Tyler Rapp

LBST 1105-H72 (Visual Arts)

Julie Hicks

October 2, 2015

UNC Charlotte Uptown Gallery

Amalgamation: the sheer act of unification between various items. This title

speaks deeply to the art of Albert Chong, a man with amazing and unique artwork

from such a diverse background. At the Perspective Art Gallery in Uptown Charlotte,

Albert Chong’s work is featured—which displays many personal aspects of culture,

race, and more. The word “amalgamation” is such a great title for a gallery of art that

is comprised of such individualistic features of society.

To elaborate, Albert Chong has such a neat story. Ethnically, Chong is of

African and Chinese descent. He grew up Catholic religiously, which gradually

shifted to Rastafarian as he grew up and individually explored his own beliefs.

Chong was born in Jamaica, where a lot of his religious identify was rooted, and

where a lot of his culture is derived from. Around the age of twenty, Chong moved to

the United States to begin his art career in New York. Nonetheless, much of Chong’s

art consists of Jamaican heritage that symbolizes changes throughout his lifetime—

mostly that of religion, spirituality, and power, which are some of his consistent

motifs in his art. For example, much of his work contains coconuts, eggs, and shells

—which are all Jamaican objects that are interestingly demonstrated to convey

cultural themes. In addition, Chong tends to predominately use photography as his

medium for art, but also does other things such as large sculptures.

All of this described information flooded my mind as I entered the Albert

Chong section of the art gallery. However, I also had a perception of the gallery as a

whole before even seeing Chong’s exhibit. As I initially walked into the building—a

little bit late by the frustrating mass of traffic that dominates Charlotte—I was taken

aback by the mere structural makeup of the building. The outside appeared like

stacked books, making it distinct from almost every single building surrounding it.

Also, the simplicity of the professional dress by my peers combined with the

addition of a guide to lead us through the exhibit made our first experience as a class

in Uptown Charlotte serious and fun at the same time. Then, right as we all walked

through the entrance, Albert Chong’s art jumped out at me. Stopping at his first

pieces near the front doors was so cool, as the photographs he took were so pristine

and full of life. Moving along, the interior of the building as a whole was so fresh

feeling: the open, modernized space of the inside was so perfect for an art gallery.

Furthermore, the guides filled us in with all of Albert Chong’s background

stories (that I previously mentioned) when we made it into Chong’s “main” exhibit

area. This section that was blocked off specifically for his work was powerful: the

entire room was neatly filled with so much art that shouted with meaning. I loved

the juxtaposition of black and white photos with colored ones; simple two-

dimensional pieces with larger third-dimensional structures; and natural objects

with artificial ones. But, what stuck out the most, was the giant throne in the middle

of the room… It immediately caught my attention and drew me in. I yearned to sit in

it, but was too anxious to be the first one—or to do it at all! Also, the picture of a

little girl (dubbed Cousin Shirley) caught my eye because of its contrasting

intertwining of color with all of the black and white pictures that surrounded it.

With that being said, these are the two pieces I plan to explore even deeper through

aesthetics, personal connections, and cultural components.

First, the throne (called Throne for the Third Millennium, completed in 2003)

contained so many intricate and amazing aesthetic elements that brought the piece

together so well. The shape and form of the piece overall made it so realistic to what

I would think a king’s throne would be. With shape, the star on the ground—

smoothly created with feathers—gave the piece such an awesome dynamic that

would have been totally lost without it. Not only do stars typically symbolize power,

but the texture of the star with soft feathers (as well as the immense size of the star)

made the “powerful” connotation so delicately mild. It was as if Albert Chong was

trying to emphasize the emotion of strength, but not to where it was obnoxious and

overbearing. Next, the contrast in the colors, as well as the colors themselves, is

nicely done. The gold and black of the chair itself provokes—and reiterates—the

feeling of power, as well as a sense of elegance. The gold is almost dull-like too,

which again echoes a sense of reserve by Chong to where he does not want to come

across too bold and superior. Last, the use of organic material within the piece adds

another layer of texture and a tie to nature. The feathers, twigs near the top, shells

slyly located in the headrest, and the use of wings all evoke this naturalistic feeling

that unifies the piece to something many other art pieces do not contain. It is not

typical to see a throne with so many things that are derived from nature (or any

natural products whatsoever), which is just another aspect that makes the

aesthetics of Throne for the Third Millennium so great.

Personally, I initially had difficulty figuring out a way to connect to this piece.

How does a throne composed of naturalistic items relate to me whatsoever? But,

after considering Albert Chong’s message with a lot of his works, I understood that

this piece was more relatable than I thought. With this piece, I believe Chong is

stating that this throne (and its open seat) is for anyone to sit in and feel

empowered. This throne is not merely for a king or someone of a higher status, but

for an ordinary person. With this, I realized I apply this principle to the ways I am a

leader. In high school, I was the drumline captain, swim team captain, and the

president of several clubs. With these roles, I could not simply be a dictator and rule

endlessly. Rather, I had to give each and everyone in the designated team/group the

chance to “sit in the throne” and be a leader as well. For example, with the drumline,

I could not just tell everyone what to do and expect everyone to listen. Instead, I had

to give everyone a chance to show their strengths and feel like we were one

cohesive unit, rather than a group with one sole leader. With this art piece, I feel

Chong is conveying a similar message with saying everyone can sit in the throne at

times; which is why it is almost always empty as people cycle through it, feeling the

ways that they can shine.

Moreover, on a cultural level, I interpreted the meaning in a similar way. In

society, many people feel inferior to others: in the government versus society, some

teachers versus students, peers to peers, etc. Many people are never given a chance

to prosper and be the “king” for a day. Basically, the ordinary man is simply that to

himself: an “ordinary man” with no chance to grow and be something bigger. This

can be directly tied to the hierarchy of the Middle Ages in Europe, for example.

Roughly, there were kings (who ruled directly), then knights, and then the “lowly”

peasants. This system led to the king sitting in the throne all the time, the knights

with a smaller throne, and the peasants with no throne at all. This appears to be

analogous to our world today. There is the president and large business owners on

top, all the way down to minimum wage workers and the unemployed. Similarly, the

president and CEOs will “reign” forever and never take a step off the throne in

comparison to the unemployed who will likely never/rarely get the chance to sit in

the throne and feel “the power.”

Moving on, Cousin Shirley was the second piece that caught my attention in

the gallery. With this piece, as mentioned earlier, the first thing that attracted me to

it was the color (in regards to the contrast and value) in relation to itself and the

works around it. A lot of Chong’s pieces are black and white; and, as it so happened,

many of these pieces surrounded Cousin Shirley in the art gallery. This itself created

contrast with the other pieces; however, contrast and value also exists in the piece

itself with the black and white parts immersed with bright, colorful flowers.

Additionally, the movement of the photo created by the flowers is pretty unique.

The colorful flowers are floating around the photo in a way that creates depth and

movement. The flowers appear almost surfaced at the top of the photo that makes

the girl, Shirley, seem in the background. This is also neat because the emphasis of

the photograph is taken slightly away from Shirley and placed on the flowers.

On a personal account, the first person I think of in regards to this picture is

my sister, Brittany. Brittany is a special needs child who is only about a year and a

half years younger than me, but has the mind of a girl a little older than Shirley. The

part of the photo that really evokes an emotional response on a personal level is the

flowers and their color. Like in the work where the colors bring life to the photo,

Brittany is like this in my life. She has an affect on me to rejuvenate my life and

“bring it back to color,” just like the beautiful flowers in the picture. Although

Brittany will remain this way forever, she is definitely like a flower that always

blooms. She works harder than anyone I know at everything she does and never

seems to lose color. Although my life may be black and white at times, I know I

always have Brittany around to help me out.

Culturally, I believe Albert Chong had a deep message with this art piece.

While he was growing up—and still prevalent very much so today—racism was

rampant throughout the United States and much of the world. In this picture, Shirley

is in black and white, while the flowers are colored and are the main focus. What I

derive from this interpretation is that while a sweet, innocent girl exists in the

picture, the flowers are “more important” and “more lively” than the small human

being in the background. Unfortunately, there are still people in this world who have

similar viewpoints about those of other races. Albert Chong regards racism in much

of his pieces—usually more directly than I believe Cousin Shirley does—but I believe

this work does so in such a unique, powerful way that integrates that of youth and

purity. Sadly enough, the life of many Africans in society was/is regarded poorly.

Luckily, artists like Albert Chong are able to bring light to this situation throughout

artwork.

Overall, the Albert Chong exhibit was so compelling and mighty. Each and

every piece revealed something deep that encompassed so much meaning. Coming

from a very small town of little to no diversity, I revel in moments like these and

embrace everything I can. I cannot wait to further explore more art at the Harvey B.

Gantt Center soon!