All in One Feeling
Mindy Solomon is pleased to present the inaugural solo exhibition of Basil Kincaid, All in One Feeling. A significant artist within the gallery roster, his Miami debut is long overdue.
Kincaid has developed a body of work that explores his first love, drawing, and the techniques expanded relationship to painting, textile and community building. Having formally moved to Ghana in 2020, Kincaid brought with him an open heart and an open mind as well as a need to find and build community. Kincaid’s generosity of spirit and passion for his artistry inspired him to invite artisans from Accra to support his studio practice. Kincaid shared in his artist statement: Each piece, born from an initial drawing on paper that’s then scaled onto canvas and painted in thread, represents the process-oriented, collaborative and imaginative tenets of Kincaid’s methods. As the work is drafted, translated, expanded upon, and finished, it passes hands, moving on from Kincaid and into the care of Kincaid’s team of embroiderers working in the Ghana studio. They sew a range of stitches, building textures and sculpting the fabric into its final form, at which point the piece is framed in kente —a significant and symbolic West African fabric that can convey specific meanings and circumstances.
Searching for a sense of belonging in his new home, Kincaid, always a powerful orator, uses his voice to create joyful images that speak to new beginnings. In the image “Living Free and Growing, 2021” the viewer experiences the energy and rejuvenation of a seated figure-presumably a metaphor for Kincaid- with hands reaching upward holding plants and thirsting for knowledge and sustenance, one hand highlighted by a pair of eyes. In “Multiple Minds in Harmony, 2021” we see a large-scale form that resembles a head, but upon investigation is an assemblage of multiple faces. The implication being, that many minds make for productive and joyous convergence. Kincaid writes: Upending the Western image of the artist siloed in mystery, I seek to speak plainly and proudly of the community created through working together, and the inevitable legacy spurred from that. Employing the old adage, “If you want to go fast go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
Perhaps the most telling work in the show is “Learning to Trust in the Infinite Unknown, 2021”. Full of bold abstract forms with a circuitry of stitching bringing the diverse shapes together, there is an energy and optimism within the composition. Framed in the traditional Kente cloth border the image becomes one with the past as well as conveying the sacredness of carrying forth tradition- and being made whole by it.
All in One Feeling is Kincaid’s love song to all that he holds dear- presented with a power and a passion that makes him a driving force in contemporary art today.
About Basil Kincaid
Basil Kincaid, b. 1986, is an emerging, Post-Disciplinary Visual Artist based in St. Louis, Missouri. Kincaid Studied studio art at Colorado College graduating in 2010 with a concentration in Studio art with emphasis on drawing and painting. Kincaid has exhibited work in St. Louis, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Boca Raton, Boston, New York, Montpellier France and Accra Ghana.
Basil Kincaid was the inaugural Artist in Residence at JP Morgan and has four works in their permanent collection. Kincaid attended The Fountainhead Residency in Miami in 2017. In 2014-15 Kincaid was the inaugural recipient of the Arts Connect International, Artist in Residence Program.
