Re: Re: Black Macho Unleash the Queen at Philipp Pflug Contemporary

Artists: James Gregory Atkinson featuring Alvin Baltrop, Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, Josh Johnson, Julia Phillips, Juliana Huxtable, Lyle Ashton Harris, Michele Faith Wallace and Telfar

Exhibition title: Re: Re: Black Macho Unleash the Queen

Venue: Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt, Germany

Date: June 21 – September 1, 2018

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt

PPC Philipp Pflug Contemporary is thrilled to announce the exhibition Re: Re: Black Macho. Unleash the Queen.

Grounded in the seminal publication “Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman” (1979) by renowned feminist author and cultural critic Michele Wallace and resources such as writings by the celebrated Marlon Riggs and bell hooks, Re: Re: Black Macho seeks to question masculine biases of race, class, sexuality and gender. It aims to introduce broader and more nuanced depictions of gender expression and queerness in order to expand the vernacular of black representations and liberationist strategies, as a way to resist the culture and values of white patriarchy.

The artists featured in the exhibition work across disciplines and present their approaches from conceptual to embodied practices: The historical lineage of the meaning of black image making, its relevance in regards to representation and validation, but also potential for self affirmation and negation builds a central element of the exhibit.

James Gregory Atkinson’s detailed angles of highly stylized extreme close-ups of his eyes resemble characteristics of CGI animations and muster up ambiguous questions related to cuteness, innocence and vulnerability but also violence, fear and sexuality.

Telfar projects into the future using methodical disruptions in his core practice to debunk binary ways of thinking about identity. He utilizes unisex mannequins that offer a democratic vision of what can be defined as “normal” in an industry, which often miscategorizes his work as urban street wear, and in which authenticity becomes commodity.

Julia Phillips illustrates her engagement with sculpture in a video work, meditating on support structures for the body oscillating between its presence and absence, metaphorically foregrounding institutional strangulations it has had to endure throughout histories.

Juliana Huxtable’s contribution furthermore dissects subdued positions of black transsexual subjectivities, revealing the implied hypocrisy among vanilla activist circles and contemporary identity discourses which often appropriate black resistance tactics.

The performance by Josh Johnson, on the other hand, tries to come to terms with the loss of bodies and attempts to reconnect with their haptic familiarity via ritual and dance.

Literary depth is added to the overall exhibition narrative by Jaamil Olawale Kosoko’s poetic sound installation, fathoming the often times precarious human condition. Thus, all works are positioned in a gradually developing conversation with one another to create a larger, more complex network, expressing new ontologies and proposing different ways of social being.

Re: Re: Black Macho presents a comprehensive view on the theme of body politics and representations grounded in African-American history reverberating into the larger global diasporas of people of African descent. The exhibition penetrates a complex set of senses inviting the viewer to experience a different, non-conditioned way of seeing or perceiving environment, body and culture.

Installation view, Re: Re: Black Macho. Unleash the Queen, PPC Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt, 2018, Telfar, Alvin Baltrop

Re: Re: Black Macho Unleash the Queen, 2018, exhibition view, Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt

Julia Phillips, Becoming (the Hunter, the Twerker, the Submitter), 2015, 1 channel HD video, 1 minute 36 seconds loop

Re: Re: Black Macho Unleash the Queen, 2018, exhibition view, Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt

James Gregory Atkinson, Hypersensitive (Blowing things out of proportion) II, 2017, Inkjet print on dibond, Edition 1/3 + 1 AP, Framed: 165 × 110 cm

James Gregory Atkinson, Hypersensitive (Blowing things out of proportion) III, 2018, Inkjet print on dibond, Edition 1/3 + 1 AP, Framed: 165 × 110 cm

Alvin Baltrop, The Piers (three men on dock), n.d., 1975-1986, Silver gelatin print, Image size: 11.5 x 17.8 cm, Paper size: 20.2 x 25.2 cm (framed: 35.4 x 40.4 x 2.8 cm), Courtesy The Alvin Baltrop Trust, Third Streaming, New York, and Galerie Buchholz, Berlin/Cologne/New York.

Lyle Ashton Harris, Big Mama, Jean, and Marlon Riggs, Berkley, California, 1993, 2018, Chromogenic print, Edition 2/3, 38.1 x 52.07 cm, Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York.

Lyle Ashton Harris, Marlon Riggs, Black Popular Culture conference, Dia Center for the Arts, New York, December 8-10, 1991, 2018, Chromogenic print, Edition 3/3, 38.1 x 52.07 cm, Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York.

Juliana Huxtable, Transsexual Empire, 2017, Inkjet print, Edition 1/3 + 2 AP, 127 x 88.9 cm

Juliana Huxtable, The Feminist Scam, 2017, Inkjet print, Edition 3/3 + 2 AP, 127 x 88.9 cm

Telfar (in collaboration with Frank Benson), Telfar Formes, 2018, Fiberglass, Circa 67 x 152 x 50 cm, Edition 1/ 8

Performance view, Re: Re: Black Macho. Unleash the Queen, PPC Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt, 1st July 2018, 8pm, Josh Johnson

Josh Johnson, Anthony, 2018, Burnt nubuck leather and plastic, Courtesy of the artists

Re: Re: Black Macho Unleash the Queen, 2018, exhibition view, Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt

Josh Johnson, Anthony, 2018, Burnt nubuck leather and plastic, Courtesy of the artists

Re: Re: Black Macho Unleash the Queen, 2018, exhibition view, Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt

Performance view, Re: Re: Black Macho. Unleash the Queen, PPC Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt, 1st July 2018, 8pm, Josh Johnson

Telfar (in collaboration with Frank Benson), Telfar Formes, 2018, Fiberglass, Circa 67 x 152 x 50 cm, Edition 1/ 8

Re: Re: Black Macho Unleash the Queen, 2018, exhibition view, Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt

Performance view, Re: Re: Black Macho. Unleash the Queen, PPC Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt, 1st July 2018, 8pm, Josh Johnson

Josh Johnson, Anthony, Performance, July 1, 2018