Must Be Two Sides: A local art exhibition portrays dueling sides of black life.

 Must Be Two Sides: A local art exhibition portrays dueling sides of black life. 

 

The inspiration for artist Vitus Shell’s new exhibition stems from a brief, but powerful moment on a Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans: the abrupt exchange of gunfire between young men, which caused no injuries and only a short interruption in festivities led by Mardi Gras Indians.

Shell, a native of Monroe, La., who was in town as part of an artist residency, was struck by the juxtaposition of the events — the sickening sound of gunshots versus the pride and grace of Mardi Gras Indian feathers and chants.

Shell said he remembers a staffer with the Joan Mitchell Center, the group hosting his residency, wondering if the group should continue to bring visiting artists to that area. And then his friend’s response, which hit Shell as an appropriate summation of black life: “She’s gotta understand you gotta take the good with the bad.”

“There are always those dualities of something beautiful and something ugly at the same time,” Shell says. Gun battles versus Indian beauty, black soldiers serving the U.S. overseas only to face discrimination upon their return home: Shell puts these contrasting realities on display in a striking series of portraits in his latest exhibition, Must Be Two Sides: The Dualities of the Black Experience. The show runs through May 21 at the McKenna Museum of African American Art.

Shell’s mixed-media work sets figures (usually acrylic portraits of everyday people) against layered collages. The collages represent layered issues, layered ideas, “Things that go on around us that sometimes go ignored but sometimes hit you in the face,” Shell says.

Shell’s work has been displayed in numerous venues, including Treo as part of Prospect 3 in 2014. The artist returns to New Orleans this month for a summer residency with the Joan Mitchell Center. 2003 Carondelet St., (504) 586-7432, themckennamuseum.com