DWIGHTMESS is proud to announce LICHTENSTEIN-ING, an exhibition presenting a brief meditation on the appropriation of comics art by Kumasi J. Barnett, F. Lennox Campello, and JD Deardourff.
Opening Reception will take place NEXT WEEK :::: Friday, November 7th, 7-9pm :::: at Dwightmess compound :::: 805 Silver Spring Ave, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Admission is free and open to the public.
The title of the final exhibition for 2025 is derived from the name of the artist Roy Lichtenstein, one of the first artists to appropriate comics art into a white box gallery context, deliberately mutating the distributive purpose of comics and its creative intent as a popular art form. Each artist in this exhibition also achieves a similar ‘borrowing’ approach to comics art in their work.
Kumasi J. Barnett, a multimedia artist based in Baltimore, MD, uses the familiar pop iconography of comic book covers, satirizing “The American Way” by appropriating and transforming their imagery while challenging stereotypes of race and class. Beloved heroes such as Spider-Man and The Hulk are transformed into meta-cultural icons of Barnett’s own making.
Artist, Art Dealer, Art Critic and Consultant F. Lennox Campello is a multimedia artist creating drawings, video art, and paintings. Campello has conducted professional development seminars for artists, exhibited in art fairs and galleries worldwide, managed galleries and projects in the Washington, DC area, & maintained a presence as a force for good in contemporary art all while applying his drawing practice tactically to forms that suit his notions.
Employing innovative rhythms and his signature blazing palette, JD Deardourff creates bold, graphic, bittersweet compositions that draw inspiration from the vocabulary of comic books: exaggeration, energy, movement, contour line, interplay of sequential images, and artificial color.