Alteronce Gumby’s cosmic landscapes challenge the meaning of colour

Alteronce Gumby is captivated by the endless speculative configurations of meaning, memory, and subjective association that colours can embody. “Colour is such a beautifully complex thing,” he tells Dazed. “When I was a kid in class, I told everyone that my favourite colour was black and another student responded, ‘That’s because you’re Black.’ But the real reason was that my favourite superhero was Batman.” 

The New York-born-and-bred artist has caused a stir in the art world with his large-scale geometric abstractions exploring vast themes such as colour, identity, the cosmos, physics, and more. His debut monograph, Colour Is a Beautiful Thing, covers the first six years of his artistic practice and follows the conceptual and material evolution of his work as he moved from working in clay to incorporating gemstones into his entrancing paintings.

With written contributions by curators Ashley James and Antwaun Sargent, the book itself is an object of beauty, embodying so many aspects of Gumby’s artworks. He tells us, “I wanted the monograph to feel like a work of art… I wanted the book to carry some of the attributes the paintings displayed – iridescent colours, earthly textures, and kinship to light.”

Drawing on the colour field movement, Gumby cites painters such as Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning as huge influences, yet all the while working to progress the visual language of the notoriously white-dominated canon of 20th-century abstraction from which they emanate. “My practice is about expanding my perception of colour and the world around me through abstract painting,” he explains. “There are a lot of artists who have engaged in this conversation. It seems as though most of them have left identity, empathy, or the natural world out of the dialogue.”

Take a look through the gallery above to see some of his wonderful artworks. Below, we talk to Alteronce Gumby about Colour Is a Beautiful Thing, his thoughts on astrology and the cosmos, and the cultural production of meanings of race and gender (with specific reference to the Power Rangers). 

Please could you introduce us to this new book, your first monograph? 

Alteronce Gumby: This monograph is truly a dream come true. I’m a huge fan of artists’ monographs so I’m ecstatic to have one of my own. I’m very thankful to Charles Moffett Gallery & False Flag for producing it. 

This monograph covers six years of my artistic practice, from my first semester in graduate school at Yale to the development of my glass paintings. It’s a good span of time for me and the readers to observe how my practice has evolved materially and conceptually from clay to glass and gemstones. It also features written contributions by curators Ashley James and Antwaun Sargent, two people whom I respect and admire in the art world. They’re doing the work. 

Could you elaborate on your own use of colour and the culturally produced meanings and symbolism with which colours are entrenched? 

Alteronce Gumby: Colour is such a beautifully complex thing. Culturally, colour has carried so many meanings, interpretations, and associations. I first realised this when I was a kid. In class, I told everyone that my favourite colour was black and another student responded, ‘That’s because you’re Black.’ But the real reason was that my favourite superhero was Batman. 

Colours, like certain words in the dictionary, are homonyms. We see the colour red and think of Valentine’s day, the republican party, or Matisse’s ‘The Red Studio’. A colour can carry many associations and symbols though, for me, the number of interpretations is infinite. As Toni Morrison puts it: ‘Definitions belong to the definer – not the defined.’ 

Every time I make a painting, I’m defining colour for myself. I’m not putting colour in a box, similar to the way I don’t like to put myself in a box or compartmentalise my practise as a painter. My work with colour is focused on expanding our mindset around colour and liberating our perspective from the associations we make with it.

“My work with colour is focused on expanding our mindset around colour and liberating our perspective from the associations we make with it” – Alteronce Gumby

Scale seems to be a really important aspect of your practice. How did you experience creating the book and working within the spatial confines of the page? 

Alteronce Gumby: I wanted the monograph to feel like a work of art. My book designer, Laura Coombs, helped me bring this book to life. We thought about every aspect of the book and how the reader would interact with it, from the texture of the cover to using different inked pages in the interior. I wanted the book to carry some of the attributes the paintings displayed – iridescent colours, earthly textures, and kinship to light.

What do astrology and the cosmos mean to you, spiritually, intellectually, and creatively? 

Alteronce Gumby: The cosmos is the great enigma. I’m fascinated with what we know about it and enthralled with what we don’t know. My imagination can run wild thinking of all the different possibilities of life, places, and energies that exist. 

Throughout humanity, we’ve looked to the stars for guidance, whether it is figuring out which way is north to navigating across a landscape or to better understand who we are as individuals and what planets are affecting our current behaviours. I think all these practices and theories are valid for helping us figure out who we are and what our purpose is with the time we have here. 

I want my paintings to have the same sense of wonder and vastness as the cosmos. Compositionally, I’m referencing cosmic landscapes. These are places I believe exist outside of our solar system – like exoplanets – but I can only visit them through my imagination and paintings. This allows me to paint with faith and liberation. 

In my work, the addition of gemstones is evidence of raw material and organic pigments which connects to nature. Some of these gemstones, like lapis lazuli and red jasper, have a long history with painting as they can be grounded up and turned into pigments, and an even longer history with the planet and the cosmos. For me, colour connects it all.

From Isaac Newton to the Power Rangers and space travel, your inspiration seems to be drawn from such a vast cross-disciplinary matrix. Could you elaborate on any overarching elements that might connect your diverse sources of stimulation?

Alteronce Gumby: When rationalising my paintings, I need to consider all the makings of life – everything that allows all of us to exist and do the things we do. In my mind, it’s all tethered materially and energetically. Colour is the best medium to link all that we can physically see and touch as well as what we can’t see yet still feel. It’s like gravity – we can’t see this force of energy but we know it’s there. 

Colour also takes many forms of energy, from light to gemstones. I want to display the spectrum of colour visually and materially within each of my paintings. Overall, the equation is always revolving around light, material, and energy. Every painting is emphasising these three elements about a certain colour. With the power of abstraction, I can shift the conversation from talking about Sir Issac Newton’s prism experiments to the colour codes surrounding race and gender with the Power Rangers in the same painting. 

I find the titles of your work are often really exquisite and I think they add an extra dimension and meaning to your artworks. You have a beautiful way with words! How do you come up with the titles? And do you ever write poetry or prose? 

Alteronce Gumby: I used to be a singer-songwriter before becoming a painter. I’ve always loved wordplay from growing up and listening to rap music. I used to love reading the lyrics in the CD jackets. Often, I’ll title paintings after songs, books I’ve read, poetry I admire, or an interesting stringing of words that I heard a stranger say on the street. I keep a list of phrases and while I’m working on a painting I’ll start to think about what words could amplify what’s happening in the painting. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I believe a painting is worth a million. The title is another gesture towards the overall experience of the painting. 

“I want my paintings to have the same sense of wonder and vastness as the cosmos” – Alteronce Gumby

You’ve spoken about the inspiration you’ve drawn from the colour field movement. Who are the artists whose artwork most speaks to you from these movements? And in what ways is your work developing and expanding the visual language of this notoriously white-dominated canon of 20th-century abstraction? 

Alteronce Gumby: Rothko was probably the first colour field artist that stopped me in my tracks. I took so much from him. Looking back, I probably borrowed a little from all the abstract expressionists across generations, from Willem de Kooning to Jack Whitten and Stanley Whitney, to contemporaries like Tomashi Jackson. I think colour field painters have a unique way of looking at the world and thinking about colour. 

My practice is about expanding my perception of colour and the world around me through abstract painting. There are a lot of artists who have engaged in this conversation. It seems as though most of them have left identity, empathy, or the natural world out of the dialogue. I try to view the equation from as many angles as possible. This makes the paintings accessible to a broader audience. 

I also put a lot of emphasis on material and process. I want the viewer to have a phenomenological experience standing in front of my work. The gemstones are pulsing at their own frequencies, the glass is refracting light, and the colours are dancing. 

Do you have any daily rituals that help put you in a creative mindset? 

Alteronce Gumby: I have two rituals that I believe help me get into a creative mindset. The first is meditating every morning. That may not sound like the most creative ritual but I believe that if you want your imagination to roam free you have to make space for it. The second ritual is to see as much art as possible. Whether it’s in galleries or museums, public art, or old gothic churches, I try to see it all and add them to my lexicon.

What excites you at the moment, in terms of other artists, musicians, films, and television? 

Alteronce Gumby: I get excited just waking up and going to the studio every day. I’m what some would call a workaholic, but I’m passionate about my work and I feel blessed to be in the position I’m in. I’m excited about the new work I have in my studio and can’t wait to share it with the world. 

I think Julie Mehretu’s show at the Whitney got every artist excited about scale and possibilities. Musically, I’m looking forward to playing Drake’s Certified Lover Boy and Kanye’s Donda albums in the studio. 

What’s next? Are you working on new, upcoming projects? 

I have a solo presentation at Armory with False Flag. I’ll be showing some stellar large works. Following that, I’m opening my solo exhibition with Bode Projects in Berlin titled Cross Colours. I had the pleasure of spending time in Berlin during the pandemic to make these works. In these paintings, I consider simultaneous contrasting colours through light and material. I also have a public installation with Art-in-Buildings that will be opening in early October and I’ll finish the year off by sharing a booth with Fred Eversley at Basel Miami with Nicola Vassell Gallery. 

Alteronce Gumby’s Colour Is a Beautiful Thing is published by Charles Moffett and is available now