“I Said What I Said”

Curator (and busy man) Jerome China cooks up an engaging sequel to his excellent 2023 show at Novado Gallery

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Jerome China breaks chains. That sounds like a metaphor, but it isn’t: China, a sculptor of brawny statues in iron and steel, often includes metal links in his work. Allusions to bondage, the middle passage, and resistance to oppression are hard to miss. Yet China is also drawn to the aesthetics of force. He likes applications of practical physics, and he’s sensitive to dramatic gestures. A shattered chain looks cool. It means something strong has met something stronger.

Signs of a titanic struggle were visible all over “Black’ity Black,” the emotional exhibition of abstract pieces by African American artists that Jerome China curated at Novado Gallery (110 Morgan St.) in winter 2023. That show was nonfigurative, but it sure wasn’t noncombative. Almost exactly two years later, China returns with “I Said What I Said,” another bruiser fitted into a room distinguished by its brick-faced beauty. The art that China has brought with him isn’t all abstract, and the creators of these pieces aren’t all African American. Nevertheless, in tone, theme, and attitude, this show feels like a sequel.

To what can we attribute this continuity? It’s mostly down to China himself, whose tastes reflect a few strong preferences. He appreciates muscular expression: bold colors and thick lines that simultaneously suggest spontaneity and decisiveness. He responds to bursts of energy, loops, tangles, and vectors of motion. An undercurrent of defiance runs through his own work and the work he showcases. That which was fettered has broken free. It’s bruised and square-shouldered against adversity. It might be exhausted. But it’s on the loose.

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