Paul Rucker
August 2013 | Gallery4Culture
Recapitulation: Assassin Series
August 1 – 29, 2013
Opening: First Thursday, August 1, 2013 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Artist Talk: Thursday, August 22 at 6:00 pm
Guns and Cellos | the Stranger reviews
Recapitulation: Assassin Series builds upon Paul Rucker’s ongoing project Recapitulation, an ambitious multimedia effort whose aim is to explore parallels between the institution of slavery and our contemporary prison industrial complex. Whereas African Americans comprise only 12 percent of the country’s total population, they make-up 40 percent of those incarcerated. Recapitulation examines the colossal disparity in the racial composition of the U.S. prison population and points to the vast number of African American’s whose lives have been affected by both the institution of slavery and prison system.
Assassin Series, the current chapter of Rucker’s Recapitulation project, is the focus of his August Gallery4Culture exhibit. This body of work illuminates similarities between death by lynching and the flood of shootings in present day America. In sync with the extrajudicial quality of lynching, today’s shootings often go unprosecuted, or, if they go to trial, often end in dismissal of the accused. Paul Rucker’s Recapitulation: Assassin Series explores that long history through animated video, sculpture, digital prints and more.
Join us for an artist talk by Paul Rucker on Thursday, August 22 at 6:00 PM. This event is free and open to the public.
About the Artist
Paul Rucker is an interdisciplinary artist who integrates visual art with live performance, sound and original compositions. His work is the product of a rich interactive process, through which he investigates community impacts, human rights issues, historical research and basic human emotions surrounding a subject. Rucker received a prestigious Creative Capitol Grant for Recapitulation; he was also awarded an Individual Artists Project Grant from 4Culture in 2012, a 2012 Artist Trust Grant for Artist Projects (GAP) and the 2012 Conductive Garboil Grant. Support from each of these sources helped make this exhibition possible.