MARGARET ROSE VENDRYES
Press Release
tucker contemporary art
For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Roger C. Tucker III, TCA
roger@tuckercontemporaryart.com
201 306 3670
646-360-2196
MARGARET ROSE VENDRYES’ 33 1/3: PUSHING THE NEEDLE
May 29th – June 16th, 2012
Gelabert Studios Gallery, 255 West 86th Street
New York, NY 10024
Opening reception: Saturday, June 2, 4-7pm
“My bloodlines are diverse, but it is my modicum of African Ancestry that drives me to be present through art. The provocative, aggressive, and sensual beauty of the arts born of Africa are at the center of my current practice and my self.” – Margaret Rose Vendryes
Tucker Contemporary Art is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of work by Margaret Rose Vendryes. This show will mark Vendryes’ first solo exhibition in New York. The show features work from The African Diva Project, a radical commentary on and comparison of the role of gender in African cultures and in contemporary society.
The Project includes images representing a range of Black female music legends including Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Nancy Wilson, Grace Jones, and Tracy Chapman – each wearing an African tribal mask. Each diva is painted in richly textured, saturated oils. Each canvas is a square, inspired by an actual 12-inch album cover featuring a full-figure portrait of the soloist.
Vendryes overlays traditional African iconography with contemporary music icons to make a provocative statement about the perspective, agency, and influence of Black women in American culture. Drawing on her life experience and her academic background in art history, she channels both the heart of the African Diaspora and the sensibility of modern African-American women. Her work uses seductively familiar icons to explore evolving views on beauty, gender, race, and power.
Born in Jamaica, Margaret Rose Vendryes earned a BA from Amherst College, a MA in Art History from Tulane University and a second MA and PhD in Art History from Princeton University. Her work is held by a number of private collectors and has been part of juried exhibitions.
Gallery hours are 11:00 am – 7:00 pm, Tuesday – Friday. 11:00 am – 5:00pm, Saturday.
For additional information and photographic material, please contact Roger Tucker at gallery@tuckercontemporaryart.com
Visit tuckercontemporaryart.com/section/26019…
for more details. Thank you.