INTrodUCTIoN

Bold choices of colors, patterns, and textures immediately draw the viewer into the work of Najee Dorsey. Each work in Southern Crossroads generates an engaging visual experience and invites the viewer to experience themes of family, southern culture, and physical and figurative crossroads. Dorsey uses mixed media and photomontage to layer meaning and image together into a powerful depiction of Black history and life. Through his contemplative references to past, present, and future life in America, Dorsey demands our attention and focus.

Born in Arkansas in 1973, Dorsey embraced his artistic and entrepreneurial aspirations from an early age. His childhood near the Mississippi Delta and the exposure to Blues music and style shaped the visual language and imagery in his work. He went on to pursue his artistic career full time beginning in 2005 when he moved to Atlanta. Dorsey founded Black Art in America in 2010 and has gone on to build a large following and network around his organization that promotes the exposure of and collecting of works by African American artists. He currently serves as the CEO for Black Art in America which recently opened a permanent gallery and headquarters outside Atlanta.

Throughout much of the exhibition, Dorsey’s upbringing in the Mississippi Delta and his strong ties to community are evident through his focus on culturally southern nostalgic settings, portraits of family members and friends, and recognition of Black writers and musicians. The importance of generations and legacy is shown by how he depicts children in several works and he includes framed images of family figures in the background of Listening Room. Symbolic historical figures are incorporated in his work and he ennobles the centralized Black figures by emphasizing the figure in a luxuriously decorated interior. In This My Baldwin, Dorsey features the writer and civil and gay rights activist, James Baldwin. Set in a lavish interior space, Baldwin sits with his typewriter close by and surrounded by regal columns and ceiling, signifying the importance of his life and work. Dorsey’s use of vivid color and pattern reflects the rich history of the figures and time he portrays.

Southern Crossroads brings together the realities of history, a clear glimpse into the present, and an honest view of future possibilities. Najee Dorsey warmly invites the viewer as we say in the south, “to stay a while,” in the spaces and stories that he shares in his work.

-Martha Underinner, Curator of Education

Selected Solo Exhibitions

Art Space Richmond, VA

Avisca Fine Art Gallery, Marietta, GA

Black Art in America™ Gallery, Columbus, GA

The Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA

Griot Gallery Miami, FL

The Houston Museum of African American

Jackson State University, Jackson, MS

John A. Logan College Museum and Art Galleries, Carterville, IL

LMNT Gallery, Miami, FL

Mississippi Museum of Art (in collaboration with JSU), Jackson, MS

Nicole Gallery, Chicago, IL

Shawnee Community College, llin, IL

St. Bernard’s Hospital Breast Cancer Awareness, Jonesboro, AR

Southeast Missouri University, Cape Girardeau, MO

Stonecrest Library, Lithonia, GA

Syracuse Community Folk Art Center, Syracuse, NY

Collections

African American Museum of Dallas, TX

Clark University Museum, Atlanta, GA

Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA

Community Folk Art Center, Syracuse University, NY

David C. Driskell Collection, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

David W. Mullins Library at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR

Paul R. Jones Collection, University of Delaware, Newark, DE

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA