Exhibitions at Indigo Arts

Shrines of Life: The Peruvian Retablo

October 11, 2013 to February 8, 2014

Shrines of Life celebrates the art of the contemporary Peruvian retablo. The retablo is a kind of portable shrine or nicho holding figures sculpted of pasta (a mixture of plaster and potato) or maguey cactus wood. The making of retablos is a folk art whose roots go back to the sixteenth century in the Andes (and even to the Greeks and Romans before that). While the art’s origins are religious, the contemporary Peruvian retablos exhibited at Indigo Arts range from the sacred to the secular, to the profane.

Gond and Beyond: Tribal Artists from India

April 11, 2013 to June 22, 2013

Indigo Arts presents a selection of contemporary paintings by members of minority tribes in India. The exhibit includes work by the members of the Gond and Bhil groups of the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, as well as Mithila paintings from Bihar and Patua story-scroll paintings from West Bengal.

Artists include Gond painters Rajendra Shyam, Santosh Shyam, Anuj Tekam and Hiraman Urveti; Bhil painters Bhuri Bai and Anil Bariya, scroll painters Montu Chitrakar and Gurupada Chitrakar, and Mithila painters such as Pushpa Kumari and Baua Devi.

Africa Imprint: Art from Africa and the Diaspora

February 14, 2013 to April 6, 2013

Indigo Arts presents a selection of artwork from African and the African diaspora. The exhibition includes paintings, prints and sculpture by artists from Brazil, Botswana, Cuba, Haiti, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania. The exhibit reflects both the diversity of work from the African continent and the rich trans-Atlantic tradition of African descendants in the New World.

Haitian Art: Old Masters and New Visions

October 11, 2012 to February 9, 2013

Indigo Arts presents a selection of the artwork of Haiti, dating from the “Haitian Renaissance” of the 1940’s to the present.

The exhibition includes paintings, vodou flags and sculpture by artists Montas Antoine, Alberoi Bazile, Gabriel Bien-Aimé, J.B. Bottex, Seymour Bottex, Gerard Fortuné, Alexandre Gregoire, Guyodo, Maxan Jean-Louis, Philton Latortue, Gabriel Leveque, Magda Magloire, Dieuseul Paul, Payas, Prospere Pierre-Louis, Jerome Polycarpe, Louisiane Saint-Fleurant, Yves Telemak, Carol Theard, Pierre-Joseph Valcin, Jacques Valmidor, Georges Valris and Wagler Vital.

East African Encounters: Contemporary Art from Kenya and Tanzania

March 10, 2012 to September 29, 2012

Indigo Arts presents an introduction to the varied contemporary artwork of East Africa. The exhibition includes paintings and sculpture by Kenyan artists Kamau “Cartoon” Joseph, Dickson Kaloki, Shade Kamau, John Kamicha, Kevin Kariuki, Patrick Kayako, Kivuthi Mbuno, James Mbuthia, Yassir Ali Mohammed, the late George Thairu and Sane Wadu. Artists from Tanzania include the late, celebrated George Lilanga as well as the finest Tinga Tinga painters - Omary Amonde, Mohamed Charinda, Jafari Mimus, Said Mkumba and the late Sayuki Matindiko.

Indigo at Indigo: Indigo-dyed Textiles from Africa

March 3, 2012 to May 5, 2012

Indigo Arts Gallery celebrates Fiber Philadelphia 2012, and our 25th anniversary with an exhibit of the rich tradition of indigo textiles. Indigo at Indigo: Indigo-dyed Textiles from Africa focuses on natural indigo dyeing and weaving techniques in Africa, including the resist-dyed adire cloth of the Yoruba people of Nigeria, tie-dyed fabrics of the Yoruba and the Bamana people of Mali, and strip-woven indigo kente cloth from the Ewe of Ghana and Togo.

Twins Seven-Seven: Legacy of the Oshogbo Master

November 10, 2011 to February 5, 2012

Indigo Arts presents a memorial exhibition of the work of the late Nigerian master, Prince Twins Seven-Seven (1944 – 2011), one of the leading members of the Oshogbo art movement that arose in the newly independent nation in the early 1960s. He was the most celebrated African artist of his generation.

Appalachian Visionaries: Ollie Cox, Shawn Crookshank, D.R. Mullins and Fred J. Carter (1911 - 1992).

September 15, 2011 to November 5, 2011

Appalachian Visionaries introduces the work of a powerful group of visionary artists from the Appalachian region of southwestern Virginia. The exhibit includes paintings, sculpture and mixed media work by Ollie Cox, paintings by Shawn Crookshank and paintings and wood sculpture by D.R. Mullins, and the late intuitive master, Fred J. Carter (1911-1992). While the four artists differ in style and biography they are connected by geography and intersecting experiences. The artists have exhibited in regional museum and gallery shows, but have not exhibited widely outside of the area.

Ignacio Fletes Cruz: Nicaraguan Primitivista Painter (2011)

April 9, 2011 to June 4, 2011

Philadelphia, PA - Noted Nicaraguan Primitivista artist, José Ignacio Fletes Cruz returned to Philadelphia for his third solo show at Indigo Arts Gallery during the months of April and May, 2011.

Indigo Arts Selections: Works from Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Haiti and more

December 9, 2010 to March 31, 2011

Works by Cuban self-taught artst Alejandro Lazo, Mario Mesa, Nigerian artist Twins Seven-Seven and Phillip Olufemi Babarinlo, Nicaraguan artist Alejandro Benito Cabrera, Mexican artist Fernando Olivera and others.