Cydne Jasmin Coleby & Rico Gatson

For the first “duo show” of the new space on rue Béranger, cadet capela brings together the works of two artists, Cydne Jasmin Coleby and Rico Gatson. Two universes full of primordial colors, through which we can live sensory experiences. 

 To paint, Cydne Jasmin Coleby is inspired by old family pictures and experiences taken from the past. And also : her own face. Her self-portraits mix textures and patterns. Like collages, they reveal her duality and plurality. 
Born in the Bahamas, influenced and markey by her Caribbean identity, Cydne Jasmin Coleby studied graphic design. She has kept a mastery of colors and constantly plays with her “tropical palette”. She is also inspired by the garish and neon colors of the Junk-a-noo festival, its colorful parades and costumes. 
But beyond the frozen postcard and the cliché, Cydne Jasmin Coleby reveals all the pitfalls of a postcolonial society: feverish economy, financial difficulties, youth dreaming of a better elsewhere, global warming… Nature appears, in the form of a tree or fruit, as ubiquitous. The painter wants to recall the carnal bond that binds her to her original land. This is where she draws all her inspiration.

For Rico Gatson, who was born in the South of the United States, in Georgia, it’s the California sun that comes back as a persistant motif. The artist moved there when he was a child. And he recreates, with his kinetic visions, the Californian “sunsets” whose light is “free for all” and bears hope. 
But in his paintings, geometry is never pure abstraction. Certain forms arise, very real. Like the American flag, which the artist recreates to offer a more open, more inclusive vision. 
Inspired by all the spetrum of blacl music, Rico Gatson translates the energy of sounds and rhythms into his choic of colors. The artist is also marked by the Afro-futurist aesthetic borrowded from free jazz musicians — from Albert Ayler to Yusef Lateef — from funk — Parliaments and Funkadelic — and from hip hop. Geometric shapes change into spiritual, transcendental and symbolic powers.
The artist also evokes the importance of the political movement Black Lives Matter. His works subtly reflect his personal commitment.

For this first duo show, two sensibilities dialogue, two visions are shared. But the question of identity runs through both works, each in its own way. And as Cydne Jasmin Coleby summarizes about her relation to Rico Gatson: “Even if we don’t have the same subject, we speak the same language”.

Boris Bergmann