Join Root Division this June for A Joy Unexpected, curated by Root Division’s inaugural Curatorial Fellow, Tavarus Blackmon. This artist-centered exhibition grew from an in-depth curatorial exploration during a year of social-distancing. Through virtual studio visits, online roundtables, and careful collaborations, curator Tavarus Blackmon has brought together a dynamic group of 15 artists ruminating on the hard-working propensity of creatives to make joyful adaptations in times of uncertainty. This rich multimedia exhibition features installations, video work, sculpture, and painting as well as pre-recorded artist interviews, performances, and a panel discussion.
The artists in A Joy Unexpected had to face the unthinkable over the last year and move forward. They did not recoil but met the challenge with work, time in the studio, and an investigation into what their future might become while the world seemed to be changing around them. Political upheaval, environmental instability due to climate change, and challenges to voter freedom, had all been folded into the difficult year of 2020. How has the role of the artist changed, regarding protest and demands for social justice? How can joy be achieved when the future and present are beset with racism, intolerance, and violence?
The unexpected is everywhere, but the artist has a tool-set meant to unravel the tide and wash of unknowing. In fact, the artist’s question—the interminable kernel of doubt— is a rhetorical one, which leads them more towards a practice of lifting the stones to reveal what has yet to be discovered. Consequently, precipitating the unknown becomes a practice.
A Joy Unexpected reveals what is difficult to see within us during times of comfort.
Participating Artists
Sydney Acosta
Caiti Chan
Makiko Harris*
Kiana Honarmand*
Jupiter the Artist
Patti Kilroy
Hea-Mi Kim
Shara Mays
Natani Notah
Manuel Fernando Rios
Muzi Li Rowe
Daniel Alejandro Trejo
Summer Ventis
Christopher Adam Williams*
Gabriela Yoque
* Current RD Studio Artist
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A Joy Unexpected will be on view online and in our gallery by appointment from June 9 - 26, 2021.
Email us at visit@rootdivision.org to schedule an appointment.
2nd Saturday Opening | June 12 from 6-8pm >> Format TBD
(Virtual) Panel Discussion | Thursday, June 17 from 5-6:30pm >>
featuring Massiel Bobadilla (Verge Center for the Arts), Faith J. McKinnie (Black Artist Foundry), as well as exhibition artists: Patti Kilroy, Daniel Alejandro Trejo, Kiana Honarmand
RSVP to the Virtual Panel Discussion here
Image Credit: Manuel Fernando Rios, The Reawakening of Joaquin , 2020, Oil on canvas, 28 x 38 in.
Curator Bio:
Tavarus Blackmon, also known by the Anglo-Saxon, Blackmonster, is a devoted Black Father and Partner with three children in the City of Trees, Sacramento, California. He earned his MFA as Provost Fellow at the University of California Davis and his MA in Studio Art at CSU, Sacramento. He has been under Fellowship at the Headlands Center for the Arts and is the recent Parent Artist Fellow at the Kala Art Institute. His is the recipient of the 2020-2021 Kala Art Institute Fellowship and the Curatorial Fellowship at Root Division. He is the winter, 2021, AiR at Caldera Arts in Sisters, OR. His practice is interdisciplinary and intermedium. His work has appeared in Susurrus, Calaveras Station, The Suisun Valley Review, Sacramento City Exchange, Instagram; he has contributed to The Sacramento News and Review: Arts and Culture, Reverb, Voices against mass incarceration, CURA, Literary Magazine of Art and Action, Fordham University, IO Literary Journal and Brushfire Journal, Edition 72, vol. 2, University of Nevada, Reno. He has exhibited in San Francisco; at American Steel Studios, Oakland; Los Angeles at The Center for Digital Arts; Chicago (Arc Gallery); New York (Limner Gallery); Mexico City and Berlin (Blue Banana Video Art Festival). Tavarus Blackmon has curated panel discussions, presentations and exhibitions, at Beatnik Gallery, The Golden One Center’s digital media displays, Axis Gallery, the Master of Art in Studio Art Thesis Exhibition, Critical Response at CSU, Sacramento and is founder and webmaster of Art Music Lit Space, an online gallery presenting virtual exhibitions. He is an artist member and Vice President at Axis Gallery, Sacramento. He also serves on the Marketing and eCommerce committees and is webmaster of the eCommerce website, Axis Editions. He has developed and published work for the web including the sites Tavarus Blackmon Art, Awedio Codex and Black Monster Night Light. His site, BlackmonsteReview hosts his thesis, The Politics of the Cartoon and Contemporary Art. Additional and substantive video and audio can be found under the profiles Tavarus Blackmon and Black Audio Monster on Vimeo and Soundcloud, respectively. His current body of sound art, Lock Down, is released through Spinnup, a Universal Music Group platform. Learn more about Tavarus here: tavarusblackmonart.com | @tavarusblackmon
