Stovall Workshop Inc.

on paper,

(65.9 x

Emma Amos, Black Dog Blues, 1983, Acrylic on canvas with hand-woven fabric, 52 x 76 inches (132.1 x 193 cm). Collection of

The artist will “essentially work on several paintings at a time,” allowing his process to reveal itself. With this series, we encounter the artist situated within a quieter and directed process, something more deeply concerned with felt experience—his and his audience’s—a concept undeniable in the school of hard-edge abstraction. In a virtual studio visit, Gatson ruminated early on, “Even though it’s this literal thing, it’s felt. Did that make any sense?”3 The latter sentiment of “does that make sense”—is a frequent, colloquial phrasing, a comment that typically conveys a desire for reassurance from an interlocutor. However, rather than seeking affirmation, Gatson appeared quite assured by this description of his intuitive process. “Felt experience” is difficult to put into words, descriptions will distill an internal relationship into heavy handed phrasing. While “felt experience” is beyond language, the fourteen paintings in Above and Below deliver a synesthetic pulse, Gatson’s desired “environment” for the paintings, is one in which an experience is generated individually rather than prescribed.

While also intuitive and open to aspects of interpretation, Gatson is deeply invested in care, similar to the approach of surrealist painters Hilma AF Klimt and Georgina Houghton. These artists often used a method called “automatism” or “drawing the invisible” to connect with the metaphysical and subconscious process of painting. The artist Emma Kunz pioneered automa-

3 Virtual Studio Visit with Rico Gatson, June 21, 2024

Rico Gatson, Untitled (Collective Light Transfer), 26 January 2024, Penn Station, New York, NY

tism as an important technique in her definition of spiritual art. Art historian, Yasmin Afschar, describes Kunz as a researcher and a healer and that the artist “only became an artist posthumously,” referencing how the artist’s visual practice dictated her primary identity.4 Healing was also Kunz’ intention; this is conveyed through her use of the hypnotic symbol of the mandala, as a central motif. The mandala is attributed to religious iconography, specifically Buddhist and some Catholic sects. As an appropriated symbol, the depiction of the circle in motion is meant to inspire and transform.

Similarly, Gatson, has incorporated a “bullseye” into the “Above and Below” series. The bullseye is represented by a fixed, primary-colored pinwheel. This effect can be observed in Untitled (After the Storm) through the placement of the bullseye within an oceanic seascape with several diagonal lightning bolts stacked on either side. Viewers may experience the center shape as a light source or deity. The winding circle leading into infinitude—nowhere and everywhere—is a consistent symbol on the handmade album covers of SUN RA and his bandmates.5 The black and white cover for SUN RA and the Myth Science Arkestra depicts a circle swirling with hand drawn staircases in a meditative spiral. Another version of the album cover shows SUN RA holding an orb-like sun figure above his head, appearing to examine it on all sides.

Untitled (Astral Black I) and Untitled (Astral Black II), display the bullseye with a softer affect, converging at the center with angular, path-like core in the upper portion of the painting. The symmetry in Untitled (Afro-Utopia I) of even lines and measured strips of red, green, and blue, manage the hypnotic dimension of the Astral Black series. Beyond the black and white, this hybrid pink, cast on with a smudge like affect, introduces a dialectical influence noticeable in Untitled (Afro-Utopia II). It is in this series that viewers will connect with the work’s thesis, a consciousness shared within the work, and Gatson’s attempt at conveying the mysteries of space

4 Blanchflower, Melissa, Natalie Grabowska, and Melissa Lerner, eds. 2019. Emma Kunz: Visionary Drawings / an Exhibition Conceived with Christodoulos Panayiotou. London: Serpentine Galleries: Koenig Books.

5 Article, Min Chen. 2023. “Sun Ra’s Legendary Album Art—Sometimes Handcrafted, Always Otherworldly— Has Been Compiled into a Book for the First Time.” Artnet News. January 17, 2023. https://news.artnet.com/ art-world/sun-ra-art-on-saturn-handmade-album-covers-2243403.

into the environment of the exhibition. Much of this thinking aligns with Gatson’s use of the color black, a connection with the expansive, constellation filled cosmos. Surprising within these works is the provocative opacity, the sense of convenance between Gatson and the works, suggesting a world, a galaxy far beyond.

While SUN RA is an early influence, jazz trumpeter, Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, formerly Christian Scott, is often considered a SUN RA contemporary, and another inspiration for Gatson. This transition into a nuanced approach reveals itself in the works. Untitled (Circle Theory I) continues to work with the same concept from the “Astral Black” series but introduces a slight departure in the use of multiple, overlapping concentric shapes as primary focal points. Untitled (Circle Theory Small) is half the size of most of the other paintings but is situated as a continuation of Untitled (Circle Theory I). And Untitled (Four Vibrations) splits the bullseye, disrupting this forward version by shifting to a more active and internal dimension.

Concepts of healing are periodically disregarded in contemporary art perspectives; certain schools of thought insist that art isn’t meant to do anything to or for viewers. This idea is a seminal debate among art critics and writers mainly because the topic of interpretation or meaning from art infers a sense of responsibility. For Gatson, his career has centered around elevating Black iconography to a place of purposeful and intentional homage. “Above and Below” touches more specifically on the relationship that such reverie can have on the psyche of the viewer, how it can heal us.

“Above and Below” is a dazzling series of works by a visionary painter. Gatson’s devotion to futuristic and calming tones is a refreshing approach both to Black abstraction and an offering to our community, motivating us to continue moving.

Erica N. Cardwell is a writer, critic, and educator based in Brooklyn and Toronto. She is the recipient of a 2021 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant. Her writing has appeared in ARTS.BLACK, Art in America, Frieze, BOMB, The Brooklyn Rail, C Magazine, The Kenyon Review, and other publications. She has written exhibition and catalogue essays for artists such as Crystal Z. Campbell, Samantha Box, Chitra Ganesh, Sandra Brewster and Amanda Williams. Erica is assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Toronto Scarborough.