Response to Artist Talk: Ta-coumba Aiken
Make-up Response to replace the one from the Soap Factory
November 29, 2007, 7:00PM, MIA
Ta-coumba Aiken, an artist from St. Paul, Minnesota spoke and lead a tour to of his new work in an exhibition titled “Call and Response� at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. He emphasized the importance of inspiration flowing out of a work to the community in order to inspire and encourage.
The works in “Call and Response� incorporated ideas of community in various ways. Not only did Ta-coumba Aiken collaborate with other artists in this exhibit, but even had a work where any viewer was allowed to move around tiles in a mosaic and in doing so collaborated with other viewers and Aiken. I thought it was very interesting that Aiken spoke about his desire for making art and how it centralizes around healing; art as a tool for healing. In many exhibitions I have seen this year, the art seems to question existing ideas for the most part. So it was interesting to see that his work may question, but that his questioning is just the means to a better end: a healed soul. I can see how these ideas connect to the title of the exhibit and made each work compliment the others despite their uniqueness and various “positive energies� as Aiken mentioned. Two works that specifically compliment yet differ from each other were titled “Underwater Love� (2006, acrylic on canvas) and “Call and Response II� (2007, acrylic on canvas). “Underwater Love� depicts a large, red face in the left, bottom corner beneath a blue, collection of faces and bodies which seems to pour out of the red mouth and curl up towards the top of the canvas. This work was fascinating to me due to the amount of energy his brush strokes displayed, not to mention his use of bright colors- in this case, red and blue and even more so, his imagery. “Call and Response II� mirrored the intense energy of “Underwater Love� yet visually, it was quite different. The left half of the rectangle canvas only held black and white paint, while the right half utilized yellow and a bold red that popped. The same energy of the brush strokes and curl of the images towards the top middle of the canvas seemed to match “Underwater Love� with precision. The faces and bodies, however, opposed those in “Underwater Love� and instead of seeming to flow from a source, they each stood on their own expressing individuality. With all the works Ta-coumba Aiken spoke of, I felt that these two works most strongly captured the essence of inspiration and creativity while commenting on harmonic relationships between people. Both also speak of the positive effects of art to heal individuals, groups of people and entire communities.
I could not help but enjoy Ta-coumba Aiken and his work very much! I felt it was a very influential and refreshing exhibit.