On A Lighter Note
January 7 - February 27, 2022
5 Points Art Gallery + Studios inaugurates 2022 with a balanced exposé of autonomy within a fortified union. Opening Friday, January 7, 2022, 6-9 p.m. (CST), husband and wife art duo, James Terrell and Zsudayka Nzinga (Washington D.C.), concurrently support each other in equally strong yet distinctly independent solo exhibitions, respectively entitled, On a Lighter Note and All the Pieces We Leave Behind.
On a Lighter Note, is an independent compilation of energetically colorful artworks by James Terrell in his signature line work style. Also calling onto memory of his father buying him his first guitar and bonding over learning how to control the strings, Terrell’s acrylic line paintings demonstrate a relinquishing of that control with maturity and the improvisational influences of scat and jazz. Featuring brightly colored images of musicians and figures in suits and church wear, Terrell’s line compositions interweave his history with his overlapping present day professions of visual artist, musician, and minister. “The work is about embracing yourself and the multiplicity of one’s identity. It's about syncopation and the combination of shapes, lines sensory-evoking colors. It’s about being reflective all the while being encouraged by hope.”
In All the Pieces We Leave Behind, Zsudayka Nzinga draws upon memory and captures intimate moments in time through her series of mixed-media collage portraits, imbued with layers of acrylic paint and assorted decorative and hand-dyed paper, linocut stamp ink, resin, and fabric. Her imagery, while documenting the mundane, like staring into the mirror at oneself, sipping wine, or watering plants, establishes normalcy to the exoticized Black experience, lending itself to be accessible and relatable to all. “I wanted to capture fleeting moments…seconds we take for granted and seconds we store deeply in our memory banks because they are special to us. I envisioned each piece of paper as a remnant left behind in those memories or a series of memories or moments woven together into the canvas and portrait. Each piece has a story behind the moment captured.” quotes Nzinga.
This union of solo exhibitions is on display until Sunday, February 27, 2022.
Missed the opening reception artist talk? View here.
