CURATORS

Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library

ARTIST

Black Kirby

The Haunts of Black Kirby

Presented in partnership with the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library

Black Kirby—the pseudonym assumed by the acclaimed visual artists and professors, John Jennings and Stacey Robinson—are Alchemists. They take raw materials from black history, hip hop, and comic book mythology and remix them to create new universes, never-before seen technologies, and biting satires about the world we live in today. Each of the Black Kirby images serves as a funky, rare artifact from an alternate universe, fully formed, and autonomous from its earthly origins.

The works in this exhibition are on loan from the Atlanta University Center (AUC) Robert W. Woodruff Library. The Haunts of Black Kirby is derived from “The Alchemist’s Notebook: The Satire, Remixes, and Haunts of Black Kirby”, an exhibition organized by the AUC Woodruff Library in 2019. It featured more than fifty digital artworks by Black Kirby and artifacts from the AUC Woodruff Library’s Archives Research Center exploring the topics of Black history, hip-hop, and comic book mythology.

Join us for the opening reception and come back for the many surrounding classes and events!

EXHIBIT EVENTS:

Suspend your disbelief with me for a moment. Imagine the alchemists at work in their lair. Watch as they use a set of rusty tools to handle raw, crude materials and melt them down to more malleable forms. As they carefully mix the isolated substances together, listen as they whisper a forgotten tongue from a dusty leather-bound notebook. When the ritual is over and the notebook has been cast aside into the shadows, you witness the substance start to stir. As it twists and turns in the immense heat, you smell the stench of a hot fusion that breathes life into a new creation, indeed a new element, that has never existed before. This new element is the art of Black Kirby, and this exhibition provides a peek into their notebook of esoteric spells.

- Clint Fluker, Ph.D.