Richmond Barthé and Christopher Udemezue
in this moisture between us where the guinep peels lay
January 25 – March 9, 2024
Opening reception: Thursday, January 25, 6:00-8:00pm

RYAN LEE is pleased to announce in this moisture between us where the guinep peels lay, an exhibition of sculptures by American modernist Richmond Barthé (1901-1989) alongside images by multimedia artist Christopher Udemezue (b. 1986). The two bodies of work, created by artists of vastly different generations, explore figural representation through myth and movement, engage respective ties to Jamaica, and invoke evolutions of the queer Black perspective. 

Through their distinct mediums, both artists capture the eternal beauty and mysticism of the human body. Barthé, who was most prolific during the early-to-mid twentieth century, depicted the dynamism, energy, and movement of his subjects, often sculpting from memory. His figures, such as African Boy Dancing (1937) and Black Narcissus (1929) are characterized by their graceful, elongated forms, spiritual emotion, and delicate sense of motion. 

In dialogue with these sculptures, Udemezue’s photographs offer a striking and intimate meditation on the body from a contemporary perspective. “The scenes and stories depicted traverse historical and geographic borders,” Udemezue says, at the same time “addressing questions of African queerness, Caribbean spirituality and oral storytelling.” The artists’ bodies of work, when paired, highlight intergenerational possibilities for the queer Black perspective through expression and visual storytelling; while also calling upon their deep, yet differently rooted, ties to Jamaica. 

Udemezue’s photographs are directly inspired by trips to his ancestral homeland of  Bickersteth, Jamaica, each staged portrait responding to the folklore and oral stories of his imagined queer ancestors. “a tenderness when I was low and a touch on the side of my waist on days like today. a voice? something brought us to this space” embodies these perspectives. Lighted in the hot colors of passion, Udemezue’s portrait captures affection and longing, depicting queer bodies entwined among the lush throes of island foliage. A hand emerges into frame, suggesting a tension between possibilities of being “beckoned away”, and consenting approval for the embrace. Together, Udemezue’s photographs are a rebuttal of and reclamation from Western myopia, its artistic and literary canon, and its historical misappropriations of Jamaican culture, spirituality, and identity. 

Barthé’s relationship to Jamaica, in contrast to Udemezue’s, was less linear. “I’ve always identified myself with a certain shade of blue-green,” Barthé relayed to fellow artist Camille Billops in a 1975 interview. “When I saw the water there [in Jamaica] it was like coming back home. I stayed for over twenty years because of the color of the water.” Despite not being genealogically connected to the island, its coasts, colors, and way of life had a profound impact on his work. Moved by its character, Barthé’s time there imbued into his sculptures the vitality and spirituality he observed around him. Simultaneously, although he never explicitly revealed his sexuality to the public, his sculptures over the years returned to themes of homoeroticism, engaging subject matters of the male body in particular.

Aligned with their thematic conversions, both artists’ work also shares a preoccupation with figural representation, and a clear fascination with the body’s forms, movements and expressions. “This show, for me, acts as a conversation through time,” Udemezue says, “connecting present day pain and triumphs to those who came before me.” Through this lens, Barthé’s figures may be interpreted as predecessors to the younger artist’s work, and engaged with along the same representational spectrum of experiences. 

Barthé and Udemezue are united by the enduring timeliness of these subject matters. With in this moisture between us where the guinep peels lay, the invitation is to both contemplate and contextualize the evolution – but also the tenacity – of queer Black perspectives across era, geography, and medium. The gallery is working with the estate of Samella Lewis, who was instrumental in continuing Richmond Barthé’s legacy and creating later lifetime casts.

Richmond Barthé (b. 1901, Bay St. Louis, MS – d. 1989, Pasadena, CA) was an American artist known for his sculptures of Black performers, athletes, dancers, and historical figures. While attending the Art Institute of Chicago, Barthé took up sculpture at the suggestion of one of his professors. Barthé began sculpting figures that expressed his sitters’ emotions through their gestures and movements. Shortly after graduating in 1928, the artist relocated to New York City, where he became a vital participant of the Harlem Renaissance. Over the next two decades, Barthé exhibited widely and gained considerable acclaim as one of the first modern artists to depict African Americans in his work. In the 1940s, Barthé became the first African American artist to be represented—together with painter Jacob Lawrence—in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s and Whitney Museum of American Art’s collections. By the late-1940s, Barthé moved to Jamaica and lived there for two decades.

In 2015, Barthé’s work was featured in America Is Hard to See, the inaugural exhibition at the new Whitney Museum of American Art. Recently, his work has been featured in exhibitions at the Telfair Museums, GA (2023); Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands (2020); and Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, CT (2019), among others. His work can be found in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; and Smithsonian American Art Museum, DC, among others.

Christopher Udemezue (b. 1986, Long Island, NY) is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice is rooted in his Jamaican heritage, healing, personal mythologies, and the desire for connection. Udemezue’s concentration has recently expanded to recounting and visualizing the effects of his mother’s immigration from Jamaica. He is the founder of RAGGA NYC, a collective platform that connects a growing network of queer Caribbean artists and allies through online storytelling and events. In 2017, Udemezue completed a residency at the New Museum that culminated in an exhibition on the platform, titled RAGGA NYC: All the threatened and delicious things joining one another.

In 2018, his work was featured in the New Museum’s 40 year anniversary show, Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon. In 2019, Udemezue participated in The Shed’s inaugural Open Call grant and group show. He has also been included in exhibitions at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, MO; Künstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria; Mercer Union, Toronto, Canada; MoMA PS1, NY; New Museum, NY; and Queens Museum of Art, NY, among others. Udemezue received his BFA from Parsons School of Design in 2008. He lives and works in New York, NY.

About RYAN LEE
Celebrating emerging and established artists and estates, RYAN LEE takes a multi-generational approach to its programming, presenting innovative and scholarly exhibitions across all spectrums of art practices, including painting, photography, video, sculpture, and performance. The gallery takes chances on a wide variety of boundary-pushing artists; their work consistently transcends political, cultural, material, or technical boundaries. In addition, RYAN LEE has, throughout its history, demonstrated its long-standing interest and dedication to feminist, Black and Asian American, as well as queer narratives in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Founded in 2013 by Mary Ryan and Jeffrey Lee, the gallery is led by partners of different generations and backgrounds with over six decades of combined experiences informing its unique approach.