FROHAWK TWO FEATHERS: A Smile That Aint A Smile But Teeth

umar-rashid

Reginald Ingraham Gallery proudly presents a new exhibition of works by Umar Rashid.

UMAR RASHID
(Frohawk Two Feathers)

“A Smile That Aint A Smile But Teeth” September 6 – October 18, 2014

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 6th, 6:00pm – 9:00pm

In A Smile That Aint A Smile But Teeth, artist, performer, and storyteller, Umar Rashid opens his first solo show under his aforementioned birth name at the Reginald Ingraham Gallery. In the art world, Rashid is better known as “Frohawk Two Feathers” – his nom-de-plum and alter ego. This Homeric and Tolkien-esque raconteur is known for reweaving and reinventing a master narrative based on the supposition that France and England had united as “Frengland.” In his painted and sculpted saga, Two Feathers invites viewers through tales of woe and into bloody battles, introduces them to traitorous heroes and lost loves, and amuses them with his wit, humor, and biting sense of irony.

In this new body of work, Rashid aimed to “examine the self-identity of the black man in America” Exploring the current political climate, inherited historical truisms, and other influences from his upbringing, Rashid reflects and refracts murky worldviews, deeply engrained stereotypes, and grayish truths, all while illuminating mishaps, mistakes, and mistruths of master American mythologies. Here we see Two Feathers as Rashid and the reverse – something Rashid described as a “tromp-l’oeil effect of Two Feathers without the long extensive narrative story,” presenting a rich body of work and an enticing series of questions about the same topics that haunt the Frenglish Empire – the role of influential and pejorative stereotypes, racism, capitalism, and imperialism. *

Umar Rashid, (Frohawk Two Feathers) has had recent solo museum exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver Co, Nevada Museum of Art, Wellin Museum of Art, and the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. Umar was born in Chicago, Illinois and lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. This will be his first show at Reginald Ingraham Gallery.

* Excerpts from Ellen C. Caldwell

Reginald Ingraham Gallery
6021 W Washington Blvd
Culver City, California
(310) 558-1965