July 10 - August 8, 2021

Opening reception Saturday, July 10, 6-10 pm.
Regular hours Saturday and Sunday 12-5 pm.

Sly Watts performance Saturday, July 10, 9-9:30 pm.
Film screening of Intricate Rituals & Artist Talk with Luan Joy Sherman Sunday, July 11, 12:30 pm.
Virtual & Masked Screening & Artist Talk with Luan Joy Sherman, Sunday, August 8, 2pm. JOIN VIRTUALLY

Rooms 1 + 2

…for our consideration.
A Front open call exhibition

Featuring

Curated by Lucia Olubunmi Momoh

Featuring 21 artists living and working in New Orleans and her surrounding parishes, this show is the second iteration of The Front’s open call exhibition. Meant to offer emerging artists the opportunity to display their work, the artists chosen come from diverse backgrounds, work in a variety of media, and are both trained and self-taught. Their topics range from pleasure and humor to identity and mental health. 

In this moment of transition, as many of us begin to emerge from an extended period of isolation, the exhibition could easily be framed around COVID and, what I’m now calling, “the long 2020”. I find myself constantly wondering if we are emerging from, or diving deeper into the mess we’ve made. I thought perhaps the artists could tell us where we’re headed, but I didn’t want to manipulate their voices by imposing my vision. Thus, when the call for proposals went out in June, I decided not to choose a theme for submissions. I wanted the art to guide us, not the other way around. As I reviewed the compelling artwork submitted—many of which did not make it to this show—I found that, as the world reeled, the selected artists did what an artist does best,  

they inquired 

deep within themselves

and their practice, 

into the past, 

present, 

and future,

for our consideration. 

Unlike the leaves at the bottom of a tea cup, the artwork that has come out of the past year does not tell us about our destiny. You will not find explicit references to any of the major events of last year. The works in this exhibition, instead, reveal truths born out of thoughtful investigations of the self, the environment, and our society. Should we choose to engage these messages, they might keep us on a path towards love, joy, and redemption.

Room 3

Craig-Anthony Ismael
BukuAmour Shop

BukuAmour Shop is a collection of paintings and clothing that represent who I am from a design perspective.

Craig-Anthony Ismael is a self-taught visual artist from Brooklyn, NY, Born in 1989 to a Jamaican mother and Bajan Father. His work focuses on the way sexuality, tradition, and religion can co-exist within the human identity.

Craig-Anthony.Com

Room 4

Luan Joy Sherman, Intricate Rituals Blueprint, limited edition blueprint (1/24),18"x 24", 2020

Luan Joy Sherman
Intricate Rituals

Intricate Rituals is a research project, a wrestling performance, a sculpture, a film, a collection of images, an album, a training regimen, a lived experience, and a study of passing and living in trans time. 

Luan Joy Sherman (b. Portland, ME 1993) is a white queer/trans artist, writer, performer, and filmmaker living in Chicago, IL. He makes work about internal transformation, sonic landscapes, transmasculinity, and identity formation. Sherman is also passionate about accessible arts education and is currently a Board Member for School of the Alternative, located in Black Mountain, NC. He earned an MFA in Sculpture from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2020 and a BFA in Painting and Art History from The Savannah College of Art and Design in 2015. 

luanjoysherman.com
https://vimeo.com/478264363
https://luanjoysherman.bandcamp.com/album/intricate-rituals-2