With exhibitions canceled and residencies on hold, the quarantine has been hard on artists who depend upon social interaction to develop, show and sell their work. So now is as good a time as ever to support some rising Atlanta talent in the midst of an especially difficult time. Better still, this selection of emerging artists in the city are people who all have work for sale on their websites to brighten your walls. And, they all deserve a look or a click. Maybe more.
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Angela Davis Johnson
A self-taught artist and single mother of two, Johnson’s visceral paintings in jewel-like colors vibrate with emotional heft and echoes of trauma. She often incorporates fabric into her works as a tribute to her seamstress mother and effort to bring humble materials into the fine art space. Johnson’s portraits of black subjects, often women and children, speak volumes about the experience of being black in America, blending deep empathy with a fierce commitment to social justice. Various bodies of work have addressed violence against women and the persecution of black communities in America. “My art is a vibrant depiction of moments in history that were brutal or impactful,” says Johnson.
Kym Day
Artist Kym Day’s realist, romantic paintings of cowboys, horses and other icons of the Old West hilariously goose familiar American tropes. In Day’s paintings, the horses wear surgical masks, and the cowboys gingerly hand-feed their steeds lo mein noodles like lovesick boyfriends. The right kind of crazy, Day’s oil paintings are ablaze with remarkable formal skill, a gorgeous Maxfield Parrish vision of life drenched in otherworldly light and downy surfaces. You can see her work this August, COVID-allowing, at the Atlanta Dogwood Festival. Day also offers smaller, delicate works for a song on her website, like a portrait of a two-headed pug or a melancholy chihuahua that blend humor with a touch of doggie angst.
Shanequa Gay
Gay is a Grady-born native Atlantan who attended a triumvirate of local institutions; The Art Institute of Atlanta, Georgia State University and SCAD. Gay’s artistic chops sent droves of fans to her Hammonds House Museum solo exhibition “Lit Without Sherman” last fall, a brilliant ode to the historically black West End neighborhood. Current work turns painful history into transcendent hope in her “Devouts” series which imagines black women as agents of healing and change. Gay’s work can be seen in Jackson Fine Art’s exhibition “30 Years of Women,” viewable online.
Credit: Shanequa Gay
Credit: Shanequa Gay
Alex Christopher Williams
Steeped in a personal quest for identity, Williams' 2019 solo exhibition at Little Five Points' Wish Gallery used documentary-style images to talk about race and masculinity and the artist's own biracial status. With a photographic point of view that feels at once matter-of-fact and laser-focused, Williams' documentary work reveals a sharp eye for capturing the strangeness and mystery of daily life in subtle, observed moments. In addition to his work as a photographer, Williams co-founded the Mast gallery with fellow artist Ellie Dent and now runs an online art magazine Minor League (minorleague.us). During the COVID quarantine, Williams says he's been "taking care of my plants and my mental health."
Shawn Campbell
With his football player build and intimidating height, Midwesterner Campbell cuts a striking presence on the Atlanta art scene. But behind that towering linebacker facade beats the heart of a canny analyst of how power is displayed and used. In an occasionally endearing borderline disturbing photo project, “Get Some,” Campbell documented the sex and booze-fueled bonding rituals of young men. In “The End of a Perfect Day” Campbell, who received his MFA from the University of Georgia, takes an incisive documentary look at football culture.
Recent sculptural work has featured DIY plywood structures that serve as the foundation to highlight familiar totems of American life: the flag, patriotic spectacles, masculinity, guns and sporting events.
