|
Coming Soon
Artist Nengi Omuku
We Are Not Different
Nengi Omuku is a Nigerian artist who completed her BA
and MA at the Slade School of fine art, University College London. She has had solo and group exhibitions in the UK and Nigeria, and now lives and works in Nigeria. Her artistic practice has won her scholarships and awards, including the British Council CHOGM art award, presented by HRH Queen Elisabeth II.
|
 |
|
|
Coming Soon
Michael D. Harris, Ph.D.
Artist, Curator & Scholar
Michael D. Harris, Ph.D. was named to the list of curators and scholars, 25 Who Made a Difference, in the Fall 2001 issue of International Review of African American Art. The list includes David Driskell, James Porter, Samella Lewis, Richard Powell, and Jeff Donaldson, among others. Harris also received the James Porter Award from Howard University in 2016 and the Alain Locke Award from the Detroit Institute for the Arts in 2017.
|
 |
|
|
Coming Soon
Joe Barry Carroll
Author & Painter
Joe Barry Carroll’s upcoming book, Black American Voices: Shared Culture, Values and Emotions will be featured in the gallery’s upcoming Community Engagement Series this Fall. Carroll’s award-winning memoir, Growing Up, received praise from a number of critics, who include Kenny Leon, Tony Award winning Broadway stage, Television and Film Director. The book portrays paintings by Carroll and narratives about life as the tenth of 13 children growing up in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and Denver, Colorado, life in the NBA and creating a fulfilling life after retiring from professional basketball.
|
 |
|
|
Art In Review
September Gray Fine Art Gallery has experienced a year of great growth, new followers and rich art experiences. As we welcome warm weather and a change of season, the gallery pays tribute to the artists whose creativity and vision has enriched our contemporary fine art journey.
In this edition of The Gray Book, we present Art In Review celebrating this year’s exhibitions and community engagement programming. Also, I share a critical look at investing in art– financially, politically and in preservation of our human connections.
(Photo © 2017 LGriffin Creative) |
 |
|
|
Artists & Exhibits
Freddie Styles & Richard Mayhew | The Nature of Art
|
|
| Group Exhibition 14 October – 31 December 2016
Freddie Styles work has a history of solo and group exhibitions in the Atlanta art scene and beyond. His exhibitions include: Evolving, a solo show at the Airport Atrium Gallery at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport; African American Abstraction, City Gallery East, Atlanta GA; Old, New, Borrowed, Blue, Clark University, Atlanta, GA; Roots, Needles and Fax, Tubman Museum, Macon, GA; and Freddie Styles, Bill Hodges Gallery, New York.
Richard Mayhew is known for a spiritual connection to the natural world and his roots in his dual ancestry as an African American and Native American (his father- a descendant of African American and Shinnecock; his mother- a descendant of African American and Cherokee) During his boyhood, Mayhew’s paternal grandmother taught him Native traditions and his kinship with the earth, and spiritual realm.
(Photos © 2016 Ron Witherspoon) |
|
|
Alfred Conteh | Two Fronts: Surface and Reason
|
|
| Solo Exhibition 3 February– 3 March 2017
Alfred Conteh is a contemporary visual artist who shares life experiences and personal truth grounded in African American heritage rooted in the South. Having childhood experiences growing up in Fort Valley, Georgia –100 miles south of Atlanta – Conteh discovered his interests in the arts at a very early age. His enthusiasm for comic books and cartoons in high school evolved into a passion for visual arts. As a student at Peach County High School he learned art history, technique, and skill under the direction of his mentor and art teacher, Johnny Heller. Conteh soon realized that there was a great deal more to learn and explore. He continued his education at Hampton University, known for its rich collection–Conteh earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. A classically trained artist, Conteh later earned a Masters in Fine Arts at Georgia Southern University.
Jeremiah Ojo is the curator of Two Fronts: Surface and Reason. As an arts and culture management consultant, working internationally in artist development, gallery management & independent curation – Ojo brought great insights to the exhibition. Ojo is the Managing Director of Creative Milieu Consulting Group. His collaborative work with minority emerging contemporary artists, art institutions, corporations, and collectors has carved a pathway of connectivity for creative professionals throughout the African Diaspora.
(Photos © 2017 Ron Witherspoon) |
|
|
Preston Sampson | White Noise
|
|
|
Solo Exhibition 31 March 2017 – 30 May 2017
Preston Sampson is a Maryland based visual artist having an extensive body of work. A jazz enthusiast, his most exuberant paintings are the expansion of melodic ideas. He sees his figurative portrayals as attempts “to emote, to touch, to move you to the center of it all, to enable you to feel certain changes, like fleeting moments of memory.” He portrays historical references of African American history in his works. For example African-American men who starred in the Negro Baseball Leagues for nearly half a century. Sampson’s work depicting a Pittsburgh Crawford player was published by the Smithsonian Institute in 1994.
(Photos © 2017 Ron Witherspoon) |
|
|
Community Engagement Programs
|
|
|
A Conversation with Richard Mayhew & Freddie Styles
|
|
 |
|
Wednesday, 16 November 2016
In Fall, Joe Barry Carroll moderated a conversation with Richard Mayhew and Freddie Styles at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in Atlanta, Georgia . They discuss the intersection of art and nature discussing the mystery of our natural connection to the divine universe.
(Video Production © 2017 Rod Moore) |
|
|
A Conversation With Alfred Conteh
|
|
 |
|
Saturday, 11 February 2017
In Winter, Alfred Conteh presented a talk to the Atlanta community on Two Fronts: Surface & Reason, facilitated by Kevin Sipp, Cultural Affairs and Public Art Coordinator for the City of Atlanta’s Gallery 72. “Two Fronts: Surface & Reason is a visual exploration of how African diasporic societies in the American South are fighting social, economic, educational and psychological wars from within and without to survive. The honest and false narratives of history embodied in this series are primarily personified in patinated colossi that commemorate the people, culture, and battles that the populations they tower over have fought and continue to fight.
(Video Production © 2017 Rod Moore) |
|
|
Adger Cowan | Personal Vision
|
|
|
Thursday, 9 March 2017
Signed copies of Personal Vision are currently available to purchase at the gallery.
This Spring, the engagement series featured Personal Vision by Adger Cowan. A Master Photographer, Cowan captured American pop culture for the last century. Now 80, he is one of the greatest unrecognized luminaries of our time. He worked for Katherine Hepburn, Jane Fonda, Al Pacino and Spike Lee, to just name a few. Adger also worked as an apprentice to Gordon Parks. Parks once stated, “ Adger’s individualism set’s him apart, simply because he follows his own convictions.”
(Photos © 2017 Ron Witherspoon)
|
|
|
David S. Mitchell| We Hold These Truths Book Tour
|
|
 |
|
Saturday, 6 May 2017
Signed copies of We Hold These Truths are currently available to purchase at the gallery.
Inspired by his tenure as senior aide and deputy campaign manager on a US Senate campaign in North Carolina in 2010, Mitchell penned We Hold These Truths, a compelling narrative exploring the complex landscape of race and politics—and the missed opportunity for change—in the aftermath of Barack Obama’s historic 2008 election.
The community engagement series also featured live music by Atlanta cellist Okorie Johnson of OK Cello, who performed alongside the White Noise exhibition by Preston Sampson. Okorie Johnson has performed and/or recorded with India Arie, De La soul, Anthony David, Doria Roberts, Callaghan, Paul Mercer and Leah Morgan amongst others.
(Video Production © 2017 Rod Moore)
|
|
|
Art Investment
“I’m not just selling art; I’m making a connection.”
|
|
 |
| Gallery Director, September Gray |
|
|
The Business of Art: Can art still be an object of passion?
With the financial markets so volatile and our world in a head spin, people are weary of spending in an unknown future. Politics is wreaking havoc of what’s true and what’s not. There’s even a new term called, “alternative facts”. As a result, people throughout the world are looking for change, answers and a better way to live.
Artists of our times are a big part of this picture, showing us who we are and how we are living –essentially giving us a mirror to reflect. Times of political turbulence create opportunities for collectors to seek solace in art. Given we are constantly bombarded with negative news, one might expect people not to be open to buy luxury goods, but interestingly, it is times like these when people need beauty and truth from the art they acquire. With these acquisitions, we are choosing to decide how we view the world. Through meaningful art, you focus your thoughts on a wonderful work that allows the pleasure of honoring personal truths and meaning so we may speak in our own narrative, ‘ my world still reflects the values and things I hold dear no matter what is happening around me or the world I live in’.
People who collect art desire beauty and cultural intellect in their lives. With the business of the art market in the well-known auction houses prices have spun out of control.
We now have works from Jean-Michel Basquiat that sold for $50.00 to $3500.00 during the 80”s. Recently, Sotheby’s set a record for an American artist and his work as it sold for $110. million. This price surge not too long after an article that discussed how the Whitney Museum didn’t think Basquiat’s work was suitable for the storage room! Clearly, we are left to presume that there are many markets and socio-economic factors when it comes to determining what is valuable and what is not. With this backdrop, we are witnessing extremely high prices paid for art and new money from the BRIC countries that are overvaluing the work in their eagerness to prove their status in the global society.
Despite this price surge, I continue to find evidence that most collectors are becoming more thoughtful about their purchasing of work. As a gallery owner, it is important to me to have work that has meaning as well as value. The added value comes from being knowledgeable about the work, it’s artist, and continued support of artists ascending on the global stage.
Art is intensely personal. As long as you are living and passionate about life, this approach will allow for collecting with meaning. We need not allow the outside world of politics or mass marketing of latest trends dictate what has meaning in our decisions of art collecting. Collecting art is about your passion, your feelings, and what connects you to the work or the artist.
For me: I collect art, I offer art, and I connect with art. It is the ultimate connection of life and meaning– how I see others and myself. That is perhaps what I love most– the notion of bringing people together through beautiful works of art. This concept is one that the political world seems to not grasp. If you connect with the world– you can make better decisions and hopefully bring people together for the common good no matter your politics.
Quote:
“Of course it is possible to live to live without the arts, but to do so would compromise the very art of living.”
-Dr. Johnetta Betche Cole
|
|
|
|
| Art | Culture | Community |
|
|
| Summer Gallery Hours By Appointment. Contact 404-964-2077 for scheduling |
|
|
|
|
|
Our Mission
September Gray Fine Art Gallery (SGAG) is the nation’s premier gallery specializing in contemporary works by established, mid-career and emerging African American and African diasporic artists. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, SGAG presents historically and culturally significant works as a means for championing the preservation of the African diasporic cultural legacy and narrative.
Our Offerings
SGAG denudes the intricacies of the art market by assisting corporate and private collectors with articulating and executing single acquisition and long-term collection strategies that both reflect their individual tastes and advance their short-term and long-term investment goals. In addition, SGAG offers a comprehensive range of complementary fine art, curatorial and consulting services to private and corporate clients and is conversant in the discreet assessment, acquisition and placement of fine art within its exclusive network of collectors.
|
|
|
|
|
