Exhibitions
ANTONIO DARDEN: EYES LIKE FIRE
Neue Welt / 507 Hagan St. May 3 - June 1st (Reception: May 3 6:00pm - 9:00pm)
Antonio Darden
Neue Welt is pleased to present EYES LIKE FIRE by Atlanta, GA-based artist Antonio Darden.
EYES
LIKE
FIRE
A bombardment. A difference. Anxiousness. Apprehension. Isolation. Depressive thoughts. Comparison. An excuse. Forgiveness. A liar. Unforgiveness. A sentence. A change. False humility. Time served. A vice. Comprehension. Consumption. Regurgitation. A window display. Feedback. A broken heart.
We are all guilty of it. This is me noticing you staring at me in the aisle. This place of comfort now made uncomfortable through the corruptible. It is me that you are noticing right? I am behind the wheel. I am pushing the cart. I am on my knees. I am engaged. I am all-consuming.
This is me attempting to usurp the authority of the cameras. My hands remain raised. The hills appear barren and the price of our plight has skyrocketed. And as onlookers profit from our herding I still take what I want.
EYES LIKE FIRE is an arresting installation that exemplifies the introspective gaze. The everlasting stare off between two in opposition. Sometimes we study ourselves in the mirror and sometimes we are on the far end of the glare. I mine for reason. I find: memories, hermeneutics and memetrics. I used to be a thief fr. We all need help and most times at the same time.
Also, WTFULA.
--
It is enervating to exist as a multi-racial man in the American south. In 1978, Antonio Darden's Indo Trinidadian mother entered the United States by way of New York. She met his African-American father at a funeral, fell in love and relocated to North Carolina. His mother adopted a drawl, learned to cook soul food and in 1990 persuaded her family to relocate farther south to Georgia.
In 2006 Darden earned his BFA in Sculpture from Georgia State University. His work has been exhibited in shows in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Mexico. In 2022 Darden was awarded a Juror's Choice award at MOCA GA in a group show surveying Georgia artists. In the summer of that same year he was named the Southern Prize State Fellow for Georgia by South Arts. He subsequently opened two consecutive solo shows in Atlanta. Darden most recently opened a two-person show at Swan Coach House Gallery in Atlanta, GA. He thereafter was named a finalist for the Forward Arts Foundations Edge award for 2024. His work has been collected by the City of Atlanta’s Office of Cultural Affairs, the Atlanta University Center, and several other private collections.
Darden's work has been reviewed in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, ArtsAtl.com, and The New York Times. Darden is an artist, designer, and fabricator and currently lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia.
