The Shellof Vitus

  Derek Fordjour.  Airborne Double , 2022. Acrylic, charcoal, cardboard, oil pastel, and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas; 60 x 100 in. Frances Fine Art Collection. Courtesy of the artist and Petzel Gallery, New York. The first major museum exhibition devoted to the subject,  Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage  presents 80 major collage and collage-informed works that reflect the breadth and complexity of Black identity. Featuring an intergenerational group of 52 living artists,  Multiplicity  explores the varying ways collage is employed and how the technique suggests diverse conceptual concerns such as cultural hybridity, notions of beauty, gender fluidity, and historical memory. By assembling pieces of paper, photographs, fabric, and salvaged or repurposed materials, these unified compositions express endless possibilities of Black-constructed narratives despite our fragmented society. Artists include Nina Chanel Abney, Derrick Adams, Njideka Akunyili Crosby

  The Vanderbilt University Department of Art is proud to welcome a new exhibition,  To Whom It May Concern,  by mixed media collage artist,   Vitus Shell  to Space 204 in October 2023. Vitus Shell, ICE CREAM MAN: WHITE ANXIETY, 2021 Acrylic & Paper on Canvas 28.5” To Whom It May Concern  presents the recent works of Louisiana artist, Vitus Shell focusing on the black experience while giving agency to the community through powerful imagery deconstructing, sampling, and remixing identity, civil rights, and contemporary black culture. Shell strives to bridge the gap between the older and younger generations by exploring and uncovering factors that contributed to the unfortunate relationship breakdown between the two. Visually combining in mixed media works, Shell experiments with portraiture, acrylic paint, oversized photocopies of early 20th century vintage advertisements and foam cutting techniques. To Whom It May Concern  will open on Thursday, October 12, 2023 with a reception fr