Ritual of Succession: Llane Alexis, Dana Harel, John Paul Morabito and Yetunde Olagbaju

January 13 - March 27

Opening Reception: 
Friday, January 10, 6:30-8:30 PM

CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions is pleased to present Ritual of Succession. This exhibition opens at CULT’s space in San Francisco’s NOPA neighborhood as a companion to Record of Succession at fused space on 16th Street. In this iteration of the exhibition, artists Llane Alexis, Dana Harel, John Paul Morabito, and Yetunde Olagbaju explore traditions in craft  and design as they relate to personal ancestry and cultural mythology. The exhibition asks: What is the impulse behind the desire to reconnect with the past and how does it impact visual culture?  

Referencing the history of tapestry and its relationship to religious and devotional iconography, John Paul Morabito reimagines this historical practice by weaving queerness into the tapestry template. By repositioning both the medium and its subject matter, Morabito conflates the sacred to create a new, more inclusive mystical plane. Similarly seeking to create a widening expanse in historical narratives, Yetunde Olagbaju threads multiple mediums in their video work to address the fantastical intersection of time travel and ancestral lineage. Through an examination of nonlinear time, Olagbaju’s recent work is about myth and its transformation into effigy and eventual commodity to illuminate myth legends or folklore surrounding Black people and their labor.

Dana Harel, originally trained as an architect uses the human body and psyche to explore the human relationship to memory and psychological impact on the body. Combining image transfer, drawing, and sculptural work, she alludes to the delicate balance of corporal resonance and restraint.  Also using the built environment as a genesis for creation, Llane Alexis’ work is informed by his childhood experience living amid political strife alongside lifelong concerns about textile industry pollution. Through a unique sequence of  braiding, weaving, and hand-sewing techniques, he transforms off-cut, unwanted fabric scraps into objects that serve as relics of an industry fraught with social complications, imbuing these discarded objects with new life.

ABOUT JOHN PAUL MORABITO
Positioning handweaving as a transdisciplinary practice, John Paul Morabito engages queerness, ethnicity, and the sacred through the medium of tapestry reimagined in the digital age. They have exhibited internationally including the Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou City, China; Fresh Window Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Dorksy Gallery Curatorial Projects, Long Island City, NY; Document, Chicago, IL; The Center for Craft, Creativity, and Design, Asheville, NC; and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI. Public collections include the Musée des maîtres et artisans du Québec, Montreal, QC, CA, and the Textile Resource Center at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In tandem with individual studio practice, Morabito engages numerous collaborative models. From 2007-2011, they served as a designer and weaver in the New York studio of Suzanne Tick Design. Further, they have collaborated with the photographer Laura Letinsky since 2013. Together they exhibit internationally and have developed collections for Skyline Design and the Renaissance Society. They hold a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Morabito is Assistant Professor, Adj. of Fiber and Material Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

ABOUT DANA HAREL
Dana Harel was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel and currently works in San Francisco. Harel’s drawings explore the mystery of the human psyche and the drama of physical and emotional struggles. Harel has had solo exhibitions at the Laguna Art Museum, Palo Alto Art Center, Gallery Wendi Norris, and Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art in Herzliya, Israel. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions locally including San Francisco Arts Commission, Headlands Center for the Arts, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, and Napa Valley Museum. Her work has been reviewed in the New York Times, ArtNews, San Francisco Bay Guardian, CBS, and Art Practical.

ABOUT LLANE ALEXIS
Llane Alexis is a multidisciplinary artist based in San Francisco, CA. Originally from Havana, Cuba, Alexis began his artistic career as a painter in 1997. His unadulterated approach and enterprise with materials are informed by his formative experience living amid political strife. His work has been shown at Sierra Nevada College, FOG Design+Art Fair and Million Fishes Gallery among others. His work is held in private collections across the globe including, the U.S, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, England, Spain, and Japan.

ABOUT YETUNDE OLAGBAJU
Yetunde Olagbaju is a multidisciplinary artist and curator, currently residing in Oakland, CA. Through their work, they utilize performance and emotional excavation as a through-line for inquiries regarding Black trauma, labor, legacy and processes of healing. They have shown work and projects with Oakland Museum of California, New Image Gallery, Pt. 2 Gallery, Southern Exposure, Guerrero Gallery, SOMArts Cultural Center, The New School, and Art Basel. They have collaborated with institutions such as San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Facebook HQ, Museum of the African Diaspora, CounterPulse  and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. They are currently co-curator of recurring Black and Brown film night, Opalescent and are pursuing an MFA at Mills College. They are also Creative and Artistic Director of There Is No Time -- a creative production organization focusing on supporting emerging Black & Brown artists.

 
Image credit: Ritual of Succession installation view, photo courtesy of Phillip Maisel and CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions.
John Paul Morabito, Madonna adorante il bambino con il bambino San Giovanni (dopo Sandro Botticelli), 2018, Cotton, wool, glass beads, gilded masonry nails 73”x 42”
John Paul Morabito, Madonna del filatore (dopo Leonardo da Vinci), 2018, Cotton, wool, glass beads, gilded masonry nails 78”x 42”
Dana Harel, Ode to Dust 5, 2019 Plaster and Pastels, 20 x 8 x 12 inches
Dana Harel, Ode to Dust 7, 2019 Plaster, Clay and Rope 22 x 14 x 6 inches
Dana Harel, Reclining Figure 1 , 2018 Clay, Graphite, Color Pencils and Photo Transfer on Paper 72 x 72 inches
John Paul Morabito, La Madonna dei Tempi (dopo Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino), 2019, Cotton, wool, glass beads, gilded masonry nails 85”x 42”
John Paul Morabito, Vergine e bambino con il giovane San Giovanni Battista (dopo Andrea del Sarto), 2018, Cotton, wool, glass beads, gilded masonry nails 76”x 42”
Yetunde Olagbaju, an untitled myth / expansion, 2020, video / ritual, 7:09
Llane Alexis, Throne, 2019, Beads, Jewlery and Ceramics on reclaimed Cuban cedarwood 18 x 10 x 10 inches
Llane Alexis, Little Monster Stool, 2019, Italian Wool, Leather on Wood 22 x 20 x 19 inches

Current

CULT TURNS 10
10 Year Anniversary Exhibition
January 18 - March 2, 2024

Past

Terri Loewenthal
Mountain Goat Mountain

September 15 – November 18, 2023

Time is a Tangled Web: Mary Fernando Conrad, Sophronia Cook, Cross Lypka, Tyler Cross, Zhivago Duncan, Jean Isamu Nagai, Rachel Kaye, Ruth Charlotte Kneass at CULT Bureau, Oakland
September 28 - December 16, 2023

Last Light: Luz Carabaño, Sophronia Cook, Cross Lypka, and Aidan Koch
June 23 - August 26, 2023

ECHO ECHO: Rachel Bridges and Ivan Bridges at CULT Bureau, Oakland
March 2 - August 5, 2023

Two Handfuls Of Silver Dust: Rhonda Holberton
April 27 - June 17, 2023

LEGACY: Binta Ayofemi, Adrian L. Burrell, Rachel Bridges, Ivan Bridges, Masako Miki, and Jean Isamu Nagai
January 18 - April 1, 2023

ZHIVAGO DUNCAN: Measuring Consciousness
September 15 - December 10, 2022

CULT Bureau: Gaze Interrupted
September 17 - November 19, 2022

AMY NATHAN: Slipknot Loophole
May 14 - August 26, 2022

Rebekah Goldstein: Welcome Home Stranger
March 19 - May 7, 2022

Sapiens / Stories at CULT Bureau
November 10, 2021 - April 30, 2022

Physics & Fiction
January 20 - March 12, 2022

Chris Fallon: Irresistible Deception
October 15 - December 18, 2021

Sapiens / Stories on 8-Bridges
October 7 - November 3, 2021

Masako Miki: New Mythologies
June 16 - October 12, 2021

Tales of Metamorphosis: Rebekah Goldstein, James Perkins, and Amy Nathan
June 3 - 30, 2021

Janus II - CULT's 7 Year Anniversary Exhibition
April 9 - May 20, 2021

Troy Chew: Yadadamean
October 17 - December 12, 2020

We’re all in this together
August 14 - October 10, 2020

Beyond Words
June 26 - August 29, 2020

Ritual of Succession
January 10 - March 28, 2020

Record of Succession at fused space
January 13 - March 27, 2020

AMY NATHAN: Glyph Slipper
September 13 - December 7, 2019

FEMALE TROUBLE 2
June 28 - August 3, 2019

RUXUE ZHANG
April 20 - June 15, 2019

MASAKO MIKI: Shapeshifters
January 12 - March 23, 2019

JASKO BEGOVIC (SKO HABIBI): HUMAN_E.T.
November 30 - December 14, 2019

REBEKAH GOLDSTEIN: See You On The Flipside
September 8 - November 25, 2018

FEMALE TROUBLE
June 9 - July 28, 2018

TERRI LOEWENTHAL: Psychscapes
March 2 - May 19, 2018

VECINOS
October 27, 2017 - January 20, 2018

RHONDA HOLBERTON: Still Life
January 10 – March 4, 2017

REBEKAH GOLDSTEIN: Release Me
October 21 - December 10, 2016

NO SHOW MUSEUM: Yves Klein, Maria Eichhorn, Daniel Knorr, Etc.
One Night Only: Monday, October 17, 2016

DESIRÉE HOLMAN: Selected Works
September 17 - October 8, 2016

SHE MOONAGE DAYDREAM:
Facundo Argañaraz, Leah Guadagnoli, Desirée Holman, Kara Joslyn, Max Maslansky, Liz Robb, Tamra Seal, Emily Weiner, & Cate White

July 16 - August 20, 2016

PABLO DÁVILA: Ladies & Gentlemen,
We Are Floating In Space

May 13 - July 9, 2016

MASAKO MIKI: Conversations with Fox, Feather, and Ghost
March 4 - April 30, 2016

SUZY POLING: Total Internal Reflection
January 15 - February 27, 2016

DAN GLUIBIZZI: You Don’t Have to be Alone Tonight
November 6 – December 19, 2015

FRANCESCO IGORY DEIANA: Haptic Render
September 11- October 31, 2015

SEXXXITECTURE: Daniel Gerwin, Rebekah Goldstein, Roman Liška, Max Maslansky, May Wilson & Jake Ziemann
July 1 - August 1, 2015

ADAM SORENSEN: In Situ
May 1 - June 27, 2015

KLARA KÄLLSTRÖM & THOBIAS FÄLDT: Village / High Hills
February 27 - April 25, 2015

PRINCE RAMA: How To Live Forever
January 25 – February 21, 2015

JOSEPH DUMBACHER & JOHN DUMBACHER: Divert (Out of Line)
November 7, 2014 – January 16, 2015

REBEKAH GOLDSTEIN: Passenger
September 12 – November 1, 2014

A PATTERN LANGUAGE: Michelle Grabner, Angie Wilson & Lena Wolff
June 20 - July 19, 2014

MICHELLE BLADE: Gathering Into Being
April 25th – June 7th, 2014

MIGUEL ARZABE: /*Reject Algorithms*/
March 7 – April 19, 2014

JACQUELINE KIYOMI GORDON: Drawings
March 7 – April 19, 2014

FRITZ CHESNUT: Purr Valley
& Rhonda Holberton

January 10 - February 22, 2014

UNSEEN: Miya Ando, Miguel Arzabe, Chris Duncan, Klea Mckenna & Dean Smith
November 10 - December 21, 2013

Past Off-Site Exhibitions

RHONDA HOLBERTON: Still Life 2
April 7 - May 26, 2018

LAS COSAS QUE PINTAN / PAINTING IN AN EXPANSIVE FIELD
Works by Miguel Arzabe & Juan Sorrentino

April 9 – May 17, 2015

EBB: Gina Borg and Chris Russell at Loczi Design
December 10, 2014