Opening Reception: Like Clockwork Corinne Innis and Xavier Basabe

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Sept. 5, 2015 - PRLog -- Media Contact:

LIKE CLOCKWORK—CORINNE INNIS AND XAVIER BASABE

OPENING RECEPTION TUESDAY 8 SEPTEMBER 2015 6-9PM

BEGINNING 8 SEPTEMBER 2015, AOT PROJECT SALON WILL PRESENT THE WORK OF CORINNE INNIS AND XAVIER BASABE.

159 HOPE ST. WILLIAMSBURG BROOKLYN

http://aotprojectsalon.com/

AOT Project Salon is pleased to open its new season with Like Clockwork, an exhibition of recent work by two American born Carribean artists, Corinne Innis and Xavier Basabe.


Curated by gallery director DOUGLAS TURNER, the exhibition of paintings and drawings from wife and husband, Innis and Basabe examine the truths and mythologies of non-majorities in American society. Like Clockwork will remain on view at AOT Project Salon’s Williamsburg Brooklyn space via appointment and select open houses through 28 September 2015.

The exhibition is a selection of the artists’ latest body of works.It doesn't matter if you agree with the perspective of Corinne Innis' work. Unassuming or obscene the graphic nature of images contained within her latest series grasp the attention tightly like the cultural frustration of which they were born. Innis tells the story of a grieving and angered segment of America with cartoon imagery and text. Her daring body of work addresses a constant in America’s history with police brutality using imagery of her West Indian heritage. Playful “jumbees” (ghosts) and flowers adorn her Like Clockwork series. For the piece Clockwork, the repetitive use of jumbees seems in direct correlation to the on-going brutality against black America: Unlike other immigrants, as they ascend in social status and class, the threat of police violence remains. Jumbees, as they dance about, are the ghosts of victims and flowers their memorial, while the police officer rides confidently on the back of his powerful horse with virtual impunity thanks to job security.

In her series Like Clockwork, the tradition of cartooning is used to shrink concerns about policing into single potent images. Cartoons have played an important role in political dissent from the birth of this nation to the present. The themes are power, violence, and sex. Alex, the epitome of a violent sociopath, juxtaposes the policeman and his uniform.

In his series New Myths, Xavier explores identity and meaning based on assumptions. The notion of how we understand an image is based on our own social context. From this we create fleeting stories that last only as long as the painting is discussed. This is especially true in art exhibits. The painting King Alemo can be about an important man in Harlem or because of the crown, a shout out to a deceased rapper or even an example of modern artist communicating a connection to the painter Basquiat. The viewer's stories say more about the viewer than the painting.The images have a single focus. They are controlled in the manner that storytelling makes one recite specific details in retelling it, much like today’s media

CORINNE INNIS-BASABE (b.1963 NY, NY) Corinne Innis has a BA in socio-cultural anthropology from SUNY Purchase. Her work has been shown at the African American Museum in Texas and has appeared in the International Review of African American Art.

XAVIER BASABE (b.1963 NY, NY) Xavier Basabe is an autodidact painter and the husband of Corinne Innis-Basabe. With her guidance, his practice has flourished in a year’s time. His latest series, New Myths, is influenced by American Mythologist Joseph Campbell, and street art sensibility. The aesthetic of King Alemo portrays a staid state or a memorial to a God of long ago, the interpretation left to the viewer.