| Server: Love Ta, Love Ta Love Ya Ciara Elle Bryant October 16, 2021 – January 8, 2022 OPENING RECEPTION – Saturday, October 16th, 6-9 pm THE MAC1503 S. Ervay StreetDallas, TX 75215214-728-6776 |
| This project was supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant |
| Ciara Elle Bryant’s Server: Love Ta, Love Ta Love Ya puts forth a dynamic culmination of the Dallas artist’s recent artistic projects. Encompassing each gallery space of The MAC, the exhibition serves as a visual bibliography of Bryant’s personal histories as they relate to the wider experience of being Black in America. Utilizing a wide range of media, from video to photography, collage, and ready-made objects, Bryant manifests her encyclopedic collection of digital ephemera from Black popular culture into large-scale installations. Social media posts, news stories, memes, viral videos, and the like are presented en masse, offering a physical space for Black identity and self-actualization to take center stage. |
| Named after Timbaland’s 1997 single Luv 2 Luv U, the exhibition encompasses a nostalgic view of the relics and memories that shaped Bryant’s upbringing. Central to the exhibition, a new work, Run It Back (2021), utilizes numerous analog televisions to display looping video and imagery. The installation harkens to a bygone era when TV reigned supreme in disseminating the popular music and media that remain pivotal to the artist’s existence. In Server: Checks On The Block (2021), Bryant pays homage to the Nike Air Force 1 and its long-standing impact on street fashion, solidifying the sneaker’s cultural significance. Through works like these, the exhibition as a whole establishes an origin story for the cherished objects, experiences, and values that drive Byrant’s work as a visual artist. |
 | Ciara Elle Bryant is an intercreative working and residing in Dallas, TX. She is the inaugural recipient of the CADD x Maddrey Prize, awarded in 2020 to a Black artist living and working in Dallas County. Bryant holds a Masters of Fine Art from Southern Methodist University. Through photography, video, mixed media, and installations, Bryant discusses blackness by focusing on how identity and culture exist in the new millennium. Bryant also teaches and facilitates artist workshops for youth and adults while working as a practicing artist. Bryant’s approach to research and curatorial practice has been integral to her process of furthering conversations surrounding black culture in art as well as historical studies. |
The 2020 CADD x Maddrey Artist Prize was made possible through the generous support of Maddrey PLLC, Diane Boddy, Joanne Casullo, Erin Cluley and Tearlach Hutcheson, John Dirba and Brian Morrison, Mike Matthews, Travis Vandergriff and Rodrigo Zepeda, Cris Worley and Erick Swenson, and additional anonymous donors. |
| The MAC, founded in 1994, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization that stands as an advocate for creative freedom, presenting visual art in all its forms. It supports emerging to established local, regional and international artists by offering the opportunity for exhibition and experimentation and by providing a forum for critical dialogue, with inclusivity and promoting diversity as core values. Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas (CADD) is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit membership organization of galleries formed in 2007 for the purpose of promoting the advancement of contemporary art on all levels. Today, each of CADD’s thirteen member galleries function as an important component of the Dallas art community, providing the means by which artists reach their public and collectors gain access to works of art. Through year-round social and fundraising events, CADD aims to develop resources that support visual artists in our community. Thomas Maddrey is the founder of Maddrey PLLC, a boutique law firm focused on artists, collectors, and galleries. In 2021, Thomas reimagined how to support these communities and launched Maddrey Consulting LLC where he provides specialized one-on-one guidance to those in the creative industry. He’s proud of the inaugural CADD x Maddrey PLLC prize, and is excited to honor Ciara Elle Bryant. |
