INTENTIONAL IMPROVISATION
Antoinette Ellis-Williams
& Femi J Johnson
Curated by Danny Simmons
To curate this show I poured through lots of online images of Black abstract artists. I looked at artists from all over the African diaspora but after I narrowed it down by a number of factors including geography in reasonable proximity to The Jazz Gallery I did something new, something I never did before. I tried to listen to the visual flow and Rhythm of the artwork. The longer I tried to listen to the work the more the visuals receded and I heard the rhythm of several artists’ works. Then I looked for the most creative abstract sounds looking to pinpoint improvisation, the work and sound that moved beyond boundaries and moved intentionally into uncharted territory. Femi J. Johnson and Antoinette Ellis Williams’ artwork played the most untraditional music I had found.. ...their painting reflected free form Jazz found in little hip off beat jazz clubs where one went late at night to be transported to new places to new sounds to new visual languages... Each beautifully different from each other each blazing new fantastical paths. These two artists are all about Intentional Improvisation.. – Danny Simmons
ANTOINETTE ELLIS WILLIAMS
Artistic Statement:
My creative process is based on the idea of layering, recycling, reimagining, and mixing methods. Mixed media abstract collaging is at the heart of the process even when doing conceptual work. I am constantly searching beneath layers for hidden messages and light. For example, in some of my work I combine my original work (acrylic and watercolor paintings, silk batik, digital photos, and drawings) with print and digital images found in magazines, newspapers, brochures, textiles, cards, and/or various objects. The image continues to evolve, shifting as the sociopolitical and cultural road map changes.
My work explores the layers of my own identity---blackness, girl/womanhood, mother, wife, and immigrant---in the context of popular culture, power, politics, religion/faith, history, music, social movements and socioeconomics. The work is a commentary on the textured lives of marginalized people. I create pieces as a way of unpacking rage, pain, contradictions, beauty, agency and joy constantly trying to understand the complex history and narrative of blackness in the United States and black the diaspora. Social justice themes emerge in my work. The images invite the viewer to consider the ongoing effects of racism, sexism, homophobia, environmental injustice and xenophobia on humanity. The victim narrative is not my point; rather, it is one of transformation through positive memories of family, hope, education, faith, humor, love and vision. It is through reimagining the dichotomies that we find flowers in urban spaces, children moving and laughing in poverty, women sipping wine with sister-friends loving one another through shared pain, and men boldly pressing forward knowing they are the target of the criminal justice system. Kara Walker, Kerry James Marshall, Mark Bradford, Kehinde Wiley, Billie Zangewa, Faith Ringgold, Takesada Matsutani, Kerrie Mae Weems, Yinka Shonibare, Romare Bearden, Zanele Muholi and Jacob Lawrence all influence and inspire my work. These artists tell stories that challenge me to examine blackness in its blackest black, and surround subjects with rich vibrant colors. I am emboldened to use layers in images to build and celebrate stories. For example, Ringgold’s story quilts are feminist collages—boldly moving women from object to subject. Jacob Lawrence’s imagery of the mundane lives of black people forces me to appreciate the simple things of life. Bearden’s approach to collaging is expressive and spiritual. His technique of layering provides a perfect vehicle of extracting meaning and metaphors. I hope to trigger conversations that help to transform communities, heal, empower and heal people.
FEMI J. JOHNSON
Femi J. Johnson’s abstract storyscapes embody a uniquely raw and permissive form of contemporary abstraction. Floating harmonized color, shaped figural elements, and snippets of line drawing all find their position and coalesce as expressions of Johnson’s worldview. Familiar places, formal or self-educated beliefs, and personal or media-influenced subjects abstractly saturate his mutable compositions, freeing the viewer to explore interchangeable scenarios. Translating chaos into temporary but believable order on canvas, Johnson’s cohesive improvisations exalt the rich connectivity of life.
Bio
Femi J. Johnson was born in Manhattan, New York, and raised in Easton, Pennsylvania. His early talent in graphite and charcoal drawing led to a professional career as a Master Draftsman & Designer for companies such as Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies. After thousands of technical drawings over decades of work, Johnson redirected his creative energy back to the fine arts. He completed a two-year studio program in art at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, New York, where his engagement with contemporary and modernist art in commune with his Yoruba spirituality inspired his emerging studio practice. In 2012 Johnson returned to the Lehigh Valley, where he currently works out of Expressions Studio & Gallery in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He has exhibited extensively across the region and internationally, with works in corporate and private collections.
Johnson is documented in Afrocosmologies: American Reflections at the Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut. Shifting Time: African American Artists 2020-2021. A Gathering Of The Tribes#16: The Black Lives Matter Issue.
His work is held in the permanent collections of The Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art in Asbury, New Jersey.
The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland, in College Park, Maryland.
In 2016 Johnson was recognized with an Allentown Arts Ovation Award for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Arts. From November 2018 through July 2019, he was named Allentown Art Museum’s Artist-in-Residence, and for five years, Johnson has been a featured artist at the Museum’s Cocktails and Collecting event. He remains actively engaged as a teacher, mentor, and ardent supporter of the arts community.
DANNY SIMMONS
Danny Simmons, Jr., is an American abstract painter from Queens, NY currently living in Philadelphia where his most recent mural “My Crazy Red Rooster” in which he collaborated with Black Arts Movement poet Sonia Sanchez, was unveiled two days his 3rd mural in Philly as well as two in Allentown, PA. Danny coins his particular style of painting as “neo- African Abstract Expressionism.” His talent and passion for the arts reaches beyond the canvas; He is a published author, poet, painter and art philanthropist. He has become a leader in the art world with his philanthropic ventures, artistic talents and creative mind and drive. Danny played an instrumental role in the conceiving of and co-producing the hit HBO show Def Poetry Jam, and won a Tony Award for the Broadway version of the show.