In the Speck Gallery right now, a canvas hangs on the wall that is completely concealed. A green sheet is draped over it—and next to it, the words “DON’T TOUCH” are sharpied onto a strip of tape stuck to the gallery wall. In the days leading up to the gallery opening, I wondered if the piece would ever be revealed. I was curious about what was hidden underneath, and every time I walked by it, I imagined ripping it off—it seemed like it would be satisfying, like unwrapping a present—but I left it alone and waited for the work in progress to reveal itself.

Bruce Armstrong
*Work in Progress*
acrylic on canvas
36” x 36"

It never did. On the night of First Friday, the piece was still cloaked; its artist, Bruce Armstrong, had a bigger imagination for this show than I could have anticipated. The piece is titled Work in Progress, and it's just one of many mysterious works on display in the group exhibit titled Tomorrow’s Today. The show features work from nine artists who belong to WE ARE Indy Arts—a black artist collective that has been showing at the Harrison Center for years. Often their work references African artists: both traditional and contemporary.

Latoya R. Marlin
*The Girl Behind The Masks Series (Piece 1)*
mixed media on canvas
30” x 30"

Like Armstrong’s cloaked piece, the show holds secrets left and right. Why are the chairs in Let’s Talk About It empty? In Mirror of Truth (Don’t Believe the Hype), a mask is centered in a mirror. When we stare at the piece, we see ourselves reflected, but with a tribal mask placed on our faces. The show often cloaks itself and, in return, cloaks the viewer as well.

Anthony T-Rad Radford
*Mirror of Truth (Don't Believe The Hype)*
mixed media
12" x 16"

There are dark tones and mystical moments throughout Tomorrow’s Today. Maybe a theme of nighttime runs through the pieces, like Lenny White’s photographs of the city aglow, or one compelling piece titled Foot Steps in the Dark, with its patchwork black squares pasted onto canvas.

Lenny White
*Walmart Distribution Fire*
photograph on archival paper
30" x 20"

Bruce Armstrong
*Foot Steps in the Dark*
acrylic on canvas
30” x 40"

In 1995, an artist named Alfredo Jaar created a show called Real Pictures that consisted of 291 silkscreen printed filing boxes, each of which held a single photograph. The photos were of the Rwandan genocide. Guests could wander through the exhibit, but they could not look inside the boxes to see the pictures—they were totally hidden.

Alfredo Jaar (Santiago du Chili, 1956)
*Real Pictures, 1995-2007*
6 monuments consisting of 291 silkscreen printed filing boxes, each containing a single photograph, dimensions variable
© Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne

I look at Armstrong’s Work in Progress, and I think of Real Pictures and its impact on the world. It made a statement by hiding the very thing it was generating conversation about. Behind each piece in Tomorrow’s Today are the lives and stories of many, alive and deceased, who have been invisible, hidden, and silenced throughout history. The artists in WE ARE Indy Arts know how hard these stories can be and that sometimes, drawing a curtain over our work can create more of an impact than revelation: inviting us into the act of reflection.

Gary Gee
*111*
Ink, Acrylic, Aerosol, Enamel, H2O, Glass, Glitter, Aluminum, Canvas
25” x 56” x 1”

See Tomorrow’s Today by WE ARE Indy Arts in the Speck Gallery throughout the month of July.

Tomorrow's Today