“Crucify My Flesh” Exhibit Opening

(photo credit: Ricky Weaver, Untitled, On the Mainline, (Anthem), 2023, Archival pigment print.)

David Klein Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of “Crucify My Flesh, “an exhibition presenting two new series of photographs by artist Ricky Weaver. A reception for the artist will be held on February 25th, 2023, from 5–8 PM.

Ricky Weaver is an artist, writer, and mother creating work which she describes as “image-based objects trafficking in the grammar of black feminist futurity.” Through her photographic practice , Weaver explores interconnected concepts of archive, lineage, and spirituality, constructing detailed narratives through the images she presents. Weaver’s photographs range from depictions of her body negotiating domestic spaces, recalling the work of her former mentor Carrie Mae Weems, to nuanced gestures that honor the sanctity of Black women’s everyday life. The figures in her work often include her family or herself; she addresses the sonic, linguistic, and visual as a way to posture the body as a central mechanism for storing, downloading, and transferring archives– ultimately creating a connection between the present moment and the past.

“I rely on the indexical relationship objects have to image as a way of contemplating the potential fugitive materiality of the photographic image and the body. The title of this show comes from scripture, a critique, a question, and an invitation to the viewer. It is an ask that they would engage with and consider the ontology of the images being indexed and their relationship to the vessels that carry them. There are archives you can touch and there are archives you can feel. The work in this show continues to play with the ambiguous nature of images to conjure up the archives we can only know by way of feeling.” Weaver said.

Ricky Weaver received an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI. She has been awarded multiple fellowships and residencies, including the Mellon Artist in Residence at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, and the Independent Scholar Fellowship at The Carr Center, Detroit, MI where she was mentored by Carrie Mae Weems. Weaver is currently at ArtCenter College of Art and Design in Pasadena, CA as a teaching fellow for the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. Weaver was selected as a LensCulture Critics Choice Artist of 2020.

Weaver’s work has been exhibited in institutions and art fairs across the country and internationally, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI; Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI; Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh, PA; Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA; Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA; Art Museum at University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba; and Grand Palais Ephemere, Paris, France. Her work is included the Wedge Collection, Toronto, Canada.

Ricky Weaver is from Ypsilanti, MI. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles and Ypsilanti.