Amygdala

For artist Lamar Whidbee, painting is a powerful tool to communicate the complexities of human experience and the shifts that take place in our psyches as we move through our lives. His work combines representation with abstraction, allowing the materiality of his medium to perform as an active player in the autobiographical narrative he presents. Our reality is not just what we see, but what we feel, perceive, and remember. In this way, what is real is unique for each of us. By combining his skill for rendering naturalistic paintings of himself, his children, and his wife, with texture, intuitive mark making, and a playful use of color and pattern, Whidbee is able to present his particular reality in a way that we can all connect to. The title of this exhibition, Amygdala, refers to an almond shaped structure in our brains that allows us to experience emotions. This small area of gray matter is essential to our humanity. It colors our experiences and shapes our sense of self.

As individuals, we are always trying to piece ourselves together in a way that is genuine and true, but through experiences such as parenthood and partnership, we lose parts of the puzzle. We seem to get it together enough to present to the outside world, but we perceive those missing pieces on a visceral level. They are tangled in a mess of joy and grief. These paintings reveal that experience through the lens of a black man, presenting a gut wrenching and extraordinarily beautiful picture of the impact family has on our individual sense of self with strength, vulnerability, and humility.