Solange scales new heights at the Getty Museum
Written in November 2019
Solange Knowles continues to take the art world by storm with her latest curated show, Bridge-s. This past weekend, the Getty Museum hosted a 2-day series of film screenings, artist talks and live performances all programmed by Knowles herself and powered by Dropbox and LA creative agency IAMSOUND.
The highlight of the program was the latest installment of Modern Living, a contemporary dance project choreographed by the esteemed duo Gerard & Kelly. The series explores “intimacy and domestic space within legacies of modernist architecture” — a subject of particular resonance for Knowles considering the recent split with her husband of 5 years, director Alan Ferguson.
The piece took place in the Getty’s garden terrace, overlooking their sprawling, manicured lawn. Usually filled with casual dining tables and chairs, the terrace was cleared and divided into four white squares. The show opens with nine dancers, two singers and a full band floating within the grid, dressed in autumnal hues of mustard, cinnamon and oatmeal. Then, suddenly, a brass trio calls out from above. Perched on the second level, the horns play to the crowd below and the dancers’ now on the garden lawn.
This pattern continued over the next hour — solos and partnered work between dancers punctuated with musical bridges from distant spaces across the Getty’s impressive architecture. The choreography was sharp yet sensual and highlighted the fluidity of partnership. In a particularly charged section, four dancers repeatedly switch pairs, grabbing each new consort by the shoulders and swaying back and forth in a graceful tug of war.
The musical accompaniment, Counting, was composed by Solange and played by her touring band. It featured discordant rhythms and repetitive staccato notes reminiscent of Sun Ra’s famous Afrofuturistic 70s album, Space is The Place. The sound was primarily instrumental with some occasional soprano harmonies, but at distinct points throughout the number the dancers began to count as a nod to “transitions through time,” a concept that both Gerard & Kelly and Solange navigate in other works.
On this year’s sophomore album, When I Get Home, Solange makes use of counting and repetition many times throughout. We hear it in the opening track, Things I Imagined, an ode to finally realizing her goals over a long career from child star, to little sister in the shadow of superstar Beyonce, to teen mother, to indie darling to a bona fide star in her own right. Since her explosion into the mainstream with 2016’s A Seat at The Table, Knowles has been edging her way into the art world as much more than a singer. She started branching out with bold fashions and stunning visuals and has graduated into producing interdisciplinary performances at some of the most respected museums on both coasts including the Hammer and the Guggenheim.
Her pieces play with geometry and scale between the natural and artificial worlds and Bridge-s was no different. The visceral emotion of the dancers is contrasted by the sleek lines of the Getty’s design. From pillars, to staircases, to balconies the set was filled with shapes both soft & hard and each viewer experienced it from their unique vantage point on the museum grounds. In this way, the design of the show reflects Knowles’ range as an artist which is best expressed in another album interlude Hold the Mic. She sings
“I can’t be a singular expression of myself/There’s too many parts, too many spaces/Too many manifestations, too many lines/Too many curves, too many troubles/Too many journeys, too many mountains/Too many rivers, so many.”
The show was well received by the crowd, including Bianca Struthers, a 28-year-old artist and long-time Solange fan. She spoke to Knowles’ progression noting “as she got in alignment her artistry grew….it’s beautiful to see where people’s art takes them when they start to do what they love with passion.”
Background singer, Shenice Johnson, says that the show is deeply personal. “What you see is truly organic and us expressing ourselves through the art.” She attributed this in large part to the chemistry between Knowles and Gerard & Kelly. “They’re like family now. They inserted us in so naturally and organically….we spend a lot of time together outside of this.” Solange has previously collaborated with them in her 2016 SNL performance and again in 2018’s Metatronia (Metatron’s Cube) show at The Hammer Museum.
Before this weekend’s public debut, there was an invitation-only showing on November 11. In a closing speech, Solange told the crowd “composing the music for this piece and directing it, alongside Gerard & Kelly, has been so fulfilling for me as I enter new planes as a composer and writer. I just thank you guys for allowing me the space to evolve and experiment and express new frontiers.” If the success of Bridge-s is any indication, the sky is the limit for Knowles and she’ll continue to be one to watch in the new creative vanguard.
