---
title: "338 -- My Eyes Have Seen, Rico Gatson 10/27/18"
date: 2018-10-17T11:32:00-04:00
author: Cat Zhou
canonical_url: "https://feldmangallery.com/exhibition/338-my-eyes-have-seen-rico-gatson-10-27-18"
section: Exhibition
---
[](/)
View Artists
Search
Artists
[Exhibitions](/feature_exhibitions) [Past Exhibitions](/past_exhibitions/) [Artists](/artist_overview) [News & Press](/news_overview) [Inventory](https://www.artsy.net/ronald-feldman-gallery/artists) [Publications](/feature_publications) [Gallery Info](/about) [Contact](/contact)
[](https://www.facebook.com/RonaldFeldmanGallery/) [](https://www.instagram.com/feldmangallery/) [](https://twitter.com/feldmangallery?lang=en)
[Artsy](https://www.artsy.net/ronald-feldman-gallery) [Artnet](http://www.artnet.com/galleries/ronald-feldman-fine-arts/)
Artists
[ View With Images
](/artist_overview)
Jump to: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
[ Arakawa
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/arakawa-) [ Conrad Atkinson
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/conrad-atkinson) [ Eleanor Antin
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/eleanor-antin) [ Ida Applebroog
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/ida-applebroog-) [ Jim Anderson
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/jim-anderson-)
B
[ Alexander Brodsky
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/alexander-brodsky) [ Brandon Ballengée
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/brandon-balleng%C3%A9e) [ Brodsky & Utkin
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/brodsky-utkin) [ Chris Burden
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/chris-burden-) [ Joseph Beuys
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/joseph-beuys)
C
[ Cassils
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/cassils) [ Keith Cottingham
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/keith-cottingham) [ Nancy Chunn
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/nancy-chun)
D
[ Eric Dyer
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/eric-dyer) [ Milena Dopitová
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/milena-dopitova)
F
[ Carl Fudge
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/carl-fudge) [ Terry Fox
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/terry-fox)
G
[ Leon Golub
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/leon-golub-) [ Rico Gatson
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/rico-gatson) [ Yishay Garbasz
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/yishay-garbasz)
H
[ Cameron Hayes
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/cameron-hayes) [ Christine Hill
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/christine-hill) [ Helen Mayer & Newton Harrison
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/helen-mayer-harrison-newton-harrison) [ Kelly Heaton
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/kelly-heaton) [ Margaret Harrison
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/margaret-harrison) [ Shih Chieh Huang
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/shih-chieh-huang)
J
[ Simone Jones
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/simone-jones)
K
[ Brian Knep
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/brian-knep) [ Komar & Melamid
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/komar-melamid) [ Peggy Jarrell Kaplan
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/peggy-jarrell-kaplan) [ Vitaly Komar
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/vitaly-komar)
L
[ Kim Levin
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/kim-levin-)
M
[ McCarren/Fine
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/mccarren-fine)
O
[ Pepón Osorio
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/pep%C3%B3n-osorio) [ The Oakes Twins
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/the-oakes-twins)
P
[ Bruce Pearson
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/bruce-pearson) [ Panamarenko
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/panamarenko)
R
[ Fredric Riskin
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/fredric-riskin-1) [ Richard Ross
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/richard-ross)
S
[ Diemut Strebe
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/diemut-strebe) [ Edwin Schlossberg
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/edwin-schlossberg) [ Federico Solmi
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/federico-solmi-) [ Jason Salavon
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/jason-salavon) [ Todd Siler
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/todd-siler)
U
[ Mierle Laderman Ukeles
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/mierle-laderman-ukeles)
V
[ Sam Van Aken
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/sam-van-aken)
W
[ Allan Wexler
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/allan-wexler) [ Andy Warhol
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/andy-warhol) [ Clemens Weiss
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/clemens-weiss) [ Hannah Wilke
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/hannah-wilke)
Y
[ Gil Yefman
](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/gil-yefman)
[  ](/)
My Eyes Have Seen
[Rico Gatson](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/rico-gatson) Oct 26 – Dec 20, 2018
Rico Gatson
Cotton Planter and His Pickers, 2018
Description
Rico Gatson, who incorporates themes that relate to African-American histories and spirituality, will exhibit new works comprising film, paintings, sculpture, and drawings for his seventh solo exhibition at the Feldman Gallery. The title of the exhibition, *My Eyes Have Seen*, is inspired by “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” also known as “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory,” and derived from the marching song “John Brown’s Body.” Sung by Union soldiers, it has an anti-slavery subtext and inspires hope and purpose for the fight.
With his newest exhibition, *My Eyes Have Seen*, Gatson takes as his subject the complexity of processing the grief of the dark African American past. A theme underlying the unity of the artworks on display is the necessity to “know” even though what one sees is not good. To know is to bring light to darkness which is rendered metaphorically in many of the works.
The exhibition features a projected video, shot by Gatson on a recent trip to Mississippi, which takes as its subject the murder of Emmett Till in 1955. The film depicts the boy’s known route from Bryant’s store to the barn where he was killed to the river where his body was dumped and to the courthouse where the trial was held. The result is a meditative film montage, reminiscent of Gatson’s earlier short kaleidoscopic videos. Gatson invents a visual language that discusses the unspeakable – the murder of a child. The specificity of his journey bears witness, and the film is a station for contemplation.
Two new paintings are *Untitled (The Cotton Planter and his Pickers)*, whose composition combines black bars with the luminosity of light, and *Harriet Tubman*, related to Gatson’s *“icon”* drawings which celebrate prominent African Americans. New *“icon”* drawings will also be on view including one of slain Civil Rights Attorney Medgar Evers who investigated the murder of Emmett Till. Also Included in the exhibition is an installation of colorful painted wood panels that lean against the wall and incorporate collage elements and geometric patterns. They radiate energy and power and function as talismans for good luck and protection. Two free-standing sculptures channel the work of Louise Nevelson and Louise Bourgeois.
Gatson had a one-person show, *Rico Gatson: Icon’s 2007-2017*, at The Studio Museum in Harlem in 2017. He has been selected to exhibit in the E/AB Fair at the Tunnel, NYC, October 25 - 28, 2018.
[  View Press Release ](https://feldmangallery.com/assets/pdfs/artistCV/Gatson_2018_My-Eyes-Have-Seen.pdf)
[  View Artist ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/rico-gatson)
Rico Gatson
Mask Painting #3, 2018
View Gallery
 ![Artwork by Rico Gatson, view 5]()
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Rico Gatson
Mask Painting #3, 2018
![Cotton Planter and His Pickers (2018) by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Rico Gatson
Cotton Planter and His Pickers, 2018
![Harriet Tubman (2018) by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Rico Gatson
Harriet Tubman, 2017
![Eyes And Triangles 1 2018]()
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Rico Gatson
Eyes and Triangles #1, 2018
![Eyes And Triangles 2 2018]()
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Rico Gatson
Eyes and Triangles #2, 2018
![Slave Shacks and Sharks (2018) by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Rico Gatson
Eyes, Masks, Slave Shacks and Sharks, 2018
![Four Stations, video still (2018) by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Rico Gatson
Four Stations, 2018
video still
![Ida B 2018]()
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Rico Gatson
Ida B, 2018
![Medgar 2018]()
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Rico Gatson
Medgar, 2018
![Untitled (Superluminous Supernova) (2018) by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Rico Gatson
Untitled (Superluminous Supernova), 2018
![Panel Painting 35 (2018) by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Rico Gatson
Panel Painting #35, 2018
![Panel Painting 37 (2018) by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Rico Gatson
Panel Painting #37, 2018
![Panel Painting 39 (2018) by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Rico Gatson
Panel Painting #39, 2018
View Video
My Eyes Have Seen
View Gallery
 ![Installation view 10 of My Eyes Have Seen by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5
My Eyes Have Seen
installation view
![Installation view 11 of My Eyes Have Seen by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5
My Eyes Have Seen
installation view
![Installation view 12 of My Eyes Have Seen by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5
My Eyes Have Seen
installation view
![Installation view of My Eyes Have Seen 06 by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5
My Eyes Have Seen
installation view
![Installation view of My Eyes Have Seen 09 by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5
My Eyes Have Seen
installation view
 ![Installation view 10 of My Eyes Have Seen by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5
My Eyes Have Seen
installation view
![Installation view 11 of My Eyes Have Seen by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5
My Eyes Have Seen
installation view
![Installation view 12 of My Eyes Have Seen by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5
My Eyes Have Seen
installation view
![Installation view of My Eyes Have Seen 06 by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5
My Eyes Have Seen
installation view
![Installation view of My Eyes Have Seen 09 by Rico Gatson]()
1 2 3 4 5
My Eyes Have Seen
installation view
Ronald Feldman Gallery has been at the frontier of contemporary art since 1971. The gallery is located in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City and exhibits performance, photography, new media, film, painting, drawing and sculpture.
Sign up to receive email updates
[Exhibitions](/feature_exhibitions) [Artists](/artist_overview) [Press & News](/news_overview)
[Contact](/contact) [About](/about) [Privacy Policy](https://www.iubenda.com/privacy-policy/41599251) [Cookie Policy](https://www.iubenda.com/privacy-policy/41599251/cookie-policy) [ADA Compliance Statement](https://dashboard.accessibe.com/statement?license=619a6a548dbc2f0444ae1886)
31 Mercer Street
New York, NY 10013
Office Hours:
Monday - Friday:
10:00am - 6:00pm
Exhibition Viewing Hours:
Tuesday - Thursday
1:00pm - 5:00pm
phone [212-226-3232](tel:212-226-3232)
[ ](https://www.facebook.com/RonaldFeldmanGallery/) [ ](https://www.instagram.com/feldmangallery/) [ ](https://twitter.com/feldmangallery?lang=en)
 Copyright © 2026 Ronald Feldman Gallery