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Marks America’s 250 with Realism and Hope
Our year-long commemoration of America’s 250th anniversary has been a time of celebration and of national pride, but also one of reflection. A compelling example is the latest exhibition by internationally-acclaimed artist (and Toledo local) Brenda Singletary. In partnership with the 20 North Gallery. “Brenda Singletary: We Hold These Truths…” engages with all of the Semiquincentennial’s complex and contradictory themes.
Brenda Singletary’s artistic career is as varied as it is decorated. She’s a painter, mixed media artist, teacher, and panel judge who has won awards, received grants, and earned residencies from Georgia to France. She even has a painting in the White House collection – hanging in the White House Fellows Administration Office. According to 20 North Gallery’s Art director, Condessa Croninger, We Hold Those Truths . . . is a “testament to the meaning of citizenship and the role Black Americans have played in the foundation and preservation of those American ideals.” In particular, it celebrates Singletary’s own family history of military and civil service, incorporating archival photos of both her relatives and other figures into her signature vivid, expressive painting style.
An America in Progress…
Through the exhibition, Singletary reckons with both the ideals and the reality of the American experiment, acknowledging that the Black experience shows a country still imperfectly living its founding philosophy. Yet, ultimately, the message is one of optimism and patriotism. Says Croninger, “The We Hold These Truths . . . exhibition makes one proud to be American—while reminding the viewer that with that pride comes our duties and responsibilities to uphold our nation’s honor, just as the generation of Black veterans depicted in Singletary’s artwork proudly stepped up to serve their country throughout the years.”
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The centerpiece of the exhibition is Love Letter to a Complicated Nation, a convergence of collage, archival photography, and traditional and sculptural painting techniques that pours out love for America and the black people who helped build and protect it — even when the nation wouldn’t afford them the rights and freedoms given to their fellow citizens. In her statement on the work, Singletary says that ”from the earliest days of the Revolutionary War to the present, African Americans have stood in dedication, service, and sacrifice for a nation that has not always fully recognized their humanity.”
The Art Speaks…
Her skill in kinetic, expressive painting lends striking emotional impact to her works. Mattie, an imposing 5’ x 4’ oil painting, strikingly depicts a young black girl at the top of the canvas, but the rest is a buzzing mess of semi-representational shapes and colors. The effect is one of chaos, but also one of life and hope. The work can be interpreted either as a girl rising above the turmoil that besets her, or the embodiment of the roiling, tumultuous blend of experiences, emotions, and relationships that will comprise the woman she will become. Then again, who’s to say it’s not both?
Croninger’s favorite work — an incredibly difficult choice for her to make — is The Flag Knows Our Names (Burial Flag).” Two canvases that Singletary painted and sculpted are draped with the “remnants of respectfully retired U.S. flags, provided by local organization Operation Respect.” The disparate media come together as a moving tribute to the lives laid down for our country and all of the beautiful mess it holds within its arms. Much like the exhibition that houses it, The Flag Knows Our Names (Burial Flag) is a fitting tribute to our nation as it reaches its 250th year.
A compelling and thought-provoking exhibition, Brenda Singletary: We Hold These Truths . . . continues until September 19 at the 20 North Gallery, 20 North Saint Clair Street, Toledo.
We Hold These Truths… at 20 North Gallery. 18 N. St. Clair Street
Toledo, Ohio 43604. July 11 – September 19; Wed – Sat 12-4pm Gallery website:.20northgallery.com . Artist website: bsingletary.com
