Audible Gallery: Marvin Tate - The Musicality of Poetry
Friday, July 15-October 9, 2022
FREE
The exhibition is available to visit by appointment. Contact info@ess.org to schedule.
Closing Reception
Sunday, October 9
2-4pm
The Musicality of Poetry is exhibition by the multidisciplinary artist and arts activist Marvin Tate. The exhibition features recent visual work by Marvin. Later in the summer, Marvin will premiere a newly commissioned sound installation created in collaboration with olula negre and Hunter Diamond.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I grew up shy with a severe stutter, and as one can imagine; made fun of by peers and classmates. It wasn’t until my sister, shared with me a poem she liked, that was written by the poet Gwendolyn Brooks, called “We Real Cool “did my stuttering become somewhat manageable. The poem’s lyrical flow and streetwise relevance inspired me to memorize it verbatim. Not only did It slow- down my rapid speech pattern, but it also gave me a sense of purpose. I fell in love with words and sound. There were times I felt as if I’d made up my own language, “MarvinLish”, I called It; in its cadences, I heard the solos of Ornette Coleman, the vocal histrionics of Roland Kirk, and the insane wordplay of Amiri Baraka. Thus, the body of work, presented for this exhibition represents that process; of combining words, imagery, and improvisation, with personal narratives, juxtapositions, sprinkled with social commentary, contradictions, and improvisation, it's the same way I create visual art, why I choose recyclable and found objects, to revision matters of the “ev’days” of life, social commentaries that are poignant, naïve, funny, and sometimes total doom. It’s all here, metaphorically, and organically, ‘The Musicality of Poetry’.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Marvin Tate is a native Chicagoan from the city’s westside. As a career multidisciplinary artist and Arts Activist. His spoken word is a tapestry of personal narratives, observations, combining impromptu, raw social commentary, dark-lyrics and song. His songs, poetry and art have been heard/displayed on WBEZ’s, This American Life, Def-Jam Poetry, The Hyde Park Jazz Fest, Chicago Blues Fest, BBC Radio, The Reader, Pitchfork, The Intuit Museum, and most recently The Chicago Magazine. Presently, he has collaborated with the Experimental Theater troupe, Theater Y, for a ten-day production of an original play, written by Tate, and Dramatist, Evan Hill called, “The Laughing Song (A Walking Dream) about the life and times of George Johnson, the first African American to record a record. This is a part of their on-going exploration of building accessible theater and community. The four-hour, promenade-style, participatory production takes audiences through the physical and imaginative landscape of North Lawndale.