Experience art on campus by viewing the two current exhibitions: “Transcend” by Toni Scott, on view in the University Library, and “Lauren Halsey” by Lauren Halsey, on view in the University Art Gallery. Details about the exhibitions are below.
Toni Scott
“Transcend” features paintings and sculptural works that reimagine our differences and celebrate our shared experiences of being human.
The Multicultural Art Gallery at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) proudly presents “Transcend,” an exhibition of works by Southern California-based visual artist Toni Scott on view from November 1, 2021 through April 30, 2022.
Scott’s work often explores her ethnicity as a descendant of African, Indigenous, and European American ancestry. Her art presents the questions: Are we one people, or do lines of demarcation define our humanity? And how can we come together as one race, the human race, in greater unity?
One of the works on exhibit is “Ascend,” constructed from queen palm fronds, wood, and acrylic paint. Scott takes inspiration from queen palm trees, which combine compressive strength with grace to withstand major storms – bending and bouncing back with resilience.
Other sculptures include “Mangbetu Woman,” sculpted from fiberglass, and “I Can’t Breathe,” first created in 2009 as a response to the murder of Oscar Grant, and recast in 2020 in response to George Floyd’s murder. The exhibition also includes several of Scott’s paintings which pay homage to her indigenous heritage and evoke meanings tied to the spiritual and ceremonial practices of her ancestry.
“Transcend” is a part of an ongoing multi-year creative collaboration between Scott and the university which was announced last year and continues through 2023.
“Toni Scott’s artistic mastery is inspirational, thought-provoking, and compelling. The themes contained within her work, including race, identity, culture, and inequity, align perfectly with the ethos of CSUDH – a university firmly rooted in its mission of social justice,” said CSUDH President Thomas A. Parham. “We are proud to partner with Ms. Scott and are humbled that she has chosen the CSUDH campus to help highlight her artistic endeavors.”
Viewing hours for “Transcend” are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, or by appointment. For more information, call (310) 243-3700.
The Multicultural Art Gallery is located on the fifth floor of the University Library at CSUDH, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson. For a map and directions, visit csudh.edu/directions.
Lauren Halsey
The University Art Gallery at CSUDH proudly presents a solo exhibition of work by the Los Angeles-based artist Lauren Halsey. The exhibition will be on view March 12 through December 10, 2022; Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The artist’s latest venture in funkified placemaking, this exhibition extends Halsey’s architectural mappings, materializing itself in objects, names, remembrances, and colors of home. Red, black, and green (the colors of the Pan-African flag) sit parallel with orange, yellow, pink, and blue hyper pigments (the colors of South Central). Together, this spectrum etches out decelerations, provocations, the naming of the dead, and the aesthetic genius of Black people. These objects float in the mirrored floor and aluminum-draped foregrounds, orienting themselves as structures simultaneously taking off and landing. After all, we are in a land of funk–and with funk, the only direction is free.
Halsey’s work insists upon what Douglas Kerney names the “Here/Now” and the “There/Then,” a quintessential act that guides and grounds her practice. Halsey’s call towards edifice, which builds upon Black people’s current presence and future here in Los Angeles, is presented alongside those and that which no longer exist in the flesh; Black people, business, signage, and places that have ceased in their original material forms. But it is in the monumental we find ourselves with Halsey’s work, a claim that bends time and memory in its insistence as a place for now.
“Lauren Halsey” is generously supported by the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, and the Pasadena Art Alliance. Halsey’s residency with CSUDH is part of the university’s Praxis program, which pairs artists from South Los Angeles with students and South Bay residents to create experimental work.
For more information, visit gallery.csudh.edu.
