Discontent with Brute Force Uploading
Richard-Jonathan Nelson’s solo exhibition examines how Black bodies and craft can be intermeshed to depict a speculative future. Through hybridizing traditional craft practices – like embroidery, weaving, and quilting – with digital art, Nelson’s work challenges the history of “uploading” Black Disapora as a monolithic culture; and reimagines the Black body as a place for futuristic progress. Nelson’s work draws reference from African-American low country herbalism, cybernetic Afrofuturism, and his family’s history working with fabric.
An Artist’s Talk and Gallery Walkthrough with Richard-Jonathan Nelson will be held on Saturday, June 29 at 11am.
About the Artist: Richard-Jonathan Nelson is a multi-disciplinary artist who uses textiles, video, and digital manipulation to create alternative worlds of speculative identity. His work is multi-layered, chromatically intense and mixes images of the natural world with reference to hoodoo, queer culture, and Afro-Futurism. Born in Savannah, Georgia (1987) and working in Oakland, CA, Nelson received his MFA from California College of the Arts in 2017. His work has been exhibited at Southern Exposure, Embark Gallery, Root Division in San Francisco, and Aggregate Space in Oakland.
Image: Richard-Jonathan Nelson, Untitled, 2019. Courtesy of the Artist
