Blanc Gallery presents, AT FIRST GLANCE (Oct 14 – November 25 2023), the third instalment of Patric McCoy’s seminal collection of Black male vernacular photography, curated by Viktor L. Ewing-Givens. This archive of largely black and white images inadvertently gives a photojournalistic glimpse into both the personal and the political landscape of Chicago’s not so distant past. Set against the backdrop of the Harold Washington era in the height of the “AIDS epidemic” of chicago we encounter a cast of characters from street hustlers and businessmen to lone wanderers sleeping on park benches; each subject navigating the beautiful complexities of being a black man in America. The profundity and power of Patric’s photographs comes not from intentional attempts at political strategy, or grand gestures of centralizing systemic oppression. Instead, the potency of these images derive from their authentic simplicity, candor and delicate exploration of the liminal space between the erotic and mundane. Rather than telling us what to see, Patric’s photos invite us to question how we see our brothers, fathers, lovers, comrades and sons. As such Patric’s archive has become a part of a tradition of photographers who celebrate the Black male subject in contemporary art beyond pure documentation or tedious clichés. While McCoy’s exploration of photography never became a professional pursuit, there is an undeniable technique, framing and poetry to the images that has placed his photographs in exhibitions with the likes of Derrick Woods-Morrow. Using his 35 mm and setting an intention to photograph anybody who asked him to on his frequent bike rides between Chicago’s South Side and downtown, he has expanded upon the legacies of James Van Der Zee and Roy DeCarava, whose images of Harlem challenged preconceived notions of being Black in segregated America, as well as the legacy of Gordon Parks, who cataloged the daily lives of Black Americans during the civil rights era.

Building on previous exhibitions of Patric’s work (Wrightwood 659 and Hyde Park Historical Society), AT FIRST GLANCE will include large scale photo prints on a variety of materials from muslin to aluminium. Alongside Patric’s photographs, there will be a short film made by Jalen Hamilton and a selection of artworks from Patric’s extensive art collection, which spans over 50 years of supporting (predominantly) Black artists from Chicago. Closing this year’s exhibition program at Blanc, AT FIRST GLANCE is a wonderful opportunity to pay homage to an artist and collector whose practice opens up a series of portals onto the wider context of Chicago as seen through his eyes. It is a memorial to the many forgotten Black men who died during the height of the “AIDS epidemic” as well as a celebration of the sights, sounds and feeling of the era and the characters who peopled it in their rich complexity.

OPENING RECEPTION: OCT 14, 5-8PM

THEATRICAL READING OF “KINGS ARE DEAD”: NOV 6, 7PM

OPEN HOURS: EVERY SAT 12-4PM

OPEN HOURS W/ PATRIC McCOY: OCT 20, NOV 4, 11, 18, 2-6PM

ARTIST TALK: NOV 25, 6PM

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Tags: AT FIRST GLANCE, Blanc Gallery, bronzeville, Chicago, Patric McCoy, Viktor L. Ewing-Given