Priscilla Frank (The Huffington Post) writes about Ebony Patterson’s work and her latest exhibition "Dead Treez," which is on view until April 13, 2016at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.
Step into a Jamaican dancehall and prepare to encounter peacocking. That is, men, expressing machismo through flamboyance, be it in bright colors, bold patterns or lots of bling. To a more conservative Western audience, displaying an attention to the glittery surface of clothing might be considered traditionally effeminate, but in the contemporary dancehall, individuals channel their conception of masculinity through impeccable and outlandish tastes. According to Jamaican artist Ebony G. Patterson, this new breed of macho fashionistos is not simply the result of a consumerist age. Every gold chain, patterned pantaloon and furry vest is hardly just a fashion statement but an intimation of something more direct: the simple yet implausible desire to be seen.
For her newest exhibition "Dead Treez," now on view at the Museum of Arts and Design, Patterson presents a blinged-out deluge of colors, patterns, sparkles and pop, in the forms of hand-embroidered tapestries, sculptures and a site-specific installations. Incorporating jewelry culled from MAD's permanent collection, Patterson conjures the vibrancy and swagger of an entire bustling nightclub, concentrated into a single, dizzying vision. Nodding to the flamboyant masculinity of Kehinde Wiley, the unapologetic glamor of Mickalene Thomas and the hip hop reverence of Rashaad Newsome, Patterson seduces her viewers into confronting difficult questions about race, gender and identity.
"I grew up in Jamaica so I guess I can say Jamaican dance hall is something that's been with me ever since I was a child," Patterson explained in an interview with The Huffington Post. "As a teenager, having gone to a school that was located within the vicinity of downtown Kingston, a lot of the girls came from varied socioeconomic backgrounds and what connected us was this interest in popular cultural music. This was in the early '90s, which was when dancehall for me was really at its height in terms of its creativity and inventiveness."
Although Patterson bonded with her female classmates over a love of dancehall music, the scene at large was, and remains, predominately male. "Women do participate but they are very male-dominated," Patterson said. "It's interesting because Jamaica is a very matriarchal society, but the dancehalls are patriarchal." In a sense, the dancehall acts as a sort of carnival, where norms are reversed, magnified and put on display. Although dancehall offers an opportunity to present gender on stage, front and center, Patterson believes that gender is always performative, whether in the club, on the street or in the home.
"There is definitely a sense of pageantry and a lot of performance when it comes to masculinity. In Jamaica there is a term that we use [meaning] braggadocious, or bombastic, which was popular in the '90s because of Shaggy," Patterson continued. "There are all of these expectations about what it may or may not mean about what it is to be masculine or feminine and we're trying to negotiate what those thing are. These popular cultural spaces provide an opportunity to expand upon these preconceived ideas and also build a kind of self-identity outside of the larger expectations of what that should be. Popular culture provides an opportunity to demonstrate uniqueness and individuality." [. . .]
The juxtaposition between Patterson's mannequins and tapestries illuminate a dismal realization: black bodies are denied visibility throughout their entire lives, only to have their images propagated thoughtlessly after death.
This sentiment echoes Patterson's 2014 performance "Invisible Presence: Bling Memories," a spectacular procession of coffins decked out with feathers, tassels and sparkles, inspired by the funeral practices common in Jamaican, lower-income communities.
"That tradition grows out of communities who feel neglected," Patterson explained. "There is a popular cultural anthropologist Donne Hope who wrote this essay called 'From the Stage to the Grave' about the bling funeral phenomenon. There's this statement she made that's always been with me, something like, 'You may not have noticed me when I was alive but you'll damn will notice me when I leave.' Taking absolute control of how she wants to be seen, even in death, is such a powerful sentiment." [. . .]
For full article, see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
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