ENOUGH TOO FLY SOLO

Enough Too Fly Solo a solo exhibition by 5 Points Art Gallery + Studios owner and artist Fatima Laster highlights an evolution of artistry, while multi-artist exhibition If Only You Knew: Messages Through Abstraction combines the individual visions of four national artists, including Laster, into a cohesive collection of painted and mixed media compositions revealing the deconstruction and readaptation of landscapes, language, and lore.

Friday, March 1, 2024, 6-9 p.m. (CST) introduces the first ever solo show, Enough Too Fly Solo, for widely celebrated artist, curator and owner of 5 Points Art Gallery + Studios and 2023 Mary L. Nohl Fellow, Fatima Laster (Milwaukee, WI), in conjunction with three companion artists—Chuck Johnson (Memphis, TN); 2024 Mary L. Nohl Fellow, Nina Ghanbarzadeh (Milwaukee, WI); and Pedro Vélez (San Juan, PR)—in the concurrently opening group exposé If Only You Knew: Messages Through Abstraction.

A homage to her self-efficacy and authentic approach and in celebration of her upcoming 40th birthday (March 18), Enough Too Fly Solo combines Laster’s latest multi-disciplined pieces with some of her earlier works to reveal a comprehensive, yet unfinished and ongoing story. From introspective ink and plaster abstractions to abstract-influenced politically charged collages forayed into wearable installations and performance-based narrations, Laster documents her personal and professional exploration and details her multidimensional and unique journey into art, activism, and community empowerment.

Rebellious spirits are revealed in If Only You Knew: Messages Through Abstraction as Johnson remaps through large acrylic color-blocked grids, Ghanbarzadeh redraws, repeats and stitches her own non-Westernized Persian-centric idiom and Vélez and Laster paint layered illusory nature scenes to pass messages. Distinctive and distinguished in their own right, the four artists’ non-representational aesthetics sway between structured, precise, gestural and loosely defined visual transcriptions. Yet, commonly, they all draw on the tension of uncertainty and completion, challenging the notion of internal satisfaction tied to complicity with identifiable or familiar form.

Courage and codices subverting deference and conformity with cultural, custom, and social praxis underscore the vibrancy and variety of art in Enough Too Fly Solo and If Only You Knew: Messages Through Abstraction. Both exhibitions are on display and available for collection until Sunday, April 28, 2024. The joint in-person artist talks will occur at 7 p.m. (CST) opening night. Celebratory food and drinks will accompany the reception in honor of Laster’s milestone birthday and exhibition.

Missed the opening reception artist talk? Watch here.