"Can art inspire conversation and connection? Can art transfigure suffering and tragedy? Can art serve as the bridge for hope, healing, and redemption?
I realize there comes a time when art is not soothing, but confrontational; and yet, somehow soothing in the confrontation by prying open the possibility of promoting dialogue and understanding. It is my intention to use the paintings in this exhibit to grab you in a headlock, rough up your composure and then proceed to rearrange your sense of reality".
For 400 years, American culture and nationhood has been haunted, stalked, and tormented by the reality and symbols of racial injustice - the chains, the noose, the bullets. Now, well into the 21st century, the labels and suspicions and accusations, the marchings and riots, the righteous indignation, and "good trouble" rise again and again as a shadow on the land and as a spotlight on the hypocrisy of a nation that saw itself as the standard-bearer for "freedom." Artist Ephraim Urevbu presents a new body of provocative artwork confronting these and other issues in his forst solo exhibition at Belmont University in Nashville, TN (Leu Gallery) in the Fall of 2021.