Eclipsing Corporeality: Depictions of and Beyond the Body

Dante

Eclipsing Corporeality: Depictions of and Beyond the Body
April 10- June 30, 2010
Curator: Ayanna Shamese Williams
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 10, 2010

Restoration’s Center for Arts and Culture’s Skylight Gallery is pleased to present Eclipsing Corporeality: Depictions of and Beyond the Body, a solo exhibition featuring the work of artist, Dante.

For the last decade, Dante has been exhibiting paintings of the body, in varying forms, as they manifest in his imagination. From the sensual, to the mundane, to the ethereal, Dante’s figures float, flail, and hide within his painterly canvases.

Ranging from the figurative to abstract, Dante’s work at large is concerned with issues provoked by the fragility of mankind and the way in which both humanity’s indiscretions and triumphs contribute to a larger social body. The artist describes his mission as, “to create art that mimics true life experiences, by embracing what pleases me but also that which disturbs me. Even those experiences that are not so positive, I aim to articulate in a beautiful way.”

Curated by Ayanna Shamese Williams, this exhibition will feature 41 pieces by Dante. Of the work exhibited, the show will include a new installation entitled Bastards, a series of individual paintings that at once comprise one installation as a grid of abstractions. Dante’s point of departure, one piece that spawned into separate paintings while remaining intrinsically connected, resonated with the idea of family, specifically the situation of illegitimate children of unmarried parents. While all 21 pieces were part of one initial concept, they refused to remain one harmonious unit. Some pieces were only strong next to a specific other, and many started to form relationships on their own, much like the way in which individual members of a family do.

Dante was born in East Cleveland, Ohio. He received a BFA (1992) from Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia where he currently resides and works. Dante has exhibited in solo and group shows throughout the country. His work has been acquired by many corporate and private collections including Vanderbilt University. In 2008, Dante was awarded the Purchase Prize during the 14th Annual African American Art Exhibition in Louisville, Kentucky. Dante was also named the featured artist for the 20th Anniversary of the National Black Arts Festival in 2008. He has received commissions by Clark Atlanta University, West Georgia University, Red Oak Community Center, the City of Atlanta, and HJ Russell & Company. Most recently, he was the commissioned artist for the Verizon Wireless 2009 advertising campaign, How Sweet the Sound.

For additional information contact Melissa Mathews at 718.636.6949, or mmatthews@restorationplaza.org. www.restorationplaza.org

Gallery hours Wed- Fri, 11am-6pm, Sat 1-6pm. Private viewings available upon request.

Dante Yarbrough - Eclipsing Corporeality, Depictions of and Beyond the Body from RESTORATION on Vimeo.