For November 17

Three New Exhibits At Studio Museum Harlem

Set: 11/9; AVV/KFR; #676861

NEW YORK CITY — The Studio Museum in Harlem presents three new exhibitions on view through March 18. “Stan Douglas: Inconsolable Memories,” “Africa Comics” and “Harlem Postcards” all opened in November.

With an international reputation for his photographs and film and video installations, Canadian artist Stan Douglas uses innovative techniques to blur the boundaries between visual art, cinema and television. For its presentation at The Studio Museum in Harlem, this exhibition consists of film work and a series of photographs inspired by his recent trips to Cuba.

The film work, Inconsolable Memories, presented at the 2005 Venice Biennale, is a tribute to the 1968 Cuban cinematic masterpiece Memories of Underdevelopment, directed by Tomas Gutierrez Alea. Alea’s film portrayed the alienation of a character named Sergio, a bourgeois intellectual swept up in the changing social climate of Cuba following the Bay of Pigs invasion and the missile crisis of 1962.

Douglas’ film transports Sergio to 1980 and the Mariel Boatlift, when Fidel Castro allowed thousands of Cubans to escape the island on a procession of boats arriving from Florida.

Through Douglas’s use of two 16mm loops projected simultaneously onto one screen, past and present overlap. The photographs, shot over the past two years, describe Havana’s recycled urban architecture: villas are now schools; banks are now motorcycle lots. Immaculate and technically flawless, the prints are in stark contrast to the ruin and entropy they describe.

In “Africa Comics,” the museum’s first exhibition of comic art from Africa, a new generation of African artists is expressing itself through a medium most Americans associate with superheroes and funny pages. Using comics, this group depicts the rage, desperation, hope and humor of daily life in Africa. The work, which addresses issues as wide-ranging as corruption, human rights, immigration and the plight of women, provides an unprecedented glimpse into modern Africa.

“Africa Comics” includes 32 artists or two-person artists’ teams from all over the continent of Africa, including Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Togo.

Represented, revered and recognized by people around the world, Harlem is a continually expanding nexus of black culture, history and iconography. Venerable landmarks such as the Abyssinian Baptist Church, Apollo Theater, Hotel Theresa, Audubon Ballroom and 125th Street remain popular emblems of important historic moments and moods.

The Studio Museum’s ongoing series, “Harlem Postcards,” invites contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds to reflect on Harlem as a site for artistic contemplation and production. Installed in the museum lobby and available to visitors, “Harlem Postcards” presents intimate views and fresh perspectives on this famous neighborhood. Images by James Casebere, Dominic McGill, Jessica Rankin and Katy Schimert are on exhibit for the fall-winter season.

The museum is at 144 West 125th Street. For information, www.studiomuseum.org or 212-864-4500.