The Agony and the Ecstasy

The Agony and the Ecstasy presents new work by Latonia Dishueme-Bangudi and Claire Thompson, two emerging, Lexington-based artists. Although each artist has her own distinct style and unique set of concerns, they share similarities in their use of figuration and symbolism to chip away at visible aspects of contemporary culture. In doing so, they not only expose deeper contexts and uncomfortable truths, but also call attention to our shared humanity — the agonies, the ecstasies, and everything in between.  

Claire Thompson mobilizes figuration to look beneath the surface of female representation within American culture. Her paintings demonstrate how the mass media often fixates on beautiful women experiencing acute emotions in very public settings. Sourcing imagery from tabloid magazines, TV broadcasts of Miss America competitions, and horror films, she paints close-up portraits of b-list celebrities in crisis, pageant contestants anxiously awaiting judgement, terrified scream queens covered in blood, etc. In Thompson's hands, however, these reductivist female archetypes are recontextualized as contemporary symbols: similar to religious icons, the women she depicts function as a mirror for people to understand their own emotional pain, resentments, fears, and joys.

With stylistic nods to afro-futurism, Latonia Dishueme-Bangudi creates paintings rife with transcendental iconography and cosmic motifs that collapse the material and the spiritual into a single realm. Central to many of her compositions is a Black female figure who inhabits both a maternal and mystical role. In one painting, for example, a woman and child are situated within an atmospheric, celestial space. She holds in her hand the child's spinal cord, the artist's allusion to Jacob's Ladder, the symbolic link between earth and the divine. Dishueme-Bangudi's fantastical scenes invite viewers to see beyond the tangible and explore the metaphysical dimensions of ourselves and the world around us.

This exhibition is part of Bridge Work, a professional development program developed in 2014 by Jason Yi and Leah Kolb. Bridge Work provides vital opportunities for emerging artists to implement disciplined work habits, present their work, develop audiences, and establish networks of support and mentorship. In Lexington, Bridge Work is a partnership between 2nd Story, Project Ricochet's Urban Art Collective, and the Lexington Art League. The program actively fosters a more interconnected arts community by linking to existing Bridge Work chapters operating in Wisconsin and Michigan, and by facilitating meaningful artistic exchanges among artists and art-oriented leaders and organizations.