Le’Andra LeSeur “Maybe rainbows do exist at night”

Microscope Gallery

[Image: Le'Andra LeSeur “libérer” (2019) neon, C-stand, plexiglass, ceramic, water, dimensions variable (Detail), Courtesy of the artist & Microscope Gallery]

This event has ended.

Maybe rainbows do exist at night is the first solo exhibition at the gallery by Le’Andra LeSeur. The Bronx-born artist works primarily with moving image, installation, photography, and performance to address themes of identity, gender, race and sexuality.

Through multi-channel video, neon sculpture, 35mm slide projection, and mixed-media works in Maybe rainbows do exist at night LeSeur seeks to challenge negative notions of blackness and to achieve and depict freedom within a marginalized body, or more specifically “a queer, femme, and black body.”

“Rainbows are a reflection of light, yet in darkness, there must be a projection of light in order to re-create this phenomenon. The same can be said when thinking of the perception of blackness within cultural and societal contexts. There is beauty within blackness that has to be projected in order to be accepted.” – LL

In the eponymous 6-channel video installation, LeSeur represents the “tug and pull” attempting to attain a sense of true beauty and freedom. LeSeur’s work begins with the artist concealed behind an African mask and ends with her dancing without restrictions or adornments in nature. In the 24-minute work, LeSeur is seen at times performing lyrical and dance-like movements with her head, torso, arms and hands as well as various rituals with milk, African vases, sheer red and blue veils, or a trumpet held before an American flag, among others. Excerpts from archival footage of a transcendent harp performance by Alice Coltrane and an audio recording of Gil Scott Heron’s “Who will survive in America” serve as powerful references as well as elements of catharsis and inspiration for the artist.

Whereas the emphasis of the video installation is on the unseen beauty existing within darkness, the focus of the 35mm slide projection “Blue is darkness made visible” is on the desire to be seen, with the color blue representing that struggle. The work’s 140 images each present a different shade of blue, captured by photographing the sky at various times of the day. Texts by the artist such as “We all carry blues…it’s just how we interpret these blues that brings out different hues” are handwritten on many of the film slides.

Among other works on view are two mixed-media pieces titled “my, mine, mind and spirit” that are meant to honor and liberate the spirit of LeSeur’s African ancestors, the Yoruba. Both incorporate collages referencing slave ship diagrams, found photos of churches in the South, and rhythmic markings resembling tallies. A neon sculpture “libérer” features a blue neon light forming the French word for “release” positioned on a C-stand so that it is only legible through its reflection in a ceramic container of water below.

Maybe rainbows do exist at night opens on Friday December 13th and continues through Sunday January 19th. Opening Reception: Friday December 13th, 6-9pm.Gallery
Le’Andra LeSeur (b. 1989 in Bronx, NY) is an interdisciplinary artist working and living in Jersey City, NJ. Through visual media, installation, and performance, her work reclaims and dismantles stereotypes surrounding black female identity, informed by the effects that regulated systems of oppression have on black women. LeSeur was the recipient of the 2019 Leslie-Lohman Museum Artists Fellowship and the 2018 Time-Based Category Award and the Juried Grand Prize at Artprize 10. She was also the recipient of the 2019 SCAD40 prize. Recent lectures include SCAD, the RISD Museum of Art, and The Brooklyn Museum with Marilyn Minter in conjunction with The Tory Burch Foundation. Recent residencies include NARS Foundation, Marble House Project, and Mass MoCA. Earlier this year, her work was included in the group exhibition “Scrapbook (or, Why Can’t We Live Together)” at the gallery. LeSeur is represented by Microscope Gallery.