Jerald White, the organizer of the exhibit, began Mixed Messages as a response to a 2009 incident in which a Louisiana Justice of the Peace, Keith Bardwell, refused to officiate the civil wedding of Beth Humphrey and Terence McKay, an interracial couple. White points out that “the only rights we have are the ones we are willing to fight for,”[1] and indeed this exhibition comes out fighting from the start.

James Edward Bates. Passing the Torch, Documenting the Klu Klux Klan, 2013; photograph; 12 x 18 in. Courtesy of Antenna Gallery and the Artist. Photo: Jerald White.

The emotional inflections of the works vary widely, from hilarity to solemn observance. James Edward Bates’ photographic essay Passing the Torch, Documenting the 21st Century Ku Klux Klan (2013) is the first work visitors see upon entering the show. The contemporary images of the Klan are startling to say the least: a man exiting a bus in sunglasses as the bus driver glances sideways at him; a child swinging a flaming torch amid other Klan members. The photos seem like imagery from the past, yet the Klan is still active. Bates spent over a decade recording the activities of the KKK, gaining a level of trust and documenting private moments. Bates’ photographs alert the audience that the audacious racism that condemned the Lovings still lives.

Jave Yoshimoto. Bear My Shame, 2010; gouache on paper; 14 x 17 in. Courtesy of Antenna Gallery and the Artist. Photo: Jerald White.

In another part of the gallery, Jave Yoshimoto honors his heritage by replicating Japanese wood-block techniques (though with gouche paintes), but the content of his work reflects the racial stereotypes he has experienced in the United States. Yoshimoto’s Bear My Shame (2010) is another study of the Klan, but through a very different lens. A masked Klu Klux Klan member runs in fright, and another Klan member burns, as Godzilla approaches on the horizon. This straightforward symbol for Yoshimoto’s Asian heritage lacks subtlety but makes up for it in abundant humor. Godzilla blasting his nuclear breath on the Klan, instead of Los Angeles—that is a movie I would go see.

Mixed Messages.4, installation view, Antenna Gallery. Courtesy of Antenna Gallery. Photo: Jerald White.

As Anuradha Vikram recently pointed out in her #Hashtags: Mimics and Minstrels: “Given that art-gallery and museum attendance is shown to be dropping overall, the lack of traction with growing minority populations should be a significant cause for concern within the art world.” I would add that as the amount of multiracial marriages has risen to 8.4 percent today, or 1 out of 12 marriages[2], it is important to give space to a more manifold idea of identity and race. Antenna Gallery has given wide berth to artists who question representation and perspective, and the tone for each work in the show varies wildly from celebration to anger; however, perhaps a more tightly joined show would have a clearer message. Nevertheless, acting as a weathervane for such complex issues is a mercurial responsibility. By building a framework to hold these multiracial, multifaceted monuments to love, Mixed Messages.4 embraces the ability to question one’s own genealogical and cultural identity.

Mixed Messages.4 is on view at Antenna Gallery in New Orleans through July 1, 2014.

[1] Jerald White. Personal interview. June 15, 2014.

[2] Susan Saulny, “More Young Americans Identify as Mixed Race,” New York Times, January 30, 2011. Accessed June 8, 2014: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/us/30mixed.html?pagewanted=all

Sophie T. Lvoff & Nathan T. Martin, "Untitled (Primary)", 2012. Archival pigment print on newsprint. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Sophie T. Lvoff.

One of the most informative moments in SPACES, the latest exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, is a timeline of the birth of the St. Claude art scene handwritten in black charcoal pencil on the wall.

Born out of the reinvigoration of community action in post-Katrina New Orleans, bolstered by the adrenaline shot of Prospect.1, hard working artist collectives popped up across the city in 2008, including Press Street’s Antenna Gallery, Good Children, and The Front, which aggressively show many artists from the St. Claude District. While worlds of change have occurred in the microcosm of New Orleans in the last half-decade, the genuine and honest dedication to making and showing art by these three cooperatives has remained the same.  That is why SPACES, an exhibition bringing the work of these three collectives together under one roof, is disappointing; not for the art but for the lack of curatorial inspiration that should have highlighted this positivity.

SPACES showing Dave Greber "The Front on Display", 2012; Chris Saucedo "Pencil King", 1996 and Lala Raščić in cooperation with Sophie T. Lvoff "Posing Process", 2012. Courtesy the Contemporary Arts Center, Photo: Angela Berry.

While there is a boot-strap spirit to each of these organizations, they operate with very distinct tones. This highlights the first part of the problem with this exhibition: there is no clarity of form within the show.  Artists from each organization are scattered around the room, lacking a clear tone to unite the work. The exhibition brings together disparate conversations that are often at odds with each other.  For example, Sophie Lvoff and Nate T. Martin’s Untitled (Primary) is a lush archival pigment print of a purple tavern at dusk. Sophie Lvoff’s photograph speaks to the vibrancy of early American color photography through lens of New Orleans surfaces. Writer Nate T. Martin adds a short vignette that sketches a child’s perception of driving in a rental car with her father and waiting outside a bar. The combination of text and image paints a visceral picture of innocence and vulnerability in a mundane world. Lvoff and Nathan’s work is located next to Ryan Watkins-Hughes cynical installation See St. Claude. Audiences of the show are prompted to step up to the photo, snap a shot of themselves photo booth style and email the photo to see-stclaude.tumblr.com.  At this site the artist writes: “The See St. Claude photo booth allows gallery visitors to see the St. Claude arts District from the comforts and safety of the CAC.”  This satirical approach to bringing art lovers to St. Claude directly references the insulation of certain neighborhoods in the city. The combination of the work of Watkins-Hughes and Lvoff and Nathan is certainly thought provoking, but leaves the viewer in the uncertain position of attempting to connect these two very disparate attitudes.

SPACES, showing Generic Art Solutions (G.A.S.), "Monopoly (St. Claude Ave.)", 2012. Courtesy the Artist and Jonathan Ferrara Gallery. Photo: Angela Berry.

Using a 1969 exhibition curated by Jennifer Licht at the Museum of Modern Art as the model for this exhibition, the space is developed around innovative approaches to interacting with museum space. Licht described this show as “an exhibition in which the installation becomes the actual realization of the work of art and rooms must be planned and built according to the artists’ needs, challenging the usual role of the museum.” This may be the stated intention of SPACES, however, many of the works are plopped into the CAC’s space, rather than the gallery being formatted to fit the work. Case in point, only three of the over forty artists were asked to actually make site-specific installations; Rachel Avena Brown, Bob Snead, and Jonathan Traviesa. Brown’s installation is a collaboration with Antenna Gallery artist James Goedert.  D-Cern Space brings together stop motion animation and knitted yarn.  On a large tv monitor an animation of the floor plans of each participating gallery are brought together and torn apart. Knit green squares form patterns around the tv monitor, insinuating the shape of the Large Hadron Collider.  Brown and Goedert seek to define a new space, one in which these galleries work more closely in tandem. D-Cern Space suggests what this exhibition could have been if each artist included in this show had the opportunity to install a thoughtfully prepared work.

Rachel Avena Brown & James W. Goedert "D-CERN space", 2012. Acrylic house paint, copper wire, digital stop motion, yarn. Courtesy the Artists. Photo: Angela Berry

Dave Greber’s three channel video installation The Front on Display is a wiseass satire on the perception of the artist as a rock star. All the members of The Front trade quips on this video reel of a photo shoot. Teenage boy-bandesque statements are made such as, “that’s when people are really at their best- when they are making posters” and “I’ve got some stuff to say, and it’s really important.” The sarcasm drips from the tv screen onto the floor, unfortunately drowning out other works.  Any other surrounding pieces that aren’t 100% aggressive, such as Jerald L. White’s photographs, are easily overlooked.

The cultural history of New Orleans is by nature a collective one. The galleries represented in this show come out of the tradition of working within neighborhoods to achieve goals that bureaucratic inadequacies are unable to accomplish. Antenna Gallery, The Front, and Good Children Gallery have all leveraged the resources of their members in order to build a community around visual art. CAC’s curatorial job does this achievement a disservice by creating discordant tones. I trust though that these spaces will continue to do what they do best–make visually interesting and thought provoking works.