The light from inside the Iceberg Projects seeps into a rainy Chicago night. It catches the decal of a piece by the gallery’s current resident; the South African artist Athi-Patra Ruga. The piece is entitled Yellow Bone, a portrait of a person in the style of a stained-glass window. Against a red background, the subject’s head is portrayed in green and teal glass with a floral lace pattern. The arms and torso of the subject are colored in warm tans and reds. As light illuminates the piece, it resembles the decorative windows of a church, inviting outsiders to take refuge in whatever lies behind the door. It is the perfect piece to pull people into the spiritual experience that Ruga has created.

        Curated by Daniel Berger and John Neff, the exhibition runs from October 21st to December 5th. Iceberg Projects states that “in this exhibition, Ruga uses the archive of 20th century photographer and writer Carl Van Vechten as a starting point to continue his decade-long interest in unpacking the response of black modernists in European and American negrophilia of the early 20th century.” Ruga seeks to “process the fraught history of a colonial past, to critique the present and propose a possible humanist vision of the future.”

 

 

(Left) Athi-Patra Ruga, Yellow Bone, 2023. Decal of stained-glass work done in 2020 attached to the entry door of the gallery. (Right) Athi-Patra Ruga, Swazi Youth (after Irma Stern), 2023. Stained glass, lead, powder coated steel, light box, 59 x 32 inches. Photos: Iceberg Projects.

 

        As I step inside, greeting me is an echo of what enticed me in the first place. Swazi Youth portrays a South African Swazi in a stained-glass window. This work is far less deliberate in its intentions than Yellow Bone. Colors swirl together in a field of greens, browns, and reds. It takes a moment to decipher what is going on in this piece. However, it becomes clear there is a young person in a blue harness flaunting their youth through a field of greens and an orange lily. The subject’s arms are behind their head, not relaxed, in a pose that can be seen as prideful. The lilies in the piece remind me of the bouquet of orange lilies I have tattooed on my arm. My intention was to reference the song “Daylily” by the band Movements. The song describes watching someone they love struggle with mental illness. While there are good days and bad when battling mental illness, the singer encourages a mindset where the good outnumber the bad. The song encourages a rebirth of a happier life—symbolized through the orange lily, which is associated with pride, commitment, and rebirth. Lilies are a common thread through Ruga’s exhibition and reflect a similar desire for happiness and pride in who you are.

        Once inside, I can feel the comfort, warmth, and acceptance of the mythological-like characters Ruga created. One of these characters is depicted in the self-portrait, Auto Exotic/Auto Erotic. Ruga longingly holds a mask close to their own face. The portrait is a direct reference to Carl Van Vechten’s Portrait of Billie Holiday, where Billie holds an African face sculpture. But, in Ruga’s portrait, there seems to be a divide between them and the mask. The subject sits in front of a floral drapery filled with pinks, yellows, and reds. Meanwhile, the mask they hold is in front of a plain blue background. This visual divide is also a reference to Portrait of Billie Holiday, yet the meaning feels more intentional in Ruga’s interpretation. In Vechten’s photograph, Holiday is holding what looks like an ancient stone head. In Ruga’s piece, the two faces meet at the cerulean blue edge, as if reconciling from two separate places. In contrast to Vechten’s photograph, Ruga’s painting questions with whom the subject is connected. It seems Ruga is connecting to their African ancestors. Although the subject and the mask come from two separate places, their connection appears divine and impenetrable.

 

(Left) Athi-Patra Ruga, Auto Exotic/Auto Erotic, 2022. Oil pastels and oil sticks on Fabriano, 43 x 31 inches. Photo: Iceberg Projects. (Right) Carl Van Vechten, Portrait of Billie Holiday, 1949. Digital file from original gelatin silver print, 13 x 9 inches. Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/van.5a52119/

        Another important character in Ruga’s mythology is depicted in the portrait The Clubkid. The subject sits on a stool, wearing buckles, a harness, and a draped cloth, all while holding an orange in their mouth. In many cultures, the orange symbolizes prosperity and fertility. Like other characters in Ruga’s mythology, The Clubkid embodies the strength of their own unique perspective. The harness, as well as the orange, are arranged around the subject casually, not as afterthoughts, but as purposeful parts of the whole being. The subject does not appear caught off guard, or trying to seduce the viewer, but is simply existing. Despite the strange disposition, Ruga portrays them as ordinary. It reiterates the judgment-free sanctuary Ruga seeks to create in this exhibition. Beneath the lime green background of The Clubkid, is a coat of pink paint. It cannot be seen from far away; I did not even notice it at first. But, at a second glance, the pink background is present and is seen in all of Ruga’s portraits. Further, the same baby pink is painted on the walls of the Iceberg Project. Berger stated that Ruga had asked if they could paint the walls that color, and then provided a color swatch.

 

 

        Ruga diverges from the Vechten-inspired portraits in a few of the other works on display. St. Joseph Death Drop, a hand sewn tapestry, features a vibrantly brilliant character at the bottom of a death drop. The death drop is a dance move where someone jumps in the air and uses the ball of their foot to land on their back, with the other foot in the air. The piece has an impressionist feel. While the background is filled with blues and blacks, the subject is sewn in warm threads of yellow, red, orange, and pink. They wear a harness and hold a white lily in their mouth, symbolizing rebirth and purity. Like many of Ruga’s other characters, they are beautifully depicted in their honest and raw representation.

 

        This is also seen in Ruga’s portrait The Ou Who Smelt Like Christmas. Ruga uses his signature pink and a lime green background to accentuate the subject whose vulnerable visage is detailed in greens, browns, and reds. The attention to detail is romantic; The Ou Who Smelt Like Christmasyearns with intimacy as the curves of the figure’s neck and shoulders are carefully detailed. Upon close inspection, the curve of the subject’s lip and the folds of their eyelids also become clear. Ruga’s capture of the natural beauty is utterly captivating. But, behind them is the shadow of what may have been before. Two rectangle-like shadows sit behind the subject’s shoulders. It is unclear what the first few layers of the portrait were, but there is history there. Like Ruga’s other paintings, this canvas drips with history. The layers of pink that hide underneath each portrait show the evolution and dedication Ruga has to each piece.

 

        Lastly, the photographs Deadboyz (Elvis), Deadboyz (Liz), and Deadboyz (Michael) reiterate the theme of …looking for The One. The pieces showcase three naked subjects wearing the masks of Elvis Presley, Elizabeth (Liz) Taylor, and Michael Jackson. In Deadboyz (Michael) you can see the model has a distended hip, which Berger confirms it is due to a gay bashing. Many queer people face bashings, bullying, and harassment because of who they are. In a means of escape, queer people look up to icons as symbols of hope for a better future. Ruga channels the dreams of the young queer adult who yearns to be accepted and loved like these celebrities. Like the rest of …looking for The One, the characters aren’t afraid to show who they are and what they want.

 

        The exhibition seeks to overcome the adversity of being queer by normalizing these African American queer characters. Ruga takes people into his world through his paintings and by the way he took control of Iceberg Projects’ space. Being in the sanctuary that Ruga created left me feeling open, emotional, and confident in the power of fellow queer artists.

 

 

This exhibition was on view from October 21 – December 5, 2023.

Andrew Hart Benson (they/them/theirs) is a writer for the New Art Examiner. They have written about music, television, and film for various magazines and are excited to focus on art in the NAE.