ALTERONCE GUMBY: ONE WAY TICKET ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
October 1 – November 6, 2016
Opening reception: Saturday, October 1, 3 – 8 PM
6BASE is pleased to present Alteronce Gumby: One Way Ticket Across The Universe. Featuring an immersive work on paper made on site by Gumby, this will be the artist’s first solo exhibition in New York City and the inaugural show at 6BASE, a newly formed artist’s studio and exhibition program located at 728 East 136th Street 6B in the Bronx.
For the past five years, Gumby has explored various mediums, including acrylics, oils, plasticine clay, collage, ceramics, and performance. Most recently, his focus has turned to monochromatic tonal painting, engaging with issues of identity and individualism through his use of color. He paints solely with his hands allowing him to be more physically connected with the material and marks made on the surface. In his own words, Gumby describes, “The process of painting becomes a vehicle of liberation for my mind, body, and consciousness.”
Set against a space without firm definition, One Way Ticket Across The Universe wrestles with questions of self-emancipation through the process of painting––both literal and abstract––within the context of social injustices that have griped this country. Drawing from the words in jazz composer Sun Ra’s 1974 film Space Is the Place, “consider time as officially ended. We’ll work on the other side of time. We’ll bring them here through either isotope, teleportation, transmolecularization––or better still, teleport the other whole planet here through music,” Gumby’s painting on paper, encompassing nearly the entire room, transcends the viewer to another dimension where boundaries don’t exist.
On Saturday, October 1, 2016, Sonelius Smith’s trio will perform in the space during the opening reception at 6 PM. The group features Sonelius Smith on the piano, Kevin Ray on the bass, and Baba Don on the congas and other percussion instruments.
Alteronce Gumby was born and raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1985. He received his B.F.A. from Hunter College in 2013 and his M.F.A from Yale School of Art in 2016. His work was the subject of a solo exhibition, Since 1985, hosted by Washington Art Gallery at Duthchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, New York in 2015. He has participated in group exhibitions including those held at Hammond Harkin Galleries in Columbus, Ohio (2016); Abrons Arts Center in New York (2015); and Marion Royael Gallery in Beacon, New York (2010). He has completed international artists’ residency programs at the Camden Arts Centre & Slade School of Fine Art in London (2016); Dumfries House, Royal Drawing School in East Ayrshire, Scotland (2015); and Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts in Austria (2015). Later this year, he will travel to Paris to be a resident at The Foundation des États-Unis. The artist lives and works in New York.