Curator's Office is delighted to announce:
J E F F E R S O N P I N D E R
in the gala
Opening Exhibition
of the Smithsonian's new
National Museum of African American History & Culture
Through the African American Lens:
Selections from the Permanent Collection
Jefferson Pinder,
Capsule (Mothership), 2009, tin, 24" alloy rim,
wood from President Obama's inauguration platform,
Base speaker, audio
Gift of Henry L. Thaggert
September 24, 2016 onwards
opens to the public on Saturday, September 24. African Americans have survived slavery, fought for their freedom in the Civil War, for the freedom of others in subsequent wars, and created lives of meaning for themselves, their families, and their country. Since its creation in 2003, the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) has been collecting items-large and small-to tell the story of America through the African American lens.
The opening exhibition,
Through the African American Lens: Selections from the Permanent Collection, includes a significant work by Jefferson Pinder. Entitled
Capsule (Mothership)
, this 2009 mixed media work is composed of tin from
gutted structures from in and around Baltimore and wood from President Obama's first inauguration platform. The sculpture is an abstracted replica of the pioneer NASA Mercury space capsule. With a large sub-woofer at the top, the whole piece turns into a makeshift speaker as Sun Ra's
Space is the Place
and Stevie Wonder's
Living For the City
are played in base tone only.
About the Artist
Curator's Office artist Jefferson Pinder is an interdisciplinary artist who creates performances, video work, and objects that challenge viewers to think critically about our highly polarized society. He explores the tangle of representations, visual tropes, and myths whilst referencing historical events and invoking cultural symbolism. His video work features stylized representations of performers and himself working themselves through exhaustion to unveil genuine emotion. His action videos depict the physical prowess of the body. The participants, in turn, communicate narratives through the physical tasks they perform. He portrays the body through both freneticism and drudgery in order to convey relevant cultural experiences.
In his objects, Pinder places no restrictions on the tools and media that he employs. Working with materials as disparate as Mercury light and glitter, he explores ways in which reclaimed materials convey rugged histories relating them to an African-American experience.
Jefferson Pinder will be representing the USA in the upcoming 11th Shanghai Biennale in November, 2016 with a work entitled
Black Portal (2015).
www.jeffersonpinder.com
Jefferson Pinder,
Black Portal,
2015,
charcoal, spray paint, ink, glitter on panel,
9 components, 96" x 58" x 4" installed
Courtesy of Curator's Office, Washington, DC
