Sated Above The Salt
2008-02-26 21:49:20
pins, boxing glooves, nails, feathers, salt, wine glasses, pedistals, pins, buttons, beads, chair
5'h x 3'w x 4'd

Description: Sated Above the Salt 2008 Ramekon O'Arwisters meticulously attaches found objects, mirrors, feathers, and nails to everyday objects, imbuing them with spiritual power and significance. He is a prominent proponent of African spirituality in contemporary Black art. Sated Above the Salt and The Spirited Patriot refer to the centuries-old salt trade, the movement of people and commodities, and even the use of people as commodities throughout the world. The nails present in both the boxing gloves and the American flag reference the West and Central African N'Kisi sculptures, in which every nail represents an agreement bound between two people or groups and presided over by the ancestors. His artwork consciously reawakens and revisits spiritual forms originated in Africa and passed down through the generations. His sculpture resurrects traditional African shamanistic aesthetic while remaining unquestionably contemporary. "American Cuisine" at the luggage store annex/"Sated Above The Salt" 2007 or "The First Ladies’ Presidential Torture Chair" 2007 San Francisco Bay Guardian / August 22–28, 2007 Fall Arts Preview: Visual Arts http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=4311">www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=4311 Visual raids We place our bets on the best gallery and museum shows this fall -Kimberly Chun "American Cuisine" To serve man? Ramekon O'Arwisters riffs on the notion that people of color will be dished at America's last supper, cooking up sculpture and other pieces that examine the cultural codes crammed into Oreos, watermelons, bananas, and other loaded comestibles. Sept. 14–Oct. 14, 2007Luggage Store Annex, 509 Ellis, SF. ******************* The First Ladies’ Presidential Torture Chair Ramekon O'Arwisters ©2007 Boy, this chair ain’t art; this here chair is history.” -Ms. Sadie Wilson 2003 Owner of The First Ladies’ Presidential Torture Chair Sandy Ridge, North Carolina “She has what?” I responded not believing my ears. “She has the president’s chair,” my cousin said again. It did not make any more sense to me the second time round. In 2003, our thirtieth family reunion was held in the small town of Colfax, North Carolina. “If you are well enough to walk, then you are well enough to attend the reunion,” says Mammie Jones, the host of the event. Last year there were two hundred people at Mammie Jones’ old place. Her house was built in the 1930s by her son, John, who earned the money by lying about his age to join the U.S. Navy during World War I. He was only fourteen-years-old at the time. Pine trees, poplars, and other large shade trees surrounded her ten-acre homestead and made the reunion almost bearable from the mid-July heat. At the reunion is where I heard my cousin Martha Buckwell tell me that her great aunt and my grandmother, Sadie, had the president’s chair. “I wondered what that meant as I was getting some candied yams in the food line.” I was trying to listen to Martha—no one called her Martha when we were children; her nickname was “Cookie”—tell me about how Sadie got the so-called president’s chair when my mother, Dolly, told me not to eat the chittlings in the mismatched blue-and-yellow Tupperware by the mashed potatoes. She said anything out of Ms. Hattie’s kitchen will make you sick as a dog; that woman try as she may can’t cook to say her life. “You know she is on her third husband. He is over there in a lawn chair by that shade tree fat as a tic with a stomach hard as bowling ball.” It was all too much. I finally found Cookie again near nightfall in a rocking chair on Mammie’s wraparound porch. She said that one of Sadie’s relatives took the president’s chair out of the White House in late 1950s. “What?” I said, not believing a word. “Yes, that right!” Cookie stormed back. “Sadie has it in her basement. It has been there for years.” Cookie told me that very few people have heard of the First Ladies’ Presidential Torture Chair and there are not that many people living to tell the story. I decided to pay my grandmother, Ms. Sadie, a visit the next day in the town of Sandy Ridge, North Carolina. I was there all day visiting Ms. Sadie. She eventually showed me the chair, and this is the story she told me: “Beneath the White House surrounded by a concrete wall two feet wide is a room that at one time contained this chair. The room had ventilation but no windows. The chair dates to the presidency of Andrew Jackson, around 1830. Mrs. Jackson was angry and upset at her husband ‘Andy’ for the all-out slaughter of Indians. She thought it was contrary to Christ’s teachings. And you know she was right. There are many things contrary to Jesus’ teaching going on in this country. I can tell you a few taking place right now in Sandy Ridge. Well, child, Mrs. Jackson decided to persuade Mr. Jackson to alter his plans. She did stop him from killing almost every Indian on God’s green earth, and I will tell you how. It was similar in thinking to what I had to do with my husband, Macky. He is gone now, but he was as sweet as he was evil. Anyway, Mrs. Jackson and some of the servants at the White House collected all kinds of ugly bric-a-brac, ugly souvenirs, buttons, marbles, pins, combs, and anything else that was ugly to look at, and they placed these old, ugly things in every room in the White House. Well, you can just imagine what old man Jackson had to say about that. He was out of his mind when he learned what the First Lady was up to. They fought for weeks. He told her, from what my relatives passed down to us, was that the junk she bought made all the other finery from France and England look cheap and it had to go. He asked Mrs. Jackson how could he invite heads of state to the White House with that stuff around. The real problem was that the White House staff only listened to Mrs. Jackson and would not remove anything. They did not want to lose their job. Mr. Jackson knew he could not replace the staff loyal to Mrs. Jackson. Who was going to cook, clean, feed the horses, and everything else? She told him, and listen to what she said, she told him: “Well, I am married to the most powerful man in the world and you never listen to a word I say. I cannot vote or own property. I am supposed to be pretty, quiet, and out of sight and you know what I am telling you is right. Well, you are going to have to listen to somebody. And you know you can’t be president for long without me. You need me,” she told him. Now you know he must have been about ready to kill more than some Indians when she said that. Like every married woman alive, she had a plan. When he stopped yelling, she told him that she would take all the ugly things she bought and attach them to a chair she kept in her seating room if he promised not to kill every Indian tribe. I heard one story about President Lincoln. Mary Todd Lincoln, yes, that’s her name, Mrs. Mary Todd made Honest Abe stare at the chair for two days during the Civil War because he would not listen to her. She told him that slavery was wrong and that the mean things we do to others does not come back pretty. And she was right. Just look at the mess we are in over color—it ain’t pretty. While he was locked down there with nothing to look at but that chair, he hyperventilated, or something or other, and they had to fetch the White House doctors to revive him—bring him back. He could not take it, and he was never right after that. Didn't matter—we got our Emancipation Proclamation, thanks to that chair and Mary Todd. Some women got the right to vote thanks to thepresident’s chair and Mrs. Wilson. See, women in the White House were getting too much power over their men. So the chair disappeared for years until one of my relatives a long time ago got to the chair before it made it to the furnace. I asked Ms. Sadie what she was going to do with the chair. She said she was going to keep it right there for now. I asked her if she would let me incorporate it into my art. She said, “Boy, this chair ain’t art; this here chair is history.” I made a few more visits to see Ms. Sadie in Sandy Ridge.

Sated Above The Salt
2008
mixed media sculpture

Description: Sated Above the Salt Ramekon O'Arwisters meticulously attaches found objects, mirrors, feathers, and nails to everyday objects, imbuing them with spiritual power and significance. He is a prominent proponent of African spirituality in contemporary Black art. Sated Above the Salt and The Spirited Patriot refer to the centuries-old salt trade, the movement of people and commodities, and even the use of people as commodities throughout the world. The nails present in both the boxing gloves and the American flag reference the West and Central African N'Kisi sculptures, in which every nail represents an agreement bound between two people or groups and presided over by the ancestors. His artwork consciously reawakens and revisits spiritual forms originated in Africa and passed down through the generations. His sculpture resurrects traditional African shamanistic aesthetic while remaining unquestionably contemporary.

Untitled
2007
Installation view
gallery dimensions 35'd x 11' h x 15 1/2 w

Description: "American Cuisine" new works by Ramekon O'Arwisters installation view Luggage Store Annex Gallery, San Francisco

Topography: Sated Above the Chili Pepper
2007
mixed media sculpture
4'w x 4 1/2 h x 2'd

Description: Topography: Sated Above the Chili Pepper 2007 http://youtube.com/watch?v=_A4FLHQ2lOE">youtube.com/watch?v=_A4FLHQ2lOE • “Area: Blurring the Lines” (Main Gallery; September 4-November 17): contemporary sculpture show curated by Andrew Connelly and Robert Ortbal (Art Department) California State University, Sacramento University Library Gallery Art review: http://media.www.statehornet.com/media/storage/paper1146/news/2007/10/31/Features/Artwork. Display.Underappreciated-3071570.shtml">media.www.statehornet.com/media/storage/paper1146/news/20...

Spirited Patriot 2008
2010-01-07 11:51:01
flag, feather, nails, mirrors,
4'h x 5" w x 6"

Description: Spirited Patriot 2008 Ramekon O'Arwisters meticulously attaches found objects, mirrors, feathers, and nails to everyday objects, imbuing them with spiritual power and significance. He is a prominent proponent of African spirituality in contemporary Black art. Sated Above the Salt and The Spirited Patriot refer to the centuries-old salt trade, the movement of people and commodities, and even the use of people as commodities throughout the world. The nails present in both the boxing gloves and the American flag reference the West and Central African N'Kisi sculptures, in which every nail represents an agreement bound between two people or groups and presided over by the ancestors. His artwork consciously reawakens and revisits spiritual forms originated in Africa and passed down through the generations. His sculpture resurrects traditional African shamanistic aesthetic while remaining unquestionably contemporary.

Spirited Patriot 2008
2010-01-07 11:54:50
flag, feather, nails, mirrors,
4'h x 5" w x 6"

Description: Spirited Patriot 2008 Ramekon O'Arwisters meticulously attaches found objects, mirrors, feathers, and nails to everyday objects, imbuing them with spiritual power and significance. He is a prominent proponent of African spirituality in contemporary Black art. Sated Above the Salt and The Spirited Patriot refer to the centuries-old salt trade, the movement of people and commodities, and even the use of people as commodities throughout the world. The nails present in both the boxing gloves and the American flag reference the West and Central African N'Kisi sculptures, in which every nail represents an agreement bound between two people or groups and presided over by the ancestors. His artwork consciously reawakens and revisits spiritual forms originated in Africa and passed down through the generations. His sculpture resurrects traditional African shamanistic aesthetic while remaining unquestionably contemporary.

Fetish Handbag 2008
2008
nails, mirrors, feather, handbag
small

Description: Fetish Handbag 2008 Ramekon O'Arwisters meticulously attaches found objects, mirrors, feathers, and nails to everyday objects, imbuing them with spiritual power and significance. He is a prominent proponent of African spirituality in contemporary Black art. Sated Above the Salt and The Spirited Patriot refer to the centuries-old salt trade, the movement of people and commodities, and even the use of people as commodities throughout the world. The nails present in both the boxing gloves and the American flag reference the West and Central African N'Kisi sculptures, in which every nail represents an agreement bound between two people or groups and presided over by the ancestors. His artwork consciously reawakens and revisits spiritual forms originated in Africa and passed down through the generations. His sculpture resurrects traditional African shamanistic aesthetic while remaining unquestionably contemporary.

American Cuisine: How to Eat a Hamburger
2008
hamburger buns, lettuce, silver-plated forks, twine
digital image/size varies

Description: American Cuisine: How to Eat a Hamburger 2008

Shaman Tunic
2008-02-26 21:41:52
Confederate flag, puzzle pieces, human hair, rosary beads, pins, mirrors,
3 x 5 feet

Description: Ramekon O'Arwisters "SuperART Hero" wearing shaman's tunic.

American Cuisine" at the Luggage Store, San Francisco
2007
car hood, pedistal, toy solidiers, globe, cooking chop sticks
4'w x 4 1/2 h x 2'd

Description: "American Cuisine" at the Luggage Store, San Francisco

Mink & Yams Texas Style 2007/Yam Festivals (Yaamui)
2008-02-26 22:19:45
hand-blown glass, picnic basket, mink, dog collar, pedestal
4'w x 4 1/2 h x 2'd

Description: Mink & Yams Texas Style 2007/Yam Festivals (Yaamui) Yams decorated for Gay Pride Festivals stand erect and are the central spiritual objects for gay men of color. Yam festivals (yaamui) are held inside the spirit house (narabmat suess) by the "Spirited Oreo," and the "Supreme Unseen Force," and only the supreme worthy master presides while wearing a regal shaman's tunic. Yaamui are private, secretly held meetings for gay black men only and are held four times a year. It is believed that one young white male is driven mad at the event when he is told repeatedly day and night for weeks that the world is nine-tenths people of color. It is indeed difficult to conceptualize, but absolutely true. While briefly unconscious, he is spiritually consumed by the participants and then transformed into a black male. The process takes a very long time and once complete it is irreversible. The new member is welcomed into the society of the yam and then must perform the yam dance "iriak" with the sacred yam penis sheath, that is, if he survives the ritual. At present, less than one-tenth of the white male population worldwide has completed the ceremony successfully. Courtesy of the artist: Ramekon O'Arwisters, Grand Worthy Yam Master (b. 1960) hand-blown glass, dog collar, mink 2007

Formal Hoop 2008
2009-06-22 14:11:04
fabric
performance art

Description: Formal Hoop 2008