Pond is pleased to present Kinfolk, a solo-exhibition of new acrylic and fresco paintings by Little Rock-based artist, Justin Tyler Bryant. Exploring ideas surrounding Black representation in contemporary painting, Kinfolk reframes the millennia-old technique of fresco as a tool for reclamation and agency over a white regulated and dominated art history. 

Kinfolk consists primarily of two installations:

In Joshua Asante, Bryant uses the South half of the gallery as an enlarged sketchbook page. Four acrylic paintings on shaped wood, including one 8’ tall, freestanding painting on board, create a fractured portrait of Little Rock electronic and soul musician, Joshua Asante. This installation directly references Alex Katz’s 1985 aluminum, cut-out portrait of Allen Ginsburg, but employs “Kool-Aid colors,” a term used to describe the vibrant colors characterizing the Black Arts Movement of the 60s and 70s.

Reunion consists of 7 ceramic-backed, fresco figures arranged along a miniature, stage-like shelf, suggesting an intimate but energetic gathering. Some figures engage in dialogue while others, partially depicted or turned around, seem shy or occupied, creating a candid scene. This installation, as well as Joshua Asante, prioritize Bryant’s interest in creating images that function as objects:

“Kinfolk focuses on the Black image as a means in and of itself to make a painting. I am relating the term to the decisions I’m making in my painting processes to understand the relational aesthetic of the image as an object. This relational component is understood in the use of material and placement of the work in the space.” 

The title, Reunion, does not specify whether the gathering is familial or other. The exhibition title, Kinfolk, refers to the Black vernacular use of the word, expanding the definition of “kin” to include one’s chosen family along with blood. Regardless, the reunion taking place here is celebratory and jovial.

Justin Tyler Bryant received his BFA in Studio Art from the University of Arkansas, Little Rock in 2012 and his MFA in Studio Art from Louisiana State University in 2018. Bryant was a participant at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2017 and he received the Emerging Visions Residency at Michigan State University in 2019. He was featured in Delta Voices: Artist of the Mid-South by the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts and in the publication, New American Paintings, as an editor's choice. Notable exhibitions include Moving In Place at Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri, Lingering in the Minor Key in East Lansing, Michigan, and the online exhibition Get Free Telethon. His recent work investigates the past and present imagery of African-Americans to reflect a fugitive notion of Blackness. Bryant uses found objects, paintings, drawing, and video. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Philander Smith University in Little Rock.