Two New Works by Stan Woodard are Included in 'd'Afrique d'Asie,' Curated by Koan Jeff Baysa, at Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, NY

Two new works by Stan Woodard, “Juju Stick’ and “The Afro Asian Action Figure (prototype)” are included in "d'Afrique d'Asie", at Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, 18 Jay Street, NY, NY. The show opens on Thursday, November 17, 6 - 8 pm and runs through December 14. "d'Afrique d'Asie" is curated by Koan Jeff Baysa.

(PRWEB) November 17, 2005 -- In two new works, “Juju Stick” and “The Afro Asian Action Figure (prototype)”, Stan Woodard continues his method of combining elements of societal debris to create new objects with new meanings. For each of these works the artist started with toys common to our millennial culture, and makes guesses as to how these things might be interpreted by future civilizations longing for a legendary past.

For “Juju Stick” a toy drum machine was dismantled and its working parts attached to weathered machined wood. The stick can be imagined in the hands of the nga nga, or tribal spiritualist, exhorting devotees to worship through song and dance. “The Afro Asian Action Figure (prototype)” is the perfect human-dragon chimera; a blending of the image of the powerful black woman and the good fortune of the Chinese Dragon. The dragon head is a mask adopted by the female to display a ferocity that she is not allowed under her own guise. The mask is obviously tied to her, so that no mistake can be made that it is not part of her, but an affectation.

“The pop nature of the elements of these pieces leads to an obvious humor, but the underlying idea of a dark and primitive future is what really drives the work. Past assumptions of what futurism means are being gradually replaced by images of devastation – devastation created by the reckless technologies employed by humans or devastation created by weapons employed to undo what our civilization has wrought.” Stan Woodard

Artists exhibiting in “d'Afrique d'Asie" are: Mequita Ahura, Sanford Biggers, iona rozeal brown, Young W. Lee, Mustafa Maluka, Navin Norling, Clifford Owens, Tomiko Pilson, Shinique Smith, Bernard Williams, Stan Woodard, Saya Woolfalk.

Woodard’s work has previously been seen at Eyedrum, the Dalton Gallery at Agnes Scott College, City Gallery East, and MOCA GA. He is also a creator of experimental music and has appeared at performance spaces and art galleries. He was awarded a 2003-04 KBFUS fellowship, promoting cultural exchange between Belgium and the US.

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