@CobyKennedy

034b - "CATHARSIS (in the key of Colored)" - Edition of 30

"CATHARSIS (in the key of Colored)" By Coby Kennedy

Catharsis (In The Key Of Colored) is born out of the frustration of existing in a society that, when it is not ignoring you, is doing its best to kill or destroy you both mentally and physically. The piece captures 2 minutes and 18 seconds of what the artist describes as that very particular pure ecstasy that runs through a body after intense righteous indignation spawns the most cathartically satisfying acts of retribution. The themes, in the piece, of oppressor and the oppressed are universal and timeless but here are focused on contemporary America's current reckoning with itself over the popular perception of a flawed but benevolent nation, and its actual reality as one of the most fascistically heinous and brutally violent nations of the modern era. The legacy of racial oppression and the institution of slavery is not a figment of the past but has merely evolved, changed form, and morphed over the years remaining very present to this day. Today's municipal police weren't always a staple of American life, they were born directly out of the slave patrols of the antebellum and continue to perform the same implicit (and sometimes plainly declared) acts of hunting, imprisoning and killing the Black population. It’s with this reality in mind that the kind of joy expressed in Vivaldis "Spring" is so appropriate to the moment. Where the Middle East had their Arab Spring in the last decade, it could be said that the USA has now had its American Summer. As a Black American, to be wholly present at the turning of the tide invokes the same euphoric feelings of the classic concerto, while instantly all other condescending debates and meaningless punditry fade into the background. The video piece, Catharsis, brings together a multitude of emotions and perspectives and every viewer will interpret a very telling version for themselves. n the spirit of the life changing moments and incredible events that led to its creation, 50% of all sales of the Catharsis NFT will go towards bail and aid for Black and Brown individuals caught up in the continuing protests and insurrections trying to bring about the new equitable society that we've been striving towards for so long.

Bio: Coby Kennedy (b. 1977; lives and works in New York) uses the communication tools of the advertising and entertainment industry to create paintings, videos and sculptures that hint at unspoken truths, the modern culture of veiled intent, and the questions of subjective realities. A graduate of Columbia University’s Fine Art MFA and Pratt Institute’s Industrial Design BA programs, the artist and industrial conceptual designer has completed residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2011), Red Bull Arts Detroit (2016), and Anderson Ranch Arts Center (2018). Kennedy is the recipient of the Civil Society Institute Fellowship and One World Award, and has exhibited work domestically and internationally, in Japan, South Africa and Italy.