Current Exhibition
Derick Decario Ladale Whitson's Sugar (Chapter II)
SOLO SHOW SELECTION 2021
June 12 - August 8, 2021
June 12 - August 8, 2021
Located in Holy Trinity Church lyes a rendering of Joseph Grimaldi; Joseph Grimaldi, considered to pioneer circus clowning in London, England. In the 18th Century, Joseph Grimaldi performed in black face and white face. He was an “English actor, comedian, and dancer, who became the most popular English entertainer of the Regency era. In the early 1800s, he expanded the role of Clown in the harlequinade that formed part of British pantomimes, notably at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and the Sadler’s Wells and Convent Garden theaters. Gained dominate on the London comic stage, the role of Clown became known as “Joey” and the nickname and Grimaldi’s whiteface make-up design were, and still are, used by other types of clowns.” -Jane Austin
Black face subsided while white face remains as the main representation of clowning. Between 1830’s-1910 across the US were performances of minstrel showings, these shows became mainstream in 1848. The minstrel shows lampooned black individuals with modern stereotypes. Othello, originated in London, by Shakespeare, is known as the most famous performance of white males performing both gendered roles and in blackface. Shakespeare also employed jesters & clowns, the first play was Lord Chamberlain’s Men. 1980’s and early 90’s we have a resurgence of the Club Kid Culture scene, that was comprised of wealthy white individuals, that then leads us to contemporary platforms like Rupaul’s Drag Race. As a spectator of such platforms and histories, levels of performance and masking are metaphoric representations of the repression of race and gender. The white clown face is blackface in disguise. Blackface which originated through clowning, created new stereotypes and perpetuated mistreatment and racist behaviors years to come.
In 1865 Slavery was abolished in Texas, and Galveston had an illegal slave trade through the Gulf of Mexico starting in 1816. By becoming an active member of the community in Texas, and an outsider responding to the context and history of repression and abuse in America, Sugar (Chapter II) becomes an extension of my natural responses to the people I’ve met and the nonliving extended experiences, by being on their territory. My time in Galveston is a recent endeavor, a temporary exploration of a town that cultivated a haunting. There are pioneers, sub cultures, and individuals that are transforming, and questioning the roles of identity through race in makeup, gender through costuming, and humor/entertainment through pain. The different levels of engagement and influence hold a large amount of information in standards of beauty traced from all over the world.
I use photography to create a new form of identification through methods of masking. This is a form of representation, as an explorative generation of power through image making. There’s a need to deconstruct ideologies based on appearance through imagery. I am dissecting the levels of masking. This photographic amalgamation is political, subversive, and affirmative imagery that forms a racial & gender non conforming empathetic utopia. During the course of the past 3 years I have been working on a new project titled Sugar (Chapter II). Sugar (Chapter II) is a series of photographs and video that will be displayed inside a full colored installation. Created are staged photographs that are in response to my living locations.
Black face subsided while white face remains as the main representation of clowning. Between 1830’s-1910 across the US were performances of minstrel showings, these shows became mainstream in 1848. The minstrel shows lampooned black individuals with modern stereotypes. Othello, originated in London, by Shakespeare, is known as the most famous performance of white males performing both gendered roles and in blackface. Shakespeare also employed jesters & clowns, the first play was Lord Chamberlain’s Men. 1980’s and early 90’s we have a resurgence of the Club Kid Culture scene, that was comprised of wealthy white individuals, that then leads us to contemporary platforms like Rupaul’s Drag Race. As a spectator of such platforms and histories, levels of performance and masking are metaphoric representations of the repression of race and gender. The white clown face is blackface in disguise. Blackface which originated through clowning, created new stereotypes and perpetuated mistreatment and racist behaviors years to come.
In 1865 Slavery was abolished in Texas, and Galveston had an illegal slave trade through the Gulf of Mexico starting in 1816. By becoming an active member of the community in Texas, and an outsider responding to the context and history of repression and abuse in America, Sugar (Chapter II) becomes an extension of my natural responses to the people I’ve met and the nonliving extended experiences, by being on their territory. My time in Galveston is a recent endeavor, a temporary exploration of a town that cultivated a haunting. There are pioneers, sub cultures, and individuals that are transforming, and questioning the roles of identity through race in makeup, gender through costuming, and humor/entertainment through pain. The different levels of engagement and influence hold a large amount of information in standards of beauty traced from all over the world.
I use photography to create a new form of identification through methods of masking. This is a form of representation, as an explorative generation of power through image making. There’s a need to deconstruct ideologies based on appearance through imagery. I am dissecting the levels of masking. This photographic amalgamation is political, subversive, and affirmative imagery that forms a racial & gender non conforming empathetic utopia. During the course of the past 3 years I have been working on a new project titled Sugar (Chapter II). Sugar (Chapter II) is a series of photographs and video that will be displayed inside a full colored installation. Created are staged photographs that are in response to my living locations.
Artist Statements & Bios
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Derick Decario Ladale Whitson (b. 1991, Mansfield, Ohio) lives & works in New York City. Earned his MFA at Columbia University & BFA from Columbus College of Art & Design. Working within the realms of Photography, Video & Performance. Whitson’s work has been published in Miami New Times, Huffington Post, The Advocate Magazine, & Photo-Emphasis. Whitson has participated in many residencies across the U.S., including programs at Mass MoCA, The Fountainhead (Miami), and the AICAD/New York Studio Residency Program. Whitson is also a current recipient of the Foundation For Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, the 2019 Enfoco Photography Fellowship, & The 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Photography Fellowship.
Artist Statement |
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This is your Ego: Words, two words, made up of two words. I’ve waited on the smell of beef stew and the taste of the burned garlic that sizzles the throat. My throat has held tension, it could be the tightness from allergies or the 3 legged dog pose that has become impossible to comfortably release. I’ve found moments of silence, maybe only two, but the background noise of television, irritates my thoughts on the search for a job that will convert me into a citizen. Theres been no quench of my thirst, theres no physical metaphor or reason to continue slurping orange juice. My belly is bloated, it’s beyond the american cheese and meat lovers pizza. The anxiety holds tight onto the gas that introduces itself to my neighbors. Maybe I waited for this? Waited to find that my true lover is longing and the potential, to make believe and form surrealist dreams that remind me of the bones in my sleeves. I have two treasure chests, one in my pores and the other in the sheets when I allow one sock to go because of a fungus thats beneath one curled toe. I had a dream of painting, navigating color relationships on a canvas. I also dreamed of riding my bicycle down a hill that was so steep I could barely break. Ellen is the name, she’s my divination tarot card reader. I’ve never seen her, I’ve never spoken to her, but she reveals a path. Sometimes I hear my own thoughts like a bell, the bell from the toaster oven that invented itself? Is it really true that I could be a combination of everything and every one else, am I made up of other peoples thoughts. There’s something to the color mint green, the green influences my sickness, almost like a tooth decaying in response to a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone. I’ve loved once before, he was kind, gentle, sweet, the production of him happened in my dreams. I’ve thought about my dreams once before, they told me theres something to the color yellow, they said it’s like a stench in the air that’s only tainted by the sun. Running doesn’t get me high, it only forces me to create a amount of sympathy, sympathy for my insecurities. I’ve seen this chevron pattern once before, it follows the stripes that mask themselves in red & white, but this time in cotton. Cotton has become a symbol, I’m not sure of what, maybe it’s the mucus that drowned itself in my skin. A rose also carries it’s own symbol, and I don’t mean a projected symbol that signifies the artificial lighting from Christmas lights. I’ve learned two things about breathing, only one represents life. Calvin, what a lovely name, is that because it’s attached to my suit case, or my white underwear that rises in my shorts. I’ve found solace in my longing, time in my heart beat, and a tremor in my waken state. Lets hope my ego has found peace also.