KESTER MESSAN: SIGNIFICANT OTHER
SEPTEMBER 3, 2022
RUSHPHILANTHROPIC.ORG
4954 OLD YORK RD PHILADELPHIA, PA 19140
RUSHARTSPHILADELPHIA@GMAIL.COM
"KESTER MESSAN: SOLO EXHIBITION" IS ON VIEW AT RUSH ARTS PHILADELPHIA GALLERY. IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING ANY OF THE WORKS, PLEASE EMAIL US AT RUSHARTSPHILADELPHIA@GMAIL.COM.
Featuring 12 works, this collection is in practice an extension of his senior exhibition at William College where he engages intense research to inform the art he makes.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Kester Massan's "Significant Other", is a collection of works that continuously challenge the status quo and oppressive nature of institutions through visual culture.
About Rush Arts Philadelphia Rush Arts Philadelphia’s mission is to build a community driven art space that provides opportunities to both local artists and curators, focused on community revitalization and relevance to the people of the surrounding neighborhoods, and arts based educational opportunities for local youth who can benefit from them the most.
"Through text-based works and sculpture, performance and public activations, Messan’s work employs poetic devices to consider just how easily oppression can be made aesthetic. He explores the possibility of personal agency, free from institutional agendas, from that of religious and academic institutions, prisons, advertising agencies, social networking sites and even dating apps, like Grindr. Messan’s research based practice points to the potential consequences of marrying materiality with digital devices, and digital devices with desire."
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Kester Messan (b. 1998, Lomé, Togo) is a visual artist and writer. He holds a BA in Studio Art from Williams College and is an incoming MFA candidate at Goldsmiths, University of London. Messan’s practice is born out of observation, or sometimes even, an obsession, over the words, colors, materials, and gestures that are experienced in the day-to-day. He approaches his work through the lens of performance, mining language from theater as a tool to make sense of the repetitions in his environment. An audition, a cast list, rehearsals, scripts, costumes and sets are all used as frameworks to track an individual’s long term relationship with various institutions of power.
1 Again, Again, 2021 Sculpture (3-D Print) 7”x 3” x 2” $450 ea.
2 Significant Other, 2022 Photography 20” x 30” $275 ea.
3 I love to spoil sexy younger black men (reprise), 2022 Photography NFS
4 FIRE, 2022 Acrylic on paper NFS
SEPTEMBER 3, 2022
KESTER MESSAN: SIGNIFICANT OTHER