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artmaking

The Samurai Exhibition

Some thoughts about

Braden Sadler & the Samurai Exhibition

August 13, 2023

We went to see the Samurai exhibit at the High Museum in Atlanta yesterday. If I absorbed the wall text correctly, local artist Braden Sadler was responsible for the creative vision of some of the exhibition design, including the entry room. There the walls were plastered with documentation of the Samurai in popular culture. You could watch video sequences that included expected excerpts from Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, in addition to quick peeks at Forest Whitiker working his sword as the title character from Jim Jarmusch’s film Ghost Dog. Whitiker played an assassin who lived by the Samurai Code and communicated via pigeon post. (Fantastic soundtrack btw, including Wu-Tang Clan and Whitiker reading from the Samurai Code.) A still image of larger-than-life Uma Thurman as The Bride from Tarantino’s Kill Bill stared out at us with murderous eyes. A portrait of Darth Vader was juxtaposed with that of a Samurai in full regalia in such a way that the similarities in their costuming became immediately evident. This compelling contemporary perspective was a good reminder of the global influence of Samurai culture and the continued significance of the artifacts that we were about to experience.

Somewhat off-tangent, I know, but this display reminded me of the last room of the Pirates Museum in St. Augustine, Florida which we had visited the week prior. I know this is not very high-brow, but still memorable and worth a comparison. After viewing heavy implements of torture, many maps, and treasure paraphernalia, the last room brought into focus the continued love of the idea of the Pirate. Every inch of wall in this small room of departure was covered with images of pirates in movies and visual art. Included was a promotional poster and sound recording from Hook with Robin Williams, who I always love to see in any role, and small reproductions by the “Pirate Painter” Howard Pyle. I did not know that he had been called that by some. This incorporation of current culture into a historical exhibition can make it feel more relevant for some of us.

Back to Samurais–about halfway through the procession of the exhibit, a narrow gallery appeared dedicated to a series of paintings by Sadler. These large works of ink and watercolor on paper (53″ x 108″), were commissioned for this exhibition. They illustrate a chapter from the story of Yasuke, the black Samurai. You can see them on Sadler’s website.

Sadler’s cultivated style, influenced by the stylized shapes and lyrical line of Japanese ukiyo-e printmaking and calligraphy, brought to life the Samurai garments on display in a way that made them come alive so that I could imagine the people who wore them to battle centuries ago.

I’ve admired Sadler’s work for some time as he created one of my favorite local mural experiences that can be felt when driving on North Ave, under the bridge of the Beltline, through his The Gateway to Change: Abhaya’s Way, 2020. It was insightful for the High to incorporate his versatile, fresh voice into the exhibition.

The Gateway to Change: Abhaya’s Way

Works on paper>2020

Douglas Pierre Baulos’ “Night’s Hand on your Shoulder”

https://dougbaulos.com https://www.instagram.com/doug_baulos

Curated by Lisa Alembik

Swan Coach House Gallery http://www.swangallery.org

August 4-September 8, 2022

Opening 8/4 6-9 p.m.

Artist Talk 8/20 3 p.m.

CURATOR’S STATEMENT

Nature is primary. We are always becoming her, and she is us. This fluid relationship is something that those of us living in metropolitan areas don’t necessarily tend to in our everydays. As we continue to evolve into a global culture that resides more outside of the body and in the webisphere, many of us neglect our connection to the natural world. Sometimes, with blinders or virtual reality on, we cease recognizing that she is us, one big old globe whose atmosphere we all depend on for our well-being. As our earth begins to melt around our feet, we cannot overlook how important it is to remain grounded and, with vigilance, strengthen our bond with the planet. Sometimes artwork offers a prompt to take action, providing a way to engage the environment with both body and mind. Night’s Hand on Your Shoulder, a solo exhibition of works by Douglas Baulos, can be that compassionate push.

Douglas Baulos’ art and life Baulos’ profound connection to nature. Their handmade books and extraordinarily crafted installations are imbued with the breadth of their experience, from cultivating dye gardens and working the land, to spending time in ancient sites studying the skies. Baulos observes, seeking out what is hidden, making visible what only the quiet, patient eye may find. Baulos’ queer identity, with consideration for how they perceive the world from growing up in rural Illinois, and the influence of their travels with meaningful time spent in places like the western United States, Mexico, and Japan—these all flow through their artwork, and the artwork is them.

Baulos’ installations can be mindful spaces that shift the viewer from the world of hard, inflexible thinking into soft, open intuition. Gathered natural materials along with their observations of plant and animal life are woven into their art, with additions of lost-now-found objects that through context are imbued with complex meaning. Baulos transforms and transmogrifies their materials into altars, wall pieces, and transcendent spaces with their devotional creative energy. Their works are raw and vulnerable, still often holding a sense of joy—a looseness and fluidity of thought that allows the viewer to symbolically slip into the artwork.

A perennial storyteller, Baulos utilizes the language of nature and their lived history to develop their sincere narratives. Night’s Hand on Your Shoulder acts as a palimpsest, recording gradual transitions and shifts that overlap and disappear. The artist pays attention to signs that express the essence of time, observing as light morphs into shadow only to cycle back again. As time moves and nature flows so can our sense of self and our relationship to the immensity of nature. Baulos remind us of our corporeality and inextricable link to the earth, how we are connected to the shifts in seasons, the rotations of the planet, and the pull of the moon and stars.

–Lisa Alembik, curator