Counterpoints: Moshekwa Langa, In and Out of Africa

Designed to promote open-ended dialogue and to "put art to work" in its capacity as mode of inquiry and debate, Counterpoints will invite the artist Moshekwa Langa, born in Bakenberg, South Africa, to create an installation in response to the objects and broader interpretive framework informing KAM's newly re-installed African gallery. A charismatic artist known for his introspective, almost insurgent representations of the self, space, and identity, Langa is well suited for the kind of critical elaboration envisioned for this project. Working in a range of media including drawing, painting, video, photography, and installation, Langa's art typically "begins" with the immediacy of his own experience, but is resonant on multiple levels. Through portraiture, map-like collages, or imaginary vistas comprised of everyday objects, Langa confounds our once-reliable points of reference, and loosens the grip that conventional categories of culture and identity have on our understandings of "African" art. Sponsored in part by the Francis P. Rohlen Visiting Artists Fund/College of Fine and Applied Arts, the Lorado Taft Lectureship on Art Fund/College of Fine and Applied Arts, and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency