Coinciding with the career survey exhibition Gary Simmons: Public Enemy, a series of MCA programs activates Gary Simmons’s sculptural installation work, Recapturing Memories of the Black Ark. Inspired by the Black Ark—Lee “Scratch” Perry’s famous recording studio in Kingston, Jamaica, where he pioneered dub reggae—Simmons’s sculptural installation serves as a flexible stage for conversations, music, and performance.

For this event, Chicago-based multidimensional artist Dorian Sylvain graces Simmons’s stage with her artist-sons Kahari, Kari, and Katon Blackburn for a wide-ranging conversation on the meaning of art and family across generations. After the talk, join Experimental Sound Studio for the first activation of their Sun Ra Archive on the Black Ark stage.

Dorian Sylvain is a painter whose color and texture explore ornamentation, pattern, and design as identifiers of cultural and historical foundations. She is a studio painter and muralist, as well as an art educator, curator, and cultural organizer. Much of her public work addresses issues of beautification inspired by color palettes and patterns found throughout the African diaspora, particularly in architecture. Core to her practice is collaborating with young people and community to elevate neighborhood aesthetics and foster shared understanding. Follow her @doriansylvain.

Kahari Blackburn is Chicago-born visual artist who loves both analog and digital visual mediums. He is currently obsessed with paper collage and simple, flat, round children’s book–style illustration. He is a part of both the Mural Moves Paint crew, which has designed and installed many large-scale murals over the city of Chicago, as well as an active part of Natty Bwoy Bikes & Boards, a free weekly youth program that leads and teaches skateboarding and basic bicycle mechanics to kids on the South Side. Follow him @kaharirastafari.

Kari Blackburn is an illustrator whose studio practice includes graphic design, children’s books, and public murals. Much of his work addresses today’s socio-political climate, the black ethereal, Afrofuturism, and color theory. As a core member and lead designer of Mural Moves (artist Co-op), Kari is focused on amplifying the voices of a new generation here in Chicago. Follow him @kariblak.us.

Katon Blackburn is a die-hard skate rat who is also passionate about photography and filmmaking. Over the past few years his love for community building and documentation has kept him busy working on a project called Natty Bwoy Chicago, a free weekly youth skateboard lesson in Kenwood Park. Follow him @katonblack21.

Official Website

More events on this date

Tags: Chicago, Dorian Sylvain, Kari Blackburn, Katon Blackburn, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Near North Side, Recapturing Memories of the Black Ark Dorian Sylvain and Family