{"id":4155,"date":"2018-09-05T14:03:14","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T14:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/media-archive.blackartinamerica.com\/?p=4155"},"modified":"2019-06-21T12:45:12","modified_gmt":"2019-06-21T12:45:12","slug":"reginald-gammon-an-artist-for-the-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthexhibitions.org\/media-archive\/?p=4155","title":{"rendered":"Reginald Gammon: An Artist for the People"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reginald Gammon:<\/span> An Artist for the People<\/h2>\n
By Shantay Robinson <\/span><\/pre>\n
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Reginald Gammon<\/p><\/div>\n
Reginald Gammon, a native of Philadelphia, attended Philadelphia Museum College of Fine Art and the Stella Eakins Tyler School of Fine Art at Temple University. He moved to New York to join the art scene there in 1951. \u00a0The first year, of his stay in New York, he claims he was very lonely, but he eventually came to be a part of a community of artists. Camille Billops interviewed Gammons for <\/span>Black Thought and Culture <\/span><\/i>in 1974 and then again in 1995. Though he was a professor at both times, he talked lovingly about the struggling artist lifestyle he led between 1951 and 1970. In reminiscing about that time, Gammon includes stories about Paul Robeson, Jacob Lawrence, and Romare Bearden. His life was a who\u2019s who of colorful characters, he, being one himself. <\/span><\/p>\n
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Freedom now, Reginald Gammon 1963<\/p><\/div>\n
During the weekend of September 14 -16, 2018 Black Art in America will host the Fine Art Show in Philadelphia. While there will be a lot of work available by contemporary artists, there will also be work available by legacy artists, including Reginald Gammon, one of the members of the Spiral Group. <\/span><\/p>\n
Spiral was comprised of art legends including Hale Woodruff, Romare Bearden, Emma Amos, Norman Lewis, and others. The group formed in 1963 because of the March on Washington. They wanted to keep the momentum going among black artists working in New York City. They met once weekly and would discuss issues particular to black artists. Some members thought the group should include white members, but Gammon was one who did not agree with this. In the interview with Camille Billops in 1974<\/span>, <\/span><\/i>he stated, \u201cThere were all kinds of clubs for white artists and they didn\u2019t go out of their way to invite us.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n
Spiral had one group exhibition at their Christopher Street location called <\/span>Black and White<\/span><\/i>. The group wanted to touch on issues of race through their artwork. All the work created was done in black and white whether figurative or abstract. \u00a0Gammon created <\/span>Freedom Now<\/span><\/i> for the show. But the show wasn\u2019t reviewed by any publications, so there isn\u2019t any record of the show. After the group show, the landlord wanted to raise the rent and the group couldn\u2019t afford to pay for their meeting space, so Spiral disbanded in 1966.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Holy family, Reginald Gammon 1965, collection of Worcester Art Museum<\/p><\/div>\n
Although most of the group members were already established, Gammon, as a novice, was invited to the group by Richard Mayhew in 1965. Critiquing works wasn\u2019t common for the group, but when they viewed Gammon\u2019s work, they were concerned with his desire to work with figures instead of abstraction as the rest of the art world was doing. They asked, \u201cWhy are you so involved with breasts?\u201d But that\u2019s what he studied \u2013 figurative art. \u00a0In the interview with Billops, Gammon stated, \u201cI have always been a figure painter and will die a figure painter. I think all the abstraction, the landscapes, comes from the figure, really. I have caught hell for maintaining that view. I think the human physiognomy is as great a landscape as you can find or as great a still life as you can find.\u201d Though his contemporaries had taken to modernism and were more interested in line and shape than with the human form or still lifes and landscapes, Gammon was sure enough a figurative painter until he died.<\/p>\n