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Church of the Crossroads:
Arts Center Exhibits Noted Washington, D.C. artist Renée Stout
April 7 - May 28, 2006
The Arts Center is proud to present a mid-career exhibition of Renée Stout's profound mixed-media, paintings and installations. On loan from the John and Maxine Belger Family Foundation, the works exhibited in Church of the Crossroads offer a look at one of the most extraordinary artists working today, and affirms the Arts Center's long-standing commitment to exhibiting powerful and challenging works of contemporary art.
Learn more about Church of the Crossroads during an artist's talk with Renée Stout and Dick Belger, of the John and Maxine Belger Family Foundation. The discussion will be moderated by Evelyn Craft, Arts Center Executive Director.
Stout's work, with its strong references to African, Haitian, Vodou, and Christian spirituality and symbolism, remains rooted in contemporary urban society. Her themes are universal -- social concerns, spiritual quests, personal growth, love, relationships, and choices.
Church of the Crossroads offers a retrospective glimpse at many of the themes running through Stout's career. The exhibition ranges from her 1990s series of work created in response to the violence swirling around her studio as she worked -- juxtaposing the grim realities of gunshots, homelessness and drug addiction against the indifference of the political establishment of Washington, D.C. to her later work involving healing and conjuring alter egos inspired by a family history rich in African healing and tradition.
Many of her works documenting storefront churches and the blend of Old and New World traditions found in many contemporary African-American communities combine her photo-realism with her early history as a sign painter, employing painted graphics, photos and an African influenced visual vocabulary to convey a sense of street-level urgency.
The concept of the crossroads is fundamental to African thought and theology, and Stout employs the history of the crossroads -- through Vodou Imagery, and elements of Yoruba, Creole and African-American culture to offer an incisive, politically astute critique of contemporary society.
In a uniquely informed voice, Stout masterfully blends Old World traditions with contemporary and personal issues to create profound statements on the often tense intersection between society, theology, and political forces.
About the John and Maxine Belger Family Foundation
The foundation began collecting contemporary American art in the early 1970s, spurred by the enthusiasm of the late John Belger and his son, Dick. Today the foundation focuses primarily on collecting in-depth the work of contemporary artists, including William Christenberry, Jasper Johns, Robert Stackhouse, Renée Stout, Terry Allen, William Wiley, and Terry Winters. All phases of each artist's career are represented in the collection. This deliberately narrow focus is rewarding in that it gives an unparalleled opportunity to understand an artist's development over time, as well as giving insight into the nature of creativity.
**Excerpted from Readers, Advisors, and Storefront Churches: Renée Stout: A Mid-Career Retrospective
