Boundary migratory, A Choreographic Response to the Art of Arthur Monroe

November 2, 5 – 8pm boundary migratory, A Choreographic Response to the Art of Arthur Monroe at the Blue Lotus Artist’s Collective (BLAC) at 15 E. Pennington Street.

boundary migratory, created by Cyrus, a curator, multidisciplinary artist and Director of the School of Dance at the University of Arizona—is a series of sculptural movement studies performed by U of A dancers that will explore ideas of movement within and through space, particularly for Black and Brown bodies. The work asks who has the right to move and through what spaces? The “moving sculptures” will converse with, honor, and explore the work of Arthur Monroe, currently on display at the Blue Lotus Artist Collective in downtown Tucson.

Ella Hendricks
Tucker Nance
Rashaad Rice
Stylist: Charles Palmer Jr.

“..I have been on the move throughout a career of over forty years as a performing and visual artist—traveling across the world—where I’ve brought my work to major stages, galleries, and local communities. I now work with an amazing community of talented experts to prepare young artists for careers in Dance—they research movement and literally stretch their bodies across or within boundaries to express ideas. My past experiences, my current perspectives within a borderland community, and the many talented people I encounter here make me think of what it means to hold space, move within boundaries, or cross various spaces. For me, this resonates with the abstract images of Arthur Monroe. I want to explore what space and a need for place means here in the Southwest. How it can also shift or have shifting parameters…” Cyrus

Arthur Monroe: Rhythmic Abstraction Exhibition at the Blue Lotus Artist’s Collective (BLAC) at 15 E. Pennington Street. Monroe’s works reflect his participation within several of the major cultural movements of the twentieth century. Born in the Bedford Stuyvesant District of Brooklyn, New York in 1935, he became steeped in the NY School of Abstract Expressionism, studied with Hans Hoffman, rubbed shoulders with Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline, and frequented the Cedar Bar in Greenwich Village. The exhibit will run through January 20, 2025.

The exhibition is curated by art historian Joanne Stuhr in conjunction with the artist’s son Alistair Monroe. Drawing from all decades of Monroe’s artistic career, the dynamic, large-scale canvases and works on paper date from the late 1950s to his death in 2019.

BLAC gallery hours are Thursday-Saturday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Gallery will be open for 1st Saturday Gallery Walk every month.