Lavar Munroe

Lavar Munroe (b. Nassau, Bahamas 1982) is a Bahamian-American artist,[1] working primarily in painting,[2] cardboard sculptural installations,[3] and mixed media drawings.[4] His work is often categorized as: a hybrid medium that straddle the line between sculpture and painting.[5] Munroe lives and works in the United States.

Early life

Lavar Munroe was born November 19, 1982 in Nassau, Bahamas where he resided in the community of Grants Town[6] until age 21. In 2004, Munroe migrated to the United States for tertiary level education, where we remained until present.

Background and early career

In 2007, Munroe received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design. He obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 2013.

In 2014, he was awarded a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[7] Munroe was included in Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of The Swamp, the New Orleans triennial [8] curated by Trevor Schoonmaker, and the 12th Dakar Biennale,[9] curated by Simon Njami, in Senegal. In 2015, Munroe's work was featured in All the World's Futures, curated by Okwui Enwezor as part of the 56th Venice Biennale.[10] Noteworthy group shows include those at the Nasher Museum of Art in Durham; Perez Art Museum, Miami; the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, Nassau; MAXXI Museum of Art, Rome; Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco; Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach; and The Drawing Center,[11] New York.

Munroe was awarded residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, MacDowell Colony, the Headlands Center for the Arts, Joan Mitchell Center, Thread: Artist Residency and Cultural Center (a project of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation) and was an inaugural Artists in Residence at the Norton Museum of Art.[12] He is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant. Munroe represented The Bahamas at the 2010 Liverpool Biennial.[13]

In April 2016, Munroe’s ten-year survey ‘SON OF THE SOIL’ debuted at the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas [14] as the largest retrospective to date of Munroe's art, which spanned the artist's 10 years of work (2008-2018) and included nearly 50 original paintings, sculpture and drawings.

Munroe produces interdisciplinary artworks, and describes himself as a "trickster".[15] He says he borrows from the narrative elements of illustration, theatre, and surrealist representations of ancient mythologies.[16]

Munroe lives and works between Baltimore, MD and Nassau, Bahamas.

Work

Where Heroes Lay In 2013, Munroe produced a series of twelve (12) life sized cardboard beds titled "Where Heroes Lay"[17] engaged a material exchange between the artist and a homeless person in downtown Washington DC. Munroe presented The Hero’s soiled bedding material as a consumer good in the art-market, knowing that the objects would serve as weapons of critique and ridicule towards mainstream society."[18]

Venice Biennale In 2015, Munroe was invited to exhibit in the 56th Venice Biennale: All The Worlds Futures, curated by the late by Okwui Enwezor.[19][20][21] Munroe presented three large format paintings in the exhibition.[22]

Human Zoo In 2014, Munroe was awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[23][24] While there, his research interest was the human zoo.[25]

Memorials

Munroe's 'Memorials' have taken on various forms, including but not limited to a ceramic funerary urn that Munroe created which housed his father’s ashes, his father’s soiled parachute which he sewed and braided prior to him being hospitalized,[26] life-size erected sculptural forms, and mural sized wall drawings which symbolized dreams that foretold his father’s death.

Gun Dogs

Munroe's ongoing series called  'Gun Dogs', comprise mostly life size cardboard sculptures of vicious dogs.[27] 

Redbones

The early inception of Munroe's Redbones Series is based on photo documents and artifacts collected in Senegal: Goree Island, Tambacounda, Saint Louis and the Sinthian Village.[28]

References
  1. Minamore, Bridget. "Get Up, Stand Up Now: Q&A with artist Lavar Munroe". Google Arts and Culture. Google Arts and Culture. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  2. Walker, Julie. "The Black Artists You Should Know at Basel". Church in the Wild" (2019) Mixed media on canvas. Courtesy of the Artist and Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York and San Francisco Jenkins Johnson Gallery Untitled Art Fair. Paper Magazine. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  3. Keisha, Oliver. "Studio Visit: Lavar Munroe. Finding New Meaning to a Familiar Space". NAGB. National Art Gallery of The Bahamas. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  4. Graeber, Laurel (October 22, 2020). "Putting Pencil to Paper, in Galleries and in the Voting Booth". The New York Times.
  5. "Lavar Munroe's Grotesque Gestures". www.juxtapoz.com. Juxtapoz Art and Culture. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  6. Humphrey, Kim-ling. "Lavar Munroe | The Artist Trickster". The Culture Trip. The Culture Trip. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  7. "Post-Doc Fellow Lavar Munroe participating in 56th Venice Biennale | Department of Art and Art History". art.unc.edu.
  8. "PROSPECT.4: THE LOTUS IN SPITE OF THE SWAMP". Prospect New Orleans. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  9. "Dakar Biennial Announces Participating Artists". artnet News. January 29, 2016.
  10. "The 2015 Venice Biennale List of Artists Is Out—See Our Exclusive". artnet News. March 5, 2015.
  11. Graeber, Laurel (October 22, 2020). "Putting Pencil to Paper, in Galleries and in the Voting Booth" – via NYTimes.com.
  12. "Norton Museum of Art Establishes New Artist-in-Residence Program". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  13. "| Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art". www.biennial.com.
  14. "The Case for Lavar Munroe: The Son of Soil". NATIONAL ART GALLERY OF THE BAHAMAS.
  15. Where Heroes Lay, at the Nassau Guardian, published September 21, 2013; retrieved November 2, 2014
  16. "Myth and Transformation: Lavar Munroe in Conversation with AM DeBrincat".
  17. "Where Heroes Lay". Lavar Munroe. Lavar Munroe Studio. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  18. "Chad Saville - Magazine Editor and Digital Producer, Web content producer". chadsaville.com.
  19. Art Forum. "ARTISTS ANNOUNCED FOR 2015 VENICE BIENNALE". Art Forum. Art Forum. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  20. Boucher, Brian. "The 2015 Venice Biennale List of Artists Is Out—See Our Exclusive Who made the cut?". Artnet. Artnet. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  21. Farago, Jason. "Okwui Enwezor, Curator Who Remapped Art World, Dies at 55". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  22. deFINE ART. "Lavar Munroe 'JOURNEY ELSEWHERE: MUSINGS FROM A BOUNDLESS ZOO'". SCAD Museum of Art. SCAD Museum of Art. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  23. Bauer, Jj. "POST-DOC FELLOW LAVAR MUNROE PARTICIPATING IN 56TH VENICE BIENNALE". UNC Art and Art History. The University of North Carolina. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  24. "Postdoc Awards for Research Excellence". UNC Research. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  25. Huete, Betsy. "Lavar Munroe: Zoo at the Edge of the World". Glasstire. Glasstire (Texas Visual Art). Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  26. Walters, Sydney. ""The Eye Sees Not Itself" at Nicodim". Art and Cake Magazine. Art and Cake Magazine. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  27. ZIYING, DUAN. "LAVAR MUNROE REVIEWED BY SQUARE CYLINDER". Jenkins Johnson Gallery. Square Cylinder. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  28. Minamore, Bridget. "Get Up, Stand Up Now: Q&A with artist Lavar Munroe". Google Arts and Culture. Google Arts and Culture. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
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