“I Am Everywhere (Sassafras)” (2021) by Sydney Cain
On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions
SAN FRANCISCO ARTIST Sydney Cain is presenting a series of large- and small-scale drawings at Rena Bransten Gallery. Employing figurative representation, the new works explore Black myth, ancestral memory, and liminal spaces. “Sydney Cain: Dust to Dust” is Cain’s first solo exhibition with Rena Bransten since joining the gallery in 2020. The show coincides with a confluence of recognition and opportunities. Cain received an Artadia Award in 2021. “Sydney Cain: Refutations” was on view last fall at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, part of the museum’s Emerging Artists program. Currently, a specially commissioned mural by Cain is featured in “Mothership: Voyage Into Afrofuturism” at the Oakland Museum of California.
Artist-archivist Angela N. Carroll wrote the catalog essay that accompanies “Dust to Dust.” She opened the text with the following statement: “There are many worlds, infinite planes of existence that swirl beyond our spaceways. The question of who or what occupies those dimensions, realms that rest at the periphery of our conscious and unconscious states anchors the work of mixed media artist Sydney Cain.”
In the catalog’s afterword, Cain wrote: “My artistic journey is marked by inquiries into origins. My curiosities surrounding origin stories and metaphysics are part of a shared lineage throughout the African diaspora. Our ancestors have left us with an abundance of knowledge and beautiful secrets gathered from the swamps and the infinite expanse of other galaxies. I am interested in what seeds have been dispersed and how we continue to blossom even after continuous storms try to bury us.” CT
“Sydney Cain: Dust to Dust” is on view at Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, Calif., from Dec. 4, 2021-Feb. 12, 2022
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Installation view of “Sydney Cain: Dust to Dust,” Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, Calif. (Dec. 4, 2021-Feb. 12, 2022). | Photo by John Janca, Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, Photo by John Janca
SYDNEY CAIN, “Waterways,” 2021 (watercolor on paper, 24 x 18 inches). | © Sydney Cain, Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, Photo by John Janca
SYDNEY CAIN, “Baba and Nana,” 2021 (acrylic, iron oxide, charcoal on paper, 72 x 120 inches). | © Sydney Cain, Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, Photo by John Janca
SYDNEY CAIN, “I Feel Protected Inside the Web,” 2021 (acrylic, pigment, graphite on wood, 21 1/2 x 17 inches). | © Sydney Cain, Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, Photo by John Janca
SYDNEY CAIN, “Waterways (Becoming),” 2021 (watercolor on paper, 24 x 18 inches). | © Sydney Cain, Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, Photo by John Janca
SYDNEY CAIN, “Waterways (Beloved #1),” 2021 (watercolor on paper, 24 x 18 inches). | © Sydney Cain, Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, Photo by John Janca
Installation view of “Sydney Cain: Dust to Dust,” Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, Calif. (Dec. 4, 2021-Feb. 12, 2022). | Photo by John Janca, Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, Photo by John Janca
SYDNEY CAIN, “And They Are Not Afraid of the Night Because They Are the Color of It,” 2021 (acrylic, pigment, charcoal, graphite on wood, 96 x 144 inches). | © Sydney Cain, Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, Photo by John Janca
SYDNEY CAIN, “She Who Builds With Her Hands Makes Herself King II,” 2020 (acrylic, charcoal, metal, graphite on wood, 48 x 48 inches). | © Sydney Cain, Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, Photo by John Janca
SYDNEY CAIN, “Ark of Bones (The Warriors See),” 2021 (acrylic, pigment on wood, 24 x 18 inches). | © Sydney Cain, Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, Photo by John Janca
SYDNEY CAIN, “Waterways (Patient),” 2021 (watercolor on paper, 24 x 18 inches). | © Sydney Cain, Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, Photo by John Janca
Installation view of “Sydney Cain: Dust to Dust,” Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, Calif. (Dec. 4, 2021-Feb. 12, 2022). | Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, Photo by John Janca
SYDNEY CAIN, “Night Guardians,” 2021 (acrylic, pigment, charcoal, graphite on wood, 48 x 48 inches). | © Sydney Cain, Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, Photo by John Janca
TOP IMAGE: SYDNEY CAIN, “I Am Everywhere (Sassafras),” 2021 (acrylic, pigment, graphite on wood, 21 x 32 inches). | © Sydney Cain, Courtesy the artist and Rena Bransten Gallery, Photo by John Janca
FIND MORE about Sydney Cain on their website
BOOKSHELF
Rena Bransten Gallery published a catalog to accompany the exhibition “Sydney Cain: Dust to Dust.” The publication features an essay by Angela N. Carroll.
