The Anansean World of Robert Colescott: Sandra Jackson-Dumont & Umar Rashid

The Anansean World of Robert Colescott

Sandra Jackson-Dumont & Umar Rashid in Conversation

Saturday, April 5, 4pm

Exhibition opening reception to follow, 5-7pm

On the occasion of the opening of the exhibition The Anansean World of Robert Colescott, join us for a conversation with LA-based artist Umar Rashid and curator, scholar, and educator Sandra Jackson-Dumont, moderated by Robert Colescott Estate Archivist JJ Strawn.

Curated by Rashid, this exhibition of paintings and drawings by the late artist Robert Colescott ranges five decades. Rashid frames this presentation of work as an entry point into The Anansean World of Robert Colescott, a parallel universe that violates principles of social and natural order, blithely disrupting what once was and then reestablishing it on a new basis.

This event is free and open to all. RSVP is encouraged. Please note this event will be filmed; by attending, participants and visitors consent to video and audio recording and its publication and reproduction. Limited parking available. Rideshare highly encouraged.

Robert Colescott (b. 1925, Oakland, CA; d. 2009, Tucson, AZ) was a proud instigator who, over a nearly six-decade painting career, fearlessly tackled subjects of social and racial inequality, class structure, sex, and the human condition through his uniquely rhythmic and often manic style of figuration. His distinctive works, while not easily placed within any one specific school of painting, share elements of Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, "Bad" Painting, Renaissance Painting, Neo-Expressionism, and Surrealism. A retrospective curated by Lowery Stokes Sims and Matthew Weseley, opened at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, in 2019, and later traveled to the Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; Sarasota Art Museum, Sarasota, FL; Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL; and New Museum, New York, NY. The exhibition was accompanied by a comprehensive monograph on the artist’s life and work, published by Rizzoli Electa.

Umar Rashid creates paintings, drawings, and sculptures that chronicle the grand historical fiction of the Frenglish Empire (1648–1880) a conceptual world he has been developing for over seventeen years. Each work represents a frozen moment from this parallel history, often recalling fraught real-world narratives—both canonized and marginalized—with familiar signifiers and iconographies. Rashid’s work channels the visual lexicons of hip hop, ancient and modern pop culture, gang and Pr*son life, and revolutionary movements throughout time. Rashid’s work is represented in the public collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY; Jorge Pérez Collection, Miami, FL; Mount Holyoke Art Museum, South Hadley, MA; Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV; Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT; and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, among others.

Sandra Jackson-Dumont is a curator, author, educator, administrator, and public advocate for reimagining the role of art museums in society. Jackson-Dumont has served as Director has served as Director and Chief Executive Officer of the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art since January 2020. She oversees all curatorial, educational, public, and operational affairs for the fast-developing institution, including realization of the currently under construction 11-acre campus in Los Angeles, which includes a nearly 300,000-square-foot museum building and an expansive new park. Throughout her roles with some of the country’s most renowned museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Seattle Art Museum, and now the Lucas Museum, she has collaborated extensively with living artists, communities, creatives, and historical materials. Her work catalyzes the presence of increasingly dynamic and diverse audiences in cultural spaces while exploring issues of relevance.

Jennifer-June “JJ” Strawn is a writer, archivist, and artist living and working in Los Angeles. As the Robert Colescott Estate Archivist, JJ has specialized in preserving Colescott’s legacy, processing and researching decades’ worth of the painter’s artwork and physical archives.

Host or Publisher Blum & Poe