ENTERTAINMENT

Dynamic diversity: 13 must-see highlights of Oklahoma Contemporary's 'ArtNow 2021'

From colorful vinyl ponchos that cover climate changes to abstract black-and-white paintings that call to mind the primordial era, Oklahoma Contemporary Art Center's "ArtNow 2021" runs the gamut in more ways than one. 

Organized by guest curator Helen Opper, with guest curatorial associate Liz Blood, the first "ArtNow" in Oklahoma Contemporary's new downtown Oklahoma City home features 115 works by 27 Oklahoma artists from across the state. 

"Helen was able to capture the strength of diversity within the arts in this state, and I mean diversity in multiple facets: diversity of perspective, diversity of medium, diversity of idea, diversity of national origin, ethnicity, race, gender," said Oklahoma Contemporary Artistic Director Jeremiah Matthew Davis.

"Probably some of us have a preconception of what 'Oklahoma art' is ... but there are multiple narratives and stories being told by artists living here." 

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Oklahoma Contemporary's biennale exhibition "ArtNow 21," featuring 114 works by 27 diverse Oklahoma artists from across the state, is on view through Sept. 13.

Now planned as a biennale — the exhibit will be organized every two years rather than in its previous annual format — "ArtNow" gives people a snapshot of the state's current cultural landscape.

 "Of the things that we do, it resonates the most with the local art community ... and we feel like it's important," said Christian Keesee, Oklahoma Contemporary's founder and president. "For artists in Oklahoma to be a part of this art exhibition in the state's capital, in the arts center ... it's an achievement." 

Here are 13 must-see highlights of "ArtNow 2021":

A 2020 "Climate Poncho" by Hoesy Corona, a queer Mexican artist who lives in Tulsa, is featured in Oklahoma Contemporary's biennale exhibition "ArtNow 21," featuring 115 works by 27 diverse Oklahoma artists from across the state.

1. Dressing for the climate

In creating colorful "Climate-Ponchos," Hoesy Corona, a Mexican artist who lives in Tulsa, is addressing hot-button issues like climate change and immigration.

"These are actually things that Hoesy sometimes puts on and has a performance in, so they're meant to really be worn. ... It's visually really arresting," said Carina Evangelista, Oklahoma Contemporary's director of curatorial affairs. "These are kind of narrative clothing because they tell stories that immigrants experience."

Since 2016, Corona has dressed performers in the vinyl "Climate-Ponchos" to appear in an ongoing performance, installation and video series about climate-induced global migration and its effects on people of color.

Native American artist Raven Halfmoon's (Caddo) stoneware sculpture "E-a'-ti-ti" is featured in Oklahoma Contemporary's biennale exhibition "ArtNow 21," featuring 115 works by 27 diverse Oklahoma artists from across the state.

2. Showcasing Native artists

"ArtNow 2021" features works by at least five Native American artists from Oklahoma, including vessels crafted by Caddo potterChase Kahwinhut Earles, knives forged by Chickasaw bladesmithDaniel Worcester and abstract canvases created by Potawatomi painter Amy Maguire. 

Both Norman-born Caddo artist Raven Halfmoon, whose stunning stoneware sculpture "E-a'-ti-ti" greets visitors at the gallery's entrance, and Ada-based Chickasaw artist Tanni' (aka Tyra Shackleford), who uses ancient handweaving techniques to make detailed textiles, evoke the contemporary issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in their pieces. 

"Nefertiti," a ceramic corset by Nicole Moan, is included in Oklahoma Contemporary's biennale exhibition "ArtNow 21," featuring 115 works by 27 diverse Oklahoma artists from across the state.

3. Fashioning wearable ceramics

Over the past 20 years, OKC ceramicistNicole Moan has become renowned for her ceramic corsets, often sought-after by pop stars, fashion photographers and adventurous brides 

"ArtNow 2021" includes five of her one-of-a-kind wearable artworks, from the Egyptian-inspired "Nefertiti" to the butterfly- and flower-adorned "Tabula Rasa."

A series of portraits by Oklahoma City-based photographer Scott Vo is featured in Oklahoma Contemporary's biennale exhibition "ArtNow 21," featuring 114 works by 27 diverse Oklahoma artists from across the state.

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4. Diving into beauty

OKC-based fashion and fine art photographer Scott Vo's portraits of ballet dancers and aerial artists — especially the dreamlike images from his ongoing underwater series — truly are things of beauty. The subject in his "Sunken Dreams" is wearing one of Moan's ceramic corsets.

"Arirang," a 2018 mixed-media work by Karam, an Oklahoma City-based Korean American artist, is included in Oklahoma Contemporary's biennale exhibition "ArtNow 21."

5. Creating textures 

A Korean American artist who lives in OKC, Karam creates highly textured mixed-media pieces that reflect the Buddhist philosophy that repeating an action can inspiring and cleansing. She creates her layered three-dimensional works on canvas using a mix of acrylic paint and heavy gel that she painstakingly applies with a pastry bag. 

"It's hard to kind of stop people from touching. Everybody wants to touch them because it's just such a tactile quality," Evangelista said. "It's really pushing the frontier of what abstract painting can be."

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Mandy Messina's "Kombuls Taal, a 2019 work created from hand-painted ceramic tiles, is featured in Oklahoma Contemporary's biennale exhibition "ArtNow 21," featuring 114 works by 27 diverse Oklahoma artists from across the state.

6. Flooring oppression 

A OKC artist and writer, Mandy Messina literally grew up in the shadow of oppression in apartheid-era South Africa near the Afrikaans Language Monument.

Commemorating the establishment of Afrikaans as an official language of South Africa separate from Dutch, the monument looms as a reminder of South Africa’s history of subjugation of its indigenous people.

Created in part as a response to the monument, Messina's 4-foot-by-6-foot tile floor piece "Kombuis Taal" explores the development of the Afrikaans language, a fusion of Dutch, low German, maritime Portuguese, Malay and various indigenous languages. "Kombuis Taal" translates to “Kitchen Dutch,” which was the original, derogatory term for the hybrid language used by slaves in Cape Town.

"Mandy is, in a way, deconstructing how language is a medium for colonization," Evangelista said. "Afrikaans is the language of the oppressor, but it's still a language that people use and communicate with."

Furniture by Sam Ladwig is included in Oklahoma Contemporary's biennale exhibition "ArtNow 21," featuring 114 works by 27 diverse Oklahoma artists from across the state.

7. Building local

The director of the Design Foundation Program at the University of Central Oklahoma, Sam Ladwig builds furniture that combines fundamental principles of structure and form with common materials like plywood, laminate, resin and white oak. 

"He specializes in creating furniture that is very simple and minimal but uses a lot of indigenous wood. So, he's using what's growing locally," Evangelista said. 

Large-scale works by Edmond-based artist XVALA are included in Oklahoma Contemporary's biennale exhibition "ArtNow 21," featuring 114 works by 27 diverse Oklahoma artists from across the state.

8. Following the money

Edmond artist XVALA brings a street art sensibility — plus green neon lighting — to his large-scale canvases. Boasting titles like "Show Me the Money: Ultra Luxury Edition," "I'll Be Back" and "GUCCI Gang," his works center on notions of affluence, popular culture and designer labels. 

Josh Jaiye Farrell's "Primordial Fragments No.1" is included in the biennale exhibition "ArtNow 2021," on view through Sept. 13 at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center.

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9. Forming patterns

OKC painter and muralist Josh Jaiye Farrell derives his artistic style from patterns that "transcend societal and cultural divides and remember the communal roots of humanity." 

"ArtNow" includes a trio of his mesmerizing black-and-white canvases that reflect his penchant for working in pure abstraction. 

Works by South Africa native Simphiwe Mbunyuza are featured in Oklahoma Contemporary's biennale exhibition "ArtNow 21," featuring 115 works by 27 diverse Oklahoma artists from across the state.

10. Building a village

Born in Eastern Cape, South Africa, Simphiwe Mbunyuza, who recently completed his master of fine arts at the University of Oklahoma, draws on his heritage to make traditionally inspired stoneware with a distinctive contemporary flair. 

His "ArtNow" pieces — seven stoneware bowls and a larger, curvy ceramic vessel — are arranged to evoke a kraal, or a traditional African village of huts.

"This is from his own visual vocabulary from where he grew up," Evangelista said. "He was very specific about how he wanted it ... and they're beautiful."

Tulsa-based artist Sarah Ahmad's laser-cut paper installation "Quilting Patterns of Identity I" is included in Oklahoma Contemporary's biennale exhibition "ArtNow 21," featuring 115 works by 27 diverse Oklahoma artists from across the state.

11. Quilting connection

Originally from Pakistan, Tulsa Artist FellowSarah Ahmad examines feminine and human connection through shared art forms and pays homage to quilt makers across the globe with "Quilting Patterns of Identity I," a cluster of laser-cut paper works unfurled in the middle of the gallery. 

Also a participant in Tulsa's Greenwood Art Project, Ahmad merged quilt designs informed by her Pakistani heritage with those she found in the Gilcrease Museum collection. The intricate patterns, which are embellished with inks and gold leaf, create dramatic shadows on the floors and walls of the gallery. 

Leigh Martin's sculptures made of wool and natural materials are included in Oklahoma Contemporary's biennale exhibition "ArtNow 21," featuring 115 works by 27 diverse Oklahoma artists from across the state.

12. Exploring environments

Several "ArtNow 2021" contributors are creating and traversing specific environments, often in elaborate detail and with surprising materials. 

Set in concrete blocks, Carrie Kout's miniature landscapes explore the collision of the natural and manmade. Pulling from her background in urban forestry, Leigh Martin crafts small, realistic forest vignettes, including fungi, lichen and other plants with intricately knitted wool. Jeweler Audrey Peck creates tiny wearable seascapes with hand-carved wood, reclaimed wood and brass.

California-born painter Kyle Larson's harrowing large-scale canvases were sparked by last year's massive wildfires in his home state, while Kalup Linzy's black-and-white "Peace in Sand Creek" photos were taken in Osage Hills State Park and feature Taiwan Braswell, a recurring alter ego in Linzy's work. 

Kalup Linzy's video work "OK" is included in Oklahoma Contemporary's biennale exhibition "ArtNow 21," featuring 115 works by 27 diverse Oklahoma artists from across the state.

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13. Having a laugh

A 2021 Tulsa Artist Fellow, Linzy is a video and performance artist whose work often delves into identity, gender, sexuality, race and pop culture. 

Along with his "Peace in Sand Creek" photos, "ArtNow 2021" includes Linzey's 11-minute short film "OK."

"He takes on these different characters and then he also casts just people — his family members, his friends — and then creates this soap opera," Evangelista said. 

"This is so funny, and in contemporary art, there's always the irony, there's always sarcasm, but humor sometimes has disappeared from contemporary art." 

Selections from Kalup Linzy's photography series "Peace in Sand Creek" are included in Oklahoma Contemporary's biennale exhibition "ArtNow 21," featuring 115 works by 27 diverse Oklahoma artists from across the state.

'ArtNow 2021'

When: Through Sept. 13.

Where: Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 11 NW 11. 

Admission: Free.

Information: https://oklahomacontemporary.org.