— According to astronomy, the Sculptor is a faint southern constellation between two others — Grus and Cetus, to be exact. Conversely, of my own assessment, the Sculptor is a pellucid southern entity on a par with greats such like Augusta Savage, Elizabeth Catlett, John Wilson — and he is none other than Alfred Amadu Conteh. Langston Hughes knows rivers, but I know sculptors. He is bald, bearded, big-boned, and Black-Black. He speaks brilliance through a deep, but quickened, down-south dialect which declares that he is born straight outta a place called Fort Valley, in Georgia , and its motto is "Where Caring is a Way of Life." Conteh cares. His caring spirit is a guiding principle when it comes to the context of his works. His earlier series, Bitter Medicines, Sweet Poisons (BMSP) caught me off guard. For those who are sleep, the series serves as the proverbial alarm clock, calling on (and calling out) Black folks to seriously wake up. And the works’ pristine white-on-whiteness and three-dimensional aspect has the volume all the way turnt up. A set of bold and beautifully stitched soup-coolers, affixed to a church fan, asks a pointed question in "Need We Say More? (The Stitches)." It is a work that gets straight to the heart of matters which plague Black communities: compliancy, acquiesence, hood passes, STOP SNITCHING campaigns. The dangling needle somehow suggest that silenced Negroes leave themselves hanging. At-a-glance, the piece "Forward" is an angular directive, seen on digital playback devices, however a close viewing reveals that it encourages and encompasses a range of faces, bearing Blackish features — thick lips and broad noses — to press forward. An infant hand positioned in the nook of a 45-degree angle, makes its point. "Forward" is reminiscent of "Igbo Landing 7" by Donovan Nelson — not for its similarity in composition, but more so the nuanced meaning that each work renders. While Nelson’s depicts profound choice of death over life, Conteh’s urges life over death.

Conteh’s prowess in art and history, racial and social politics, clay, iron-works, textiles, welding, wood-works, fabrication, and restoration not only allows him to give us this work, but it also transcends creative boundaries where many other artists find themselves stuck—and shucks outta luck.

Peep new works by Conteh on his Instagram page.

Images: courtesy of www.alfredconteh.com and Valentine Museum of Art

Tags: Alfred Conteh, Two Fronts, Black Art, Black Lives Matter, BLACKSTEW ART, Culture, Black Excellence