BOONDOGGLE FILMS presents a film by LERONE D. WILSON produced by NONSO CHRISTIAN UGBODE
BENNY ANDREWS JOHN ASHFORD GUSTAVE BLACHE III LINDA GOODE BRYANT MARY SCHMIDT CAMPBELL NANETTE CARTER ED CLARK ADGER COWANS FRANCKS DECEUS LARRY HAMPTON MARVA HUSTON
GORDON JAMES JUNE KELLY JOHN KISCH WANGECHI MUTU RON OLLIE OTTO NEALS HOWARDENA PINDELL DANNY SIMMONS MICHAEL SINGLETARY DIANNE SMITH DUANE SMITH ANN TANKSLEY TAFA
original music by THE MAGALI SOURIAU TRIO additional music by LENAE HARRIS
www.coloredframes.com
GO HERE TO VIEW ONE HOUR ART DOCUMENTARYPress Releases
Film Celebrates Beauty of African American Visual Art
Articles/Interviews
3BlackChicks.com Interview with Lerone D. Wilson
Short Synopsis
A look back at the last fifty years in African American art, Colored Frames is an unflinching exploration of influences, inspirations and experiences of black artists. Beginning at the height of the Civil Rights Era and leading up to the present, it is a naked and truthful look at often ignored artists and their progenies.
Long Synopsis
Colored Frames chronicles the Black artist's struggle for visibility and acceptance. As legendary artist Benny Andrews puts it, Black artists seek to be included or excluded on the basis of quality, "eliminate it on the basis that its not acceptable," Andrews implores, "not because it's Black." The film trumpets the value behind an engaged audience that consumes mainstream images consciously. The film highlights the beauty that comes from variety in representation, as writer and art historian Mary Schmidt Campbell acknowledges about Black art specifically, and the Black experience in general, "we have a lot of beauty to contribute to this country, and I take a lot of pride in that."
With concise interview segments and impressionistic video collages, Colored Frames is a documentary showcasing the works of contemporary Black artists. The film explores the conversation of art and the Black experience and seeks to eliminate years of negative stereotyping and assumptions that come with images of Blackness in America.
Treatment
Colored Frames launches with a visual introduction to the variety, both thematically and stylistically, of contemporary work by African American artists. It immediately showcases its nuanced style of collage and conversation by leading the audience through a brief recollection of historical circumstances that have defined the Black experience in America. Through these all-too-real anecdotes of a history scared by prejudice, the film sets the stage for an honest dialogue from a talented pool of artists, historians, curators, dealers and collectors hungry for an equitable depiction of art by African Americans.
The film dissects the socialization of the Black artist in America by documenting the inherent inequalities present for all people of color, especially Black people. The film gives voice to the truth of the limits an artist comes in contact with when trying to be part of a world as fantastic as fine art. Artists like Ed Clark and Michael Singletary recall their days abroad in Paris as expatriate artists searching for that unconditional attention which can be the only breeding ground for art with any growth potential. "I went there with a lot of pain," Singletary recalls, "but they were judging me based on my art."
At the center of Colored Frames is an exploration of the conflict between Black artists and the mainstream art society in America. Abstract painter Howardena Pindell likens the Black artists' experience to an old Japanese proverb which urges the community to hammer back in any nail that sticks out - providing a perfect metaphor for the institutions of art which historically grant little understanding to most Black artists, instead squeezing them into one category, or ignoring them entirely. Legendary painter Benny Andrews attests to the excessive frequency of gallery shows themed as simply, "Black Show." And here we learn of the struggle, physical and through their work, of artists like Benny Andrews to push through the barriers upheld by long standing institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Discussing the negative perceptions surrounding Black art, curator Linda Goode-Bryant speaks of attempting to find gallery space and being rejected because the building owner assumed she was in the business of showing "Black velvet paintings." Here the negative images perpetrated by most of the mainstream, notably Blaxploitation films and posters, provides a glimpse into the psyche of exclusion that refuses to accept the Black artist as legitimate. However, here we also get a complex questioning of the situation as artist Francks Deceus states that many audiences "subscribe to a lot of commercialism," which ultimately recycles the same stereotypical images for mass consumption.
Colored Frames moves on to explore the question of rejection of the abstract style, both inside and outside the Black community; raising the question of communal self-validation. Here the film contemplates the challenges to artists just trying to paint a wide spectrum of the Black experience - from darkly complex, to simply joyful - and speaks to the value of art in that it is all that is left after generations have passed on.
The importance of a film like Colored Frames is underscored by the recent death of a legendary artist like Benny Andrews to whom the film is dedicated. The film is a social document which brings to the forefront the works of a long ignored people. As Andrews states in the film, the goal of the artist is to pass forward the influences of others. Colored Frames is the realization of Andrews' words. It provides the truth about contemporary Black art; it is not a collective of the same old images, but a vibrant and much-alive cornucopia of strong themes, vibrant ideas and 'colored frames.'
Lerone Wilson - Executive Producer/Director/Editor
Lerone D. Wilson
Boondoggle Films is the brainchild of esteemed filmmaker Lerone Wilson, a New York University graduate holding degrees in both Film & Television and Economics.
A product of the Metro Detroit area, Lerone has worked in various research, editing, and production capacities on documentary productions for HBO, PBS, The Travel Channel, and independent cinema. Meanwhile, he has amassed collections of documentary features and shorts, produced and directed by himself. His first feature "No Child Left Behind", a film exploring the education policy of the same name, was selected for various festivals and enjoyed a run on PBS. His following film, "Aardvark'd" explored the world of computer programming. The film enjoyed a stint on the festival circuit as well as airing on The Documentary Channel, and NYCTV.
Blending his unique journalistic prowess with his penchant for emotional tales of humanism, Lerone continues to produce high style documentary television with redeemable social qualities.
Contact: lerone@boondogglefilms.com
Office: (646)330-5403
Nonso Christian Ugbode - Producer
Nonso Christian Ugbode
A native of Nigeria, West Africa, where he was born and lived with his family until May of 1997. At fifteen Ugbode moved to Brooklyn, New York and consequently completed his high school and undergraduate studies - the latter with a BFA at New York University. He has had chance to work in both film/TV and theatre; directing the 2003 off-Broadway remake of Rebel Without A Cause.
His resume also includes work in London with the BBC's Art department where he gained a love and deeper understanding for documentary filmmaking while working on a short documentary entitled The Devil That Danced On Water, which aired on BBC Four in May of 2003.
Contact: nonso@boondogglefilms.com
Lerone Wilson & Nonso Christian Ugbode
(Photo by Kori Raishon)
Lerone Wilson photographs artist Duane Smith
