Clough-Hanson Gallery at Rhodes College was excited to announce its first show of the season: Taking Aim: Selections from the Elliot L. Perry Collection.
Taking Aim will run from August 31 through October 11, 2007.
New York curator Isolde Brielmaier and participating photographer Wardell Milan will present a lecture and discussion in Blount Auditorium in Buckman Hall on Thursday, September 6th at 7 p.m. The lecture is funded in part by the Lillie and Morrie Moss Endowment for the Visual Arts at Rhodes College.
The reception for the show will be held in the gallery from 6 - 8 p.m., Friday September 7, 2007.
There will also be a gallery talk with Elliot Perry on Saturday, September 15th at noon.
The show will bring together some of the most important contemporary African American artists working today. The show includes works by Kara Walker, Radcliff Bailey, Michael Ray, Glenn Ligon, Renee Cox, Xaviera Simmons, Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley, Leslie Hewitt, Wangechi Mutu, Wardell Milan, Demetrius Oliver, Hank Willis Thomas, Robert Pruitt, Jeff Sonhouse, and Mickalene Thomas.
Elliot Perry is a Memphis native who played for the University of Memphis Tiger’s basketball team and went on to play in the NBA for ten years. Perry began collecting art in 1996 building his collection with old masters of African American artists. After building relationships with contemporary African American artists like Michael Ray Charles and Radcliffe Bailey, Perry became more interested in contemporary artists and their work. The exhibition will be but a fraction of Perry’s considerable collection of work by some of the most important young artists working in America today. In her essay to accompany the exhibition Brielmaier writes:
“Perhaps most importantly, Perry reiterates his interest in challenging himself and others in how they think about history, culture and art. And in Taking Aim, he underscores his dedication to this exploration—by providing a visible and solid platform for today’s young artists, so that audiences can experience the present here and now through the eyes of some of the most powerful and creative cultural players of today. “
Isolde Brielmaier is an independent project consultant, curator and writer as well as Visiting Assistant Professor of Art at Vassar College and Guest Professor at Barnard College/ Columbia University. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from Columbia University and is based in New York City.
Tennessee native, Wardell Milan, received his BFA from the University of Tennessee and went on to receive his MFA from the prestigious photography program at Yale University. He has been included in a number of important group shows including Greater New York at P.S. 1 and Frequency at the Studio Museum in Harlem. He was an artist in residence at the Studio Museum in 2006-2007. Milan lives and works in New York City.
If you should have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Gallery Director Hamlett Dobbins at Clough-Hanson Gallery (901) 843-3442, via email at dobbinsh@rhodes.edu.
A full list of works from the exhibition and images of the works are available upon request.