What's Newark Got To Do With It?: Recent Episodes
Roger C. Tucker III
A podcast, hosted by Roger C. Tucker III, that explores the cultural impact and life-long influences of Newark, NJ on artists, historians, authors, curators and other cultural thought leaders from/of the Brick City.
My first question, at the beginning of any phone call to my good friend and colleague, Gardy St. Fleur, is “What are you up to?”. And he usually answers “I’m here doing my part.” His “part”, in his own words, is “pushing the culture”. That pretty much sums up the passion and commitment Gardy has for discovering, rediscovering and elevating BIPOC artists.
I’ve always believed that art has the power to address and answer issues around social justice, equity and access. And you’ll hear, at the beginning of our conversation, how Gardy puts this belief front and center of his multi disciplined art practice.
Gardy is a Haitian-American art advisor based in New York City. He was born in Haiti and moved to Brooklyn with his family when he was a child. His father collected work by Haitian artists and Gardy began buying art at the age of 14.
Gardy is known for curating unique pieces of art from around the world for prestigious clients, as well as his own personal collection. He has advised athletes including basketball players Kyrie Irving, Courtney Lee, and Caris LeVert, as well as ballet star Misty Copeland.
We first met at a New Year’s party that I gave almost 13 years ago. I’ve been fortunate to witness and benefit from Gardy’s professional journey in the art world ever since.
So listen in on our conversation at the WhatsNewarkGotToDoWithIt.com Podcast, by clicking on the black bar at the beginning of this text, and get to know how Gardy continues, through his art advisory, art management and art collection practice, to navigate the art world on his own terms.
One of the earliest artists that **Gardy St. Fleur** championed and whose work he collected, was that of **Ionel Talpazan** (born Ionel Pârvu). Talpazan was a Romanian self-taught outsider artist. He arrived in New York City where he became known in the late 1980s for his paintings of UFOs. He died in New York at the age of 60 on September 21, 2015.
**Phillips Auction House** tapped **Gardy St. Fleur** to organize a sale-within-a-sale of the **“The New Now”** auction in 2021 titled **“The Crossover”** (gallery exhibition installation, middle photograph). **Gardy** (red hat) leading tour at the exhibition (photo below) It was comprised of 13 new works by emerging Black artists. “The Crossover” brought in just over $311,000, all of which was put toward initiatives in Haiti and New York run by **Project Backboard**, a Memphis-based nonprofit that rehabilitates public basketball courts and commissions artists (photograph above) to make work for these sites.
**St. Fleur** is shown here (right) with artist **William Villalongo** (left) discussing one of his works of art with **Caris LeVert**, a former Nets guard, at the **Susan Inglett Gallery** in New York City. Early in his career St. Fleur immersed himself in all areas of the art world, such as taking on the studio manager responsibilities for Villalongo. Photo: Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times
“The Front Lines'“ by artist Deborah Roberts. Gardy St. Fleur collaborated with Galerie Mitterrand in May 2023 to mount an exhibit of her work in Paris.
Photographer Lola Flash grew up in the Newark suburb of Montclair, a wealthy and diverse commuter town 12 miles west of New York City. We ran into each other in Woodstock, NY in 2021 during my visit there to see an exhibition at the town’s Center of Photography. My friend and colleague, Charles Guice, who curated the exhibition, Woodstock Vision: The Spirit of a Generation Photographs by Elliott Landy, was giving my wife and I a tour of the exhibition when we bumped into Lola, who was currently an artist-in-residence at the Center. I’m an admirer of Lola’s photography practice and we frequently saw each other at events and exhibitions in NYC. Fortunately, during our conversation, I discovered that Lola grew up in Montclair and that led to reminisces of our youth in that area of Essex County, and subsequently, to this interview.
Working at the forefront of genderqueer visual politics for more than four decades, photographer Lola’s work challenges stereotypes and gender, sexual, and racial preconceptions. An active member of ACT UP during the time of the AIDS epidemic in New York City, Lola was notably featured in the 1989 “Kissing Doesn’t Kill” poster. Their art and activism are profoundly connected, fueling a life-long commitment to visibility and preserving the legacy of LGBTQIA+ and communities of color worldwide. Flash has work included in important collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, MoMA, the Whitney, The National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Brooklyn Museum. They are currently a proud member of the Kamoinge Collective, and on the Board of Queer Art.
Lola received their bachelor's degree from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and Masters’ from London College of Printing, in the UK. Lola works primarily in portraiture, engaging those who are often deemed invisible. Flash’s practice is firmly rooted in social justice advocacy around sexual, racial, and cultural difference.
The images that accompany this podcast can be seen by visiting the website: whatsnewarkgottodowithit.com
This interview took place on May 16, 2022.
lolaflash.com
Established in 1988, The Autograph Gallery’s mission is to champion the work of artists who use photography and film to highlight questions of race, representation, human rights and social justice. In April of 2019 the gallery, located in London, England, mounted an exhibition of Lola’s series ,titled [sur]passing. Emphasizing varying shades of skin tone, these larger-than-life portraits feature a spectrum of global diasporic figures posed against urban skylines - probing the impact of pigmentation on black identity and consciousness.
"Flash’s photography pays tribute to those who courageously navigate contested zones of existence, transforming dissident sexualities and complex cultural identities into productive sites of exploration, reclamation and occupation" - Renée Mussai, Curator, [sur]passing Exhibition
Three images from that exhibition:
The Autograph Gallery’s main exhibition space for Lola’s **[sur]passing** exhibition.
**Lola Flash, DJ Kinky**, London, 2002
**Lola Flash, Thato**, Cape Town, South Africa, 2002
In 2021 The Museum of Modern Art acquired and exhibited seven works from Flash’s Cross Color Series, originally created in the late 80’s. These are two pieces from that series:
**Lola Flash, U is for Upside Down**, New York City, New York, 1993
**Lola Flash, AIDS is Killing Artists**, Self-Portrait, Provincetown, Massachusetts c. 1990
To see the entire Lola Flash Cross Color photographs acquired by MoMA: https://www.moma.org/artists/133450
Flash, in collaboration with LiteBrite Neon Studio created 10 (ten) editions of this piece, **Silence Will Not Protect You**, for Queer|Art.
Lola Flash, Queer|Art Mentor and Trustee, created this second annual Queer|Art Artist Neon Edition, Silence Will Not Protect You, in collaboration with LiteBrite Neon Studio.
December 2021. Inspired by their history with ACT UP and AIDS awareness activism with Gran Fury, Flash highlights the text, “Your Silence Will Not Protect You,” originated by writer, educator, and feminist Audre Lorde at the Modern Language Association’s “Lesbian and Literature Panel,” in 1977. The powerful quote later served as the title of her posthumous collection of essays, speeches, and poems in 2017. This neon edition radiates connection between Lorde’s work and ACT UP’s seminal statement, “Silence=Death” and creates a clear throughline of queer liberation and activism from then to now—and onward into the future. Flash, in collaboration with LiteBrite Neon Studio, has created only 10 (ten) editions of this work, all of which are available for purchase from Queer|Art’s online shop.
Looking Forward: Lola Flash and Sadie Barnette in Conversation. Getty Center, Sunday Oct 09 2022
The **Kamoinge Workshop** is a collective of Black photographers formed in New York in 1963. Its legacy continues today with members upholding the group’s mission to honor, document, preserve, and represent the history, culture, and lived experiences of the African diaspora with integrity and respect. During this conversation, Kamoinge member and photographer Lola Flash talks with multimedia artist Sadie Barnette about their unique approaches to history, our current moment, and **Afrofuturism**: **https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHAhsbLuk8A**
To embrace the spirit of Afrofuturism and create paradigms liberated from Western cultural hegemony, Lola created Syzygy, the Vision, an ongoing self-portrait series where the artist transforms herself into a representation of every Black person subjected to the horrors of racism, sexism, and homophobia. The series takes its name from an astronomical term for where the sun, earth, moon, and/or planets align to create an eclipse. Flash adopts this straight-line configuration to contemplate the pasts, presents, and futures of Black people across time and space. There will be a total of 100 images when Lola completes the series. http://www.lolaflash.com/syzygy
**Lola Flash, Milky Way, 2021**. From the **Syzygy, the Vision** series. In the collection of The National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture recently purchased seven of Lola’s photographs through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative.: https://nmaahc.si.edu/lgbtq/lola-flash
**Lola Flash, Lola Flash, 2008**. Included in the collection of The National Museum of African American History and Culture.
PICTURING BLACK GIRLHOOD: MOMENTS OF POSSIBILITY. EXPRESS NEWARK | PAUL ROBESON GALLERIES, Newark, NJ
Feb 2022 - July 2022 “This international exhibition featured over eighty-five Black women, girls, and genderqueer artists - ranging in age from 8 to 94 - who work in the mediums of photography and film and have a sustained practice exploring the theme of Black girlhood. Black girls are our most innovative cultural producers, community connectors, and trendsetters, but their contributions are rarely recognized and their lives are largely invisible in our dominant culture. In contrast, this exhibition considers Black girlhood as an essential stage of development, an integral moment of political awakening, an embattled site of representation, and a critical source of artistic inspiration throughout the globe”.: https://www.expressnewark.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Picturing-Black-Girlhood-Wall-Text.pdf
**Lola Flash, Tenzin, 2008**
https://www.expressnewark.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Picturing-Black-Girl-Press-Images-Captions-sampling-1.pdf
Peter “Souleo” Wright curates entertaining and informative events, exhibitions, and cultural programs. His focus on education and amplifying underrepresented stories are paramount to his curatorial mission and practice.
Declared as, "one of the very greatest bass voices of the century", Kevin Maynor has sung throughout the world in both opera houses and concert halls. Image: Kevin as The Masque in Trilogy Opera’s FIVE.
Emma Wilcox shares her unique view of art spaces and the overarching power of eminent domain. Image: Emma Wilcox, Art & Audience, TEDxNJIT, 2016
Navindren Hodges, Bill Hodges Gallery Director , boasts the gallery’s collection ranges from 19th-century Black artists Henry Ossawa Tanner to modernist, abstraction icon Norman Lewis to contemporaries Willie Cole and Carrie Mae Weems. Image: Demetrius Oliver, Totem, 2004
Anonda Bell is an Australian born, USA based, artist and curator. As the Director and Chief Curator of the Paul Robeson Galleries in Newark, NJ, she continues to make sure the “Radical Voices” in art are seen. Image: Anonda Bell, “Neither Shall You Touch It”, 2013-2014.
Artist Victor Davson’s professional and charismatic leadership has, and continues to have after 35 years, a profound impact on the artistic landscape of Newark and the Tri-State region.
Award-winning playwright, Richard Wesley, shares how the 1970s Black Arts Movement in Newark inspired his contributions to theater, film and books over the past five decades. Image: Scene from his play “The Black Terror”
Join me in a lively conversation with Nell Painter to discover how this brilliant Newark transplant uses her artistic talents to “disturb the peace”. Image: Nell Painter, 3g. Motherwell in the Adirondacks 17, 2016
Filmmaker Ernest Dickerson, directing Raised By Wolves in Cape Town, South Africa, shares how growing up in Newark, NJ continues to inform his filmmaking career. Image: Abubakar Salim in ‘Raised by Wolves’,
Willie Cole, contemporary American sculptor, printer and conceptual and visual artist, shares how Newark informed his early art practice. Artwork: Willie Cole, Street Dragon.
Art advisor and art collector, Roger C. Tucker III, shares with his daughter, Ara, how growing up in Newark informed his evolving art practice. Artwork: George Sheffield, Facing Abstraction.