Travis Somerville 'A Great Cloud of Witnesses' March 2, 2013

Mar 2-Apr 20, 2013; Reception Mar 2, 5-7pm, following panel, 3:30-5pm

Catharine Clark Gallery announces the solo exhibition "A Great Cloud of Witnesses" by Travis Somerville, and the Media Room presentation of "Question Bridge: Black Males," by Chris Johnson, Hank Willis Thomas, Bayete Ross Smith, and Kamal Sinclair. Work by Paul Rucker will be shown in the Viewing Room. The exhibition dates are March 2 through April 20, 2013. The reception will be held on Saturday, March 2 from 5 to 7 pm, preceded by a panel from 3:30-5pm. "A Great Cloud of Witnesses" coincides with Travis Somerville's solo exhibition "Rebirth of a Nation: Travis Somerville's 1963," March 3 through May 5, 2013 at the Crocker Art Museum.

For his 2013 solo exhibition, Travis Somerville continues his exploration of historical memory. Bringing appropriated material from the past into dialogue with imagery from today's "post racial" society, the artist makes complex montages that appose imagery from a bygone era with that of contemporary news stories on immigration, child labor in Uzbekistan, and Arab Spring uprisings. The resulting works are confrontational and facilitate conversations about multiculturalism, truth, and the lasting power of images.

Presented in the Media Room is the single-channel video "Question Bridge: Black Males," part of a transmedia project to "represent and redefine Black male identity in America." Consisting of over 1,500 interviews and exchanges by Black men of different demographics, ages, and political sectors, "Question Bridge" hopes to "overcome exclusion and estrangement" in the community.

"Sounds Like..." by Paul Rucker is a series of four drawings and videos that merge the symbolic languages of art and music. Rucker creates a coded form of expression within an abstracted aesthetic, as the works reference major events in the history of "Americans of African descent." Also featured is a video work, "Proliferation," which poetically describes the growth of incarceration from the 1800s to today's statistic of 2.3 million people.

Official Website: http://cclarkgallery.com/exhibitions/travis-somerville-a-great-cloud-of-witnesses-2013