Author Archives: Whitespace

Benjamin Jones Reviews

Georgia Artist Benjamin Jones Embraces The Weirdness Of Life With Art

January 16, 2019
WABE
By Ryan McFadin

Georgia artist Benjamin Jones lives on Tybee Island, near Savannah, and is best known for his quirky drawings that combine his love of animals and nature with the harsh realities of life.

Jones’ art is currently on display at two different locations in Atlanta, one a 40-year retrospective titled “Speaking” at MOCA GA and the other an exhibition of new work titled “Salt Island” on view at the Whitespace Gallery.

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Benjamin Jones

Georgia artist rages against the machine

January 9, 2019
AJC
By Felicia Feaster

When I first encountered artist Benjamin Jones’ work decades ago, I had some misgivings. His oddball drawings featuring bald, stumpy-armed, terrified-looking humanoid creatures seemed derivative of folk art and pulling inspiration from Bill Traylor, Jean-Michel Basquiat and a litany of Southern folk artists with deeply personal, private mythologies and manias.

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Benjamin Jones

Review: Benjamin Jones makes exhilarating return with shows at MOCA GA, Whitespace

January 6, 2019
ArtsATL
By Deanna Sirlin

It’s the teeth that get you. In Benjamin Jones’ drawings on paper, almost every figure shows its teeth, with every tooth articulated. These small pieces are made with graceful lines but disturbing ferocity. The smiles are false; the grin is also a terrifying snarl. The figures are cute and endearing, soft like a teddy bear or rabbit or cat. Many have small, round animal ears atop their heads, but their cuteness is a façade. They’re ready to sink their sharp incisors into you if you come too close.

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Benjamin Jones


Q&A: Artist Benjamin Jones on the world’s madness and the art of breathing again

December 16, 2019
ArtsATL
By Shelley Danzy

When Flannery O’Connor wrote, “Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days,” she could have been talking about Georgia-born artist Benjamin Jones.

Jones, 65, now lives on Tybee Island but is back in his hometown (shout-out to Cascade Heights) for two exhibitions — a 40-year retrospective titled Speaking at MOCA GA (through February 15) and a solo show of new work titled Salt Island at Whitespace (through January 25). Speaking features large- and small-scale drawings, collages, embellished journals and sculptures. Salt Island offers drawings that cover a range of emotions.

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Benjamin Jones


 

Nancy Floyd Wins Inaugural ICP / GOST First Photo Book Award

Nancy Floyd Wins Inaugural ICP / GOST First Photo Book Award

December 23, 2019
potd.pdnonline.com
View more Nancy Floyd

Nancy Floyd is the winner of the inaugural ICP / GOST First Photo Book Award for her series “Weathering Time.” The five shortlisted photographers are Ignacio Colo, Ciaran Dunbar, Richard Andrew Sharum, Camillo Pasquarelli and Federico Vespignani.

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 self portrait of Nancy Floyd 1983-Moving 1996-2018 width=

Winner of the ICP/Gost First Photobook Award Announced

December 19, 2019
icp.org
View more Nancy Floyd

The winner of the inaugural ICP/GOST First Photobook Award is Nancy Floyd for the series “Weathering Time.” The five shortlisted photographers are Ignacio Colo, Ciaran Dunbar, Richard Andrew Sharum, Camillo Pasquarelli, and Federico Vespignani.

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 self portrait of Nancy Floyd Protest 1985-1988-2016-2018 width=

Protest 1985-1988-2016-2018

Drawing as Refuge

Drawing as Refuge

December 7, 2019
hyperallergic.com
By Thomas Micchelli
View more Pete Schulte

Most of the drawings that fill Properties of Dust and Smoke, pt. 2, a layered, quirky, perplexing, and altogether stunning exhibition at McKenzie Fine Art on the Lower East Side, were made by the Alabama-based artist Pete Schulte during a two-month residency at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas.

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Charlie Watts, Ophelia

“Pete Schulte, “Untitled” (2019), graphite, pigment, and ink on paper, 11 x 11 inches (all images courtesy McKenzie Fine Art)

Review: In HortoPhillia, Charlie Watts comments on society and images of women

Review: In HortoPhillia, Charlie Watts comments on society and images of women

November 19, 2019
ArtsAtl.org
By Jerry Cullum
View more Charlie Watts

Charlie Watts’ Hortophilia, at Whitespace through December 7, addresses head-on a number of difficult topics regarding the human body, society and images of women. These compellingly beautiful photographs and sculptural assemblages may well tell the viewer even more than their instigator claims — or they may question our right and capacity to make such assumptions.

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Charlie Watts, Ophelia

“Ophelia,” in Charlie Watts’ “Hortophilia,” photographs and sculptural assemblages on view through December 7 at Whitespace.

Sonya Yong James and Danielle Deadwyler Win Atlanta Artadia Awards

ARTADIA NAMES 2019 ATLANTA AWARD WINNERS

November 19, 2019
ArtFourm.com
View more Sonya Yong James

Artadia, the nonprofit organization that supports visual artists based in seven US cities with unrestricted, merit-based awards, announced today that Danielle Deadwyler​ and ​Sonya Yong James​ were named the winners of this year’s Atlanta awards. They will both receive $10,000 in unrestricted funds.

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Sonya Yong James, SOLAR VEINS, 2019. Sheep’s wool, paper, LED lights. Courtesy the artist.

onya Yong James, I know a song of the colors where I live, does it know a song of me?, 2019; hand dyed wool yarn, silk, wool felt, cotton thread and rope, gourds, taxidermied red headed parrotfinch, 50 by 144 by 12 inches.

Danielle Deadwyler, Sonya Yong James Win Atlanta Artadia Awards

November 18, 2019
Burnaway.org
By Burnaway Staff
View more Sonya Yong James

NEW YORK—Artadia has announced artists Danielle Deadwyler and Sonya Yong James as the 2019 recipients of its Atlanta awards. Each artist will receive $10,000 in unrestricted funds and access to the ongoing benefits of the Artadia Awards program. This is Artadia’s seventh year providing unrestricted Awards to artists in Atlanta.

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Bojana Ginn: Phygital Muse

Bojana Ginn: Phygital Muse

November, 2019
Brooklynrail.org
By Rebecca Brantley
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​The future looks good in Bojana Ginn’s Phygital Muse. Nature and technology co-exist throughout Ginn’s interdisciplinary exhibition. She explores transhumanism, a school of thought dedicated to the notion that technology will radically enhance human life. Curated by Shannon Morris, Phygital Muse is on view at the Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art, at Augusta University, in Augusta, Georgia, through December 13.

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Bojanna Ginn, SOLAR VEINS, 2019. Sheep’s wool, paper, LED lights. Courtesy the artist.

Bojanna Ginn, SOLAR VEINS, 2019. Sheep’s wool, paper, LED lights. Courtesy the artist.

Sonya Yong James | Loud Magic Reviews

Nature is an artist’s helpmate and muse in “Loud Magic”

September 11, 2019
AJC
By Felicia Feaster

In her solo exhibition “Loud Magic,” at Whitespace Gallery, Atlanta-based artist Sonya Yong James uses nature as a kind of collaborator, the source of her inspiration and font of her materials.

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Sonya Yong James: LOUD MAGIC

Art Papers
October 2, 2019
By EC Flamming

Sonya Yong James’ exhibition LOUD MAGIC [September 6 – October 19, 2019] at Whitespace in Atlanta is a slow-simmering study of potential energy. The collection acts like a spell—works in it aren’t necessarily static. They’re constructed to activate change, and the material decisions act as catalysts to push the potential to the kinetic.

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Installation image of Rhinestone Cowgirls by Jaime Bull

Distaff, Spindle: Sonya Yong James at Whitespace, Atlanta

Burnaway.org
October 15, 2019
By Claire E. Dempster

Late last winter, I spent my Tuesday evenings perched at the edge of an uncomfortable bench, learning to weave. I watched my patterns emerge with the unbridled optimism of a delighted novice after each wobbly pass of the shuttle. Made of cheap beginner’s wool, my tea towels, table runners, and scarves packed down into simple cartographies of weft and warp.

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Installation image of Rhinestone Cowgirls by Jaime Bull