Mario Moore: Recovery

David Klein Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Mario Moore, Recovery. The exhibition is Moore’s first solo show with the gallery. An opening reception for the artist will take place on Saturday, June 30th from 6 – 8 pm and an artist’s talk with Mario Moore on Saturday, July 21 at 4:30 pm.

Recovery features silverpoint drawings of significant African-American artists, writers, musicians and revolutionaries at rest or enjoying a leisurely activity. Moore, who often paints on copper panels, presents a group of intimately sized portraits of close friends as well as a self-portrait. A focal point of the show is a large-scale oil on canvas titled A Student’s Dream, which depicts Moore lying on a table in what appears to be an early operating theater. The painting is a reference to Moore’s recent awake craniotomy, a surgery he underwent to remove a benign brain tumor. Also included in the exhibition are two recent videos:
I Wish It Was Mine and Sorry for the Interruption, produced during Moore’s 2017 residency at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation.

Mario Moore, was born and raised in Detroit. He holds a BFA from College for Creative Studies, Detroit and an MFA from Yale, New Haven, CT. His work is in numerous private and public collections including the Detroit Institute of Arts, Winston-Salem State University and Knox College. He was recently awarded the prestigious Hodder Fellowship by Princeton University.

During the opening reception on June 30th, Mario Moore will present Renew, a performance with Sebastian Jackson of the Social Club Grooming Company, Detroit. Jackson will be giving the artist a haircut while they engage in a conversation about black men resting and relaxing. The audience will be invited to participate in the conversation.

After enduring his own physical trauma and surgery, Moore sought to examine the nature of recovery from trauma and stress and how it is experienced by black men in our contemporary society. He states: “The process of recovery is imperative for a body that has endured a certain trauma or physical strain. Yet, In America, there is an expectation for Black men to perpetually prevail—to keep working, keep fighting, and deny the body rest – despite the pains they may endure. Throughout history, Black men in America have been bombarded with endless conflict against their minds and bodies, rarely ever having opportunity to consider self-care.”

David Klein Gallery
1520 Washington Boulevard
Detroit, MI 48226

www.dkgallery.com