[Opening / Closing]
Preach! New Works by Jeffrey Kent

About This Event

Baltimore-based artist Jeffrey Kent '10 (LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting) uses racially charged imagery to criticize what he sees as some of the opinions maintained within the black Christian community on marriage equality for same-sex couples. Using painting, collage, sculpture and mixed-media installation, Kent draws parallels between the Civil Rights Movement and the recent fight for marriage equality in the United States.

Kent fills his canvases with layered fields of garish color juxtaposed with elements of mixed-media collage, including authentic slave-picked cotton from antique chairs. Kent's sculptures employ chairs, some precariously balanced atop stacks of books, so that the harmony of form is in direct contrast with the provocative materials, including adult magazines, slave-picked cotton, a Bible and prayer rugs. In Have Forgot..., Kent depicts stylized figures of iconic black archetypal characters protesting against marriage equality. References to slave-picked cotton, jumping the broom, the slave trade and other aspects of black history create a compelling dialogue in his art.

The exhibition will take place Thursday, Feb. 7–Sunday, March 31.