Ralph Lemon, Visiting Artist Lecture 2017

Ralph Lemon starts his lecture by doing a reading for the participants, while a video projection is played behind him. Lemon speaks about his ongoing experiment with movement, performance and body work; the fragility of his existence, and how all of these ideas intertwine with Lemon reflecting on socio-political histories, whether it is the date the Black Panther Party was founded, to constant incidents of police violence in the United States. Lemon uses these socio-political histories as a way to talk about the profound sadness and horror of slavery, the need to always reflect on rage, and seeing race as a material to think about using in the studio. Lemon also speaks about his complex relationship and exchange with Bruce Nauman’s wall floor positions 1965, starts a conversation with the faculty, staff and participants about Dana Schutz, and urges the participants to find their own open casket, in reference to Schutz’s controversial painting at the 2017 Whitney Biennale.