Clarence Heyward | UNSEEN by [CONTAINER] Turner Carroll

Turner Carroll Gallery

Essay: Clarence Heyward

725 Canyon Road

Design: Darcy Spencer

Santa Fe, NM 87501 505.986.9800

Front Cover:

turnercarrollgallery.com

Code Red, 2022

info@turnercarrollgallery.com

acrylic on canvas 73 x 61" framed, 72 x 60" unframed

CAM Raleigh 409 W Martin Street

Back Cover:

Raleigh, NC 27603

Birth of a Nation, 2020

919.261.5920

acrylic on canvas

camraleigh.org

73 x 37" framed, 72 x 36" unframed

Clarence Heyward UNSEEN UNSEEN, not because we literally cannot be seen, but because we are not seen for who we really are. We being Black people in America. American media is saturated with false narratives and imagery which has created false perceptions of Blackness, leading to the degradation and dehumanization of Black people. Ironically, this body of work was created as I saw myself in someone else on television. As I watched the murder of a Black man, a father, a brother, and a son, I saw myself and couldn’t help but think…That could be me. Like many artists, my practice has evolved through my life experience. My early years were spent referencing the imagery of my “art idols” with no real connection to concepts or “why”. Those years were key in that they influenced the way I viewed myself, Black Americans, and our identities. This has led me to critically engage image making and ultimately be constantly conscious of narratives in regards to the contemporary Black American experience. My art practice challenges stereotypes and myths, takes on social commentary, critiques perceptions, and creates dialogues all through the lens of the Black American male experience. As a Black man, husband, and father living in America, my paintings draw from life experiences. My work contains personal and collective narratives that position Black bodies in the forefront and examine the reinterpretation of Black existence in imagery addressing the notion of belonging, inclusion, our perceived presence and absence in America. - Clarence Heyward Visit the link in the QR code to listen to Clarence Heyward speak more about his work. 1

Clockwise from top left: 2

Nuclear - Mother Figure, 2021, acrylic and variegated leaf on canvas, 17 x 17" framed, 16 x 16" unframed Nuclear - Father Figure, 2021, acrylic and variegated leaf on canvas, 17 x 17" framed, 16 x 16" unframed Nuclear - Second Born Daughter Figure, 2021, acrylic and variegated leaf on canvas, 17 x 17" framed, 16 x 16" unframed Nuclear - First Daughter Figure, 2021, acrylic and variegated leaf on canvas, 17 x 17" framed, 16 x 16" unframed

Enemy of the State, 2021, acrylic vinyl and silver leaf on canvas, 49 x 31" framed, 48 x 30" unframed

Through the years, it has been common place for American media to showcase imagery of PEOPLE of COLOR being beaten and murdered. This has led to the desensitization of viewing such imagery and traumatization for said PEOPLE of COLOR. I can remember being nine years old and seeing Rodney King being beaten on television, I was terrified. That grainy old video from 1992 seems like one hundred years ago now, or perhaps something from the civil rights era. Fast forward thirty years and those scenes have become all too common. Long gone are those old grainy videos, now we witness these scenes in high definition. And somehow our humanity remains invisible. 4

This painting was conceived as I witnessed the murder of George Floyd…in HD, once again feeling the terror I felt at nine years old. - Clarence Heyward

Invisible Man, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 37 x 73" framed, 36 x 72" unframed

While You Were Away, 2021, acrylic and variegated leaf on canvas, 49 x 36" framed, 48 x 31" unframed

Code Red, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 73 x 61" framed, 72 x 60" unframed

Candyland, 2021 acrylic and variegated leaf on canvas 61 x 49" framed, 60 x 48" unframed

Candyland is named after the board game which requires no strategy, players are never required to make choices, just follow directions, and the winner is actually predetermined by the shuffle of the cards. Sounds relatively close to the design of the American society we live in today. Only when you are a person of color those cards are rarely “shuffled” in your favor. As a Black father of two beautiful girls my responsibility is to teach them how to navigate the board, dealing them the best cards possible. - Clarence Heyward

I Pray for You, 2022, acrylic, vinyl and gold leaf on canvas, 49 x 31" framed, 48 x 30" unframed

Death of the Unicorn, 2021, acrylic, vinyl and variegated leaf on canvas, 49 x 31" framed, 48 x 30" unframed

Sing for Me, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 49 x 31" framed, 48 x 30" unframed

Everything is Everything, 2022, acrylic and variegation leaf on canvas, 49 x 31" framed, 48 x 30" unframed

Proud Boy, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 49 x 31" framed, 48 x 30" unframed

Clarence grew up watching the show Family Matters. For him, it represented the happiness of childhood. Here, he depicts his own family enjoying time together. However, he makes the family portrait a diptych, so that if he were taken out of the equation, he’d like his wife and daughters to have a portrait of themselves as he hopes they would be--able to live a happy life as a family without him. - Tonya Turner Carroll

Family Matters, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 73 x 121" framed, 72 x 120" unframed, diptych

The Oracle, 2021, acrylic, acrylic mirror and gold leaf on canvas, 49 x 37" framed, 48 x 36" unframed

Birth of a Nation, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 73 x 37" framed, 72 x 36" unframed

Someone once suggested to Heyward that Black men should not wear hoodies “because they look threatening.” Clarence took on this stereotype wholeheartedly, using it as an opportunity to show that Black men often choose to wear hoodies simply because hoodies are comfortable, just as anyone else would. Heyward is completing a series of 50 paintings of Black men from various walks of life, all wearing a hoodie. Doctors, lawyers, musicians, artists, poets, and men of multiple other occupations, all embody the fact that the “threat” is not the ridiculous stereotype of a Black man in a hoodie, but it is our own projected prejudices. - Tonya Turner Carroll Clockwise from top left: 18

In My Hood, 2022, acrylic and variegated leaf on canvas, 17 x 17" framed, 16 x 16" unframed In My Hood #2, 2022, acrylic and variegated leaf on canvas, 17 x 17" framed, 16 x 16" unframed In My Hood #3, 2022, acrylic and variegated leaf on canvas, 17 x 17" framed, 16 x 16" unframed In My Hood #4, 2022, acrylic and variegated leaf on canvas, 17 x 17" framed, 16 x 16" unframed

Joshua, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 58 x 24" framed, 57 x 23" unframed

In God We Trust, 2021, acrylic and copper leaf on canvas, 49 x 31" framed, 48 x 30" unframed

Menace II Society, 2022, acrylic and silver leaf on canvas, 49 x 31" framed, 48 x 30" unframed

God is Dope, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 49 x 31" framed, 48 x 30" unframed

Rashaun, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 49 x 31" framed, 48 x 30" unframed

About Clarence Heyward Clarence Heyward (American, b.1983) was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. He is a painter and collagist whose work explores notions of the Black American experience. His work investigates cultural truths, challenges stereotypes, and questions identity. Clarence believes it’s important to “paint his truth” and uses persons of color as subjects in his work as homage to his culture. Beginning his journey as a full-time artist in 2019, he is best known for his dynamic and fresh take on figurative art. Heyward relocated to North Carolina to study Art Education at North Carolina Central University. Visit the link in the QR code below to listen to Clarence Heyward’s podcast with the Nasher Museum of Art. Clarence speaks with North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics American Studies and Humanities instructor, Tatiana McInnis, for his Nasher Museum exhibition, Reckoning and Resilience: North Carolina Art Now, January 13 – July 10, 2022.

Museum Exhibitions 21c Museum Hotel Durham Harvey B. Gantt Center for Cultural Arts Block Gallery Raleigh Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University Contemporary Art Museum Raleigh

Accolades 2022 Artist in Residence at NC State University 2021 Emerging Artist in Residence at Artspace, Raleigh 2020 The Brightwork Fellowship at Anchorlight, Raleigh

turnercarrollgallery.com|725 Canyon Road|Santa Fe, NM 87501|505.986.9800