C11H17NO3 - Mescaline

A Visual Elixir

Curated by TERRELL TILFORD

18 September - 30 October 2021

There was great applause and cheers on Monument Avenue in the heart of the confederacy in Richmond, VA as the largest Confederate statue of Robert E. Lee in America was removed from its perch on Wednesday, September 8, 2021. To Southerners, they understand that these statues are monuments not necessarily to a particular history but more insidiously, these are monuments which belong to a particular ideology. As we continue to figure out where we are heading to as a nation as we emerge through these vast societal vicissitudes and verisimilitudes, we often look to artists and artwork to shepherd us through these moments of great turmoil, struggle and indecisiveness.

In C. Vann Woodward's novel The Strange Career of Jim Crow, he opines that the Civil War represented a falling out between white men and a reconciliation which was fought out on the backs of Black men. The falling out led to freedom but the reconciliation led to re-enslavement. The Confederate statues are a reflection of that Faustian bargain. All of the statues that were erected in the South and the North and across America, were a reflection of the nation choosing to turn its back on the idea that we are a genuinely multi-racial democracy. We continue to fight those choices that the nation made hundreds of years ago.

Under this backdrop then, curator Terrell Tilford presents C11H17NO3, a thought-provoking, multi-racial mash-up of ideas all in order to advance our global society to achieve greater depths of understanding, compassion and inclusivity.

Therefore, C11H17NO3 - a visual elixir, is a large-scale group exhibition composed of 26 contemporary artists: Abi Salami, Alicia Piller, Ariel Vargassal, Barry Yusufu, Bryan Lee Tilford, Chelle Barbour, Cristina Martinez, Daniel Nartey, Diana Rosa, Edyta Pachowicz, Floyd Strickland, Hasef, Idris Habib, Joseph Brandon, John Trevino, Kaye Freeman, Lauren Pearce, Miles Regis, Panni Malekzadeh, Patrick Henry Johnson, REWA, Robert Peterson, Shantell Martin, Tommy Mitchell, Victoria Cassinova & featuring iconic sculpture & performance by Mr. Timothy Washington.

Infusing its inspiration from the chemical compound Mescaline, Band of Vices has tapped into today's contemporary zeitgeist, one which offers a hallucinogenic monumental group of artists who share, both in concept & size, works of a colorful hybrid vitality. The curator has drawn a line in the sand, offering an experience from artists whose natural inclinations create fearless assertions in vision, thought and execution.

The testimony of Mescaline centers the artists, the artwork and the motifs the artwork represents mixed with the artists' need to reveal the self through such devices as self-portraiture, the present-day focus on historically marginalized communities and the voices they represent are all revealed in this exhibition.

Band of Vices furthers its intentional narrative of highlighting artists from predominantly marginalized communities. This probe could not be further exemplified than through the show’s central figure -- Mr. Timothy Washington. Born in Watts, CA in 1946, Mr. Washington creates assemblages that incorporate drawing, painting, and sculpture. Washington’s style developed in conversation with his L.A.-based peers including John Outterbridge, Betye Saar, Dr. Samella Lewis and David Hammons, building off early influence from Simon Rodia’s seminal Watts Towers (1921-54), which he climbed as a young boy.

Created as an artistic hub in this historic community, the works in C11H17NO3, explore the wildly imaginative journeys of these artists. A visual elixir, Mescaline will be on view in our new pink Sacred House exhibition space.