Carris Adams: A Lesson
December 16 - January 28,2024
From Basket Books & Art: "Basket Books & Art is pleased to present A Lesson, a solo exhibition of new work by artist Carris Adams. A Lesson is on view from December 16, 2023 to January 28, 2024. We invite you to join us for an opening reception, with the artist, on December 16 from 4-6pm. “Yes you know. You know, all right. That’s why you look down on me, because you know I lie. At wakes, at funerals, at weddings-—yes, I lie. I lie at wakes and funerals to relieve pain. ’Cause reading, writing and ’rithmetic is not enough. You think that’s all they send you to school for? They sent you to school to relieve pain, to relieve hurt—and if you have to lie to do it, then you lie. You lie and you lie and you lie. … She been lying to herself everyday of her life. … I’ve seen her hands bleed from picking cotton. I’ve seen the blisters from the hoe and the cane knife. … And that’s the difference between me and you, boy; that makes me the educated one, and you the gump. I know my people. I know what they gone through. I know they done cheated themself, lied to themself—hoping that one they all love and trust can come back and help relieve the pain.” Carris Adams extracts a quote from Ernest Gaines’s 1993 novel A Lesson Before Dying, removing the phrase from its context and renegotiating its meaning: “AND YOU THE GUMP” appears on recycled billboard vinyl across Adams’s site-specific, panoramic painting, spanning the entirety of the gallery’s longest wall. This work continues Adams’s formal and conceptual investigation into markers and language that reference the various social, cultural, political, and economic circumstances under which we labor. In this work, a new direction for Adams, the formal and aesthetic elements of commercial signage come into play, yet language appropriated from a specific literary source replaces commercial sloganeering. The privacy and intimacy of a novel is made spatial and expansive, performing an inversion of conventional experiences of literature and its impoverished relation: advertising. In many ways, this painting is unfinished. The phrase’s accusatory nature invites the viewer to complete the work by questioning, remembering, and deciding if they are the gump— and if not, who is. Carris Adams' work explores the signifiers that mark our landscapes. Through the materiality of painting, drawing, and printmaking Adams attempts to embody the sense, shape and experience of these markers. Her work describes the appearance of subjects found during her day-to-day travels, while also reflecting the various social, cultural, political and economic circumstances under which we labor. Adams received her BFA from the University of Texas at Austin (2013) and her MFA from the University of Chicago (2015). Adams's work has been exhibited at The Studio Museum in Harlem (New York, NY), The Logan Center Exhibitions at The University of Chicago (Chicago, IL), Produce Model Gallery (Chicago, IL), Tiger Strikes Asteroid Gallery (Chicago, IL), and The Courtyard Gallery at The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX). An exhibition of work by Carris Adams, “And so it goes…,” is concurrently on view at Art League Houston from December 15, 2023, with an opening reception on December 15 from 6-8pm and an artist talk on Saturday, December 16, 2023 starting at 2pm."
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