While Atlanta’s artscape is dominated by bold and powerful murals, Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design alumnus Jamele Wright, Sr. (B.A. ‘16) turns to nature with a new art installation “TRANSFER” that is literally…for the birds! The site-specific project, perched at the Decatur Avondale MARTA station, features a contemporary sanctuary of playful acrylic birdhouses in bold abstract shapes and eye-catching colors. The public commission is part of MARTA Artbound in collaboration with the Decatur Arts Alliance’s Black Artists Matter initiative.
“There is a mystical connection between man and nature. Colored light through stained glass was used so people would have a closer connection to their creator’s energy, I believe it still does,” says Wright, Sr. “My process is influenced by Hip Hop, the way it gathers different cultural influences through sampling. Colored light used as birdhouses, shaped in the form of graffiti-like glyphs. Moving that expression away from the physicality of the train to the outside world, onto nature, onto people."
Wright, Sr. is an emerging multidisciplinary artist, widely known for his vibrant, rich, tactile abstractions using found objects, Georgia red clay and Dutch wax cloth which center on the Black American vernacular experience. He recently had a solo exhibition, “…for those that dream…and continue to do so.” at the September Gray Fine Art Gallery and is currently included in the MOCA GA Biennial, Gathered V: Georgia Artists Selecting Georgia Artists. In May, Wright, Sr. will be a featured Visiting Artist at the Gibbes Museum in Charleston.
“TRANSFER” will be up through the summer.
Click here to listen to Wright, Sr. with fellow Georgia State alumnus Jamaal Barber for Studio Noize podcast.