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SUN RA: WHEN SUN COMES OUT: Ephemera 1956-1975,

June 25 - July 31, 2014

SUN RA: WHEN SUN COMES OUT: Ephemera 1956-1975

Past exhibition
  • Overview
  • Installation Views
  • Press
  • Overview
    SUN RA: WHEN SUN COMES OUT, Ephemera 1956-1975
    David Nolan Gallery, New York and Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, are pleased to present Sun Ra: When Sun Comes Out: Ephemera 1956-1975.

    In May 2014, the world celebrated the hundredth birthday of musician, bandleader, composer and thinker Sun Ra, whose terrestrial existence began in Birmingham, Alabama in 1914 and ended in 1993. One of the most profound and exploratory figures in 20th century music, Sun Ra was a jazz musician who combined a sense of vanguardism and tradition in equal measures, reveling in the pageantry and buoyancy of 1920s big-bands like Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington, while forging new paths by introducing synthesizers and open improvisation into jazz. His legendary ensemble, the Arkestra – alternately dubbed the Myth-Science Arkestra and the Omniverse Jet Set Arkestra amongst other descriptive monikers – was his vehicle into musical space, formed in the early 1950s and still functional 21 years after his passing, now under the leadership of saxophonist Marshall Allen.

    Over the last 10 years, Sun Ra's significance in the sphere of visual arts has risen exponentially. His writings, many of them only recently published, have been of great interest to young artists, and to the field of Afro-Futurism, a term coined, ironically, at the time of his death and which has subsequently held Sun Ra to be one of its formative pillars. Artists like Ellen Gallagher and Josiah McElheny have paid direct homage to him, as did The Shadows Took Shape, a hugely-lauded Afro-Futurism exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem earlier this year, which presented a selection of Sun Ra related material along with work by 28 other artists, all in one way or another part of Sun Ra's contemporary lineage.

    In When Sun Comes Out, a concise Sun Ra exhibition, Corbett vs. Dempsey and David Nolan Gallery will present a group of ephemeral paper materials associated with Sun Ra, including early record cover prints – the full pages that would have been "tipped on" to cardboard sleeves – along with rarely seen photographs, brochures for El Saturn Records, and a riotous, never exhibited press release for Super-Sonic Jazz, one of the earliest Sun Ra releases. Two of the most exciting items in the show are original cover drawings – a sketch and the final design – for the ultra-rare 1976 Saturn LP The Soul Vibrations of Man.
  • Installation Views
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Install 1
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Install 2
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Install 3
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Install 4
    • Sun Ra Secrets of the Sun, 1962, reprinted in early 1970's offset print on paper, unwrapped front and back album cover 18 x 25 in 45.7 x 63.5 cm
      Sun Ra
      Secrets of the Sun, 1962, reprinted in early 1970's
      offset print on paper, unwrapped front and back album cover
      18 x 25 in
      45.7 x 63.5 cm
    • Sun Ra Sun Ra Arkestra (promotional photograph), 1959 black and white photograph 5 x 7 1/4 in 12.7 x 18.4 cm
      Sun Ra
      Sun Ra Arkestra (promotional photograph), 1959
      black and white photograph
      5 x 7 1/4 in
      12.7 x 18.4 cm
    • Sun Ra Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy, c. 1970, second print offset print on paper 14 x 14 in 35.6 x 35.6 cm
      Sun Ra
      Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy, c. 1970, second print
      offset print on paper
      14 x 14 in
      35.6 x 35.6 cm
    • Sun Ra Super-Sonic Jazz Press Release, c. 1962 typewritten xeroxed paper 11 x 8 1/2 in 27.9 x 21.6 cm
      Sun Ra
      Super-Sonic Jazz Press Release, c. 1962
      typewritten xeroxed paper
      11 x 8 1/2 in
      27.9 x 21.6 cm
    • Sun Ra Jazz in Silhouette, c. 1960 offset print on paper 12 1/4 x 12 1/4 in 31.1 x 31.1 cm
      Sun Ra
      Jazz in Silhouette, c. 1960
      offset print on paper
      12 1/4 x 12 1/4 in
      31.1 x 31.1 cm
    • Sun Ra Angels & Dreams at Play, 1965 block print on metallic gold paper 12 1/2 x 13 in 31.8 x 33 cm
      Sun Ra
      Angels & Dreams at Play, 1965
      block print on metallic gold paper
      12 1/2 x 13 in
      31.8 x 33 cm
    • Sun Ra The Soul Vibrations of Man, c. 1976 offset print on paper, unwrapped back album cover 13 1/2 x 13 1/2 in (34.3 x 34.3 cm)
      Sun Ra
      The Soul Vibrations of Man, c. 1976
      offset print on paper, unwrapped back album cover
      13 1/2 x 13 1/2 in (34.3 x 34.3 cm)
    • Sun Ra Other Planes of There, 1966 block print on metallic silver paper 14 x 14 in 35.6 x 35.6 cm
      Sun Ra
      Other Planes of There, 1966
      block print on metallic silver paper
      14 x 14 in
      35.6 x 35.6 cm
    • Sun Ra From the World of... Saturn Records (New Release Announcement), c. 1959 offset print on paper (double sided) 8 1/2 x 11 in 21.6 x 27.9 cm
      Sun Ra
      From the World of... Saturn Records (New Release Announcement), c. 1959
      offset print on paper (double sided)
      8 1/2 x 11 in
      21.6 x 27.9 cm
    • Sun Ra Super-Sonic Sounds, c. 1962 offset print on yellow paper 14 x 14 in 35.6 x 35.6 cm
      Sun Ra
      Super-Sonic Sounds, c. 1962
      offset print on yellow paper
      14 x 14 in
      35.6 x 35.6 cm
    • Sun Ra Design for The Soul Vibrations of Man (album cover), c. 1976 gouache on metallic coated paper cardstock 13 x 13 in 33 x 33 cm
      Sun Ra
      Design for The Soul Vibrations of Man (album cover), c. 1976
      gouache on metallic coated paper cardstock
      13 x 13 in
      33 x 33 cm
    • Sun Ra Design for The Soul Vibrations of Man (album cover), c. 1976 graphite on paper (double sided) 20 1/2 x 13 in 52.1 x 33 cm
      Sun Ra
      Design for The Soul Vibrations of Man (album cover), c. 1976
      graphite on paper (double sided)
      20 1/2 x 13 in
      52.1 x 33 cm
    • Sun Ra The Night of the Purple Moon, 1970 offset print on paper, unwrapped album cover 17 1/2 x 22 1/2 in 44.5 x 57.2 cm
      Sun Ra
      The Night of the Purple Moon, 1970
      offset print on paper, unwrapped album cover
      17 1/2 x 22 1/2 in
      44.5 x 57.2 cm
    • Sun Ra Sound Sun Pleasure!!, c. 1970 offset printed paper on cardboard 12 1/2 x 12 1/2 in 31.8 x 31.8 cm
      Sun Ra
      Sound Sun Pleasure!!, c. 1970
      offset printed paper on cardboard
      12 1/2 x 12 1/2 in
      31.8 x 31.8 cm
    • Sun Ra Sun Ra and his Astrogalactic Infinity Arkestra Collector's ItemVolumes I through IX, 1970's offset print on blue paper 14 x 14 in 35.6 x 35.6 cm
      Sun Ra
      Sun Ra and his Astrogalactic Infinity Arkestra Collector's ItemVolumes I through IX, 1970's
      offset print on blue paper
      14 x 14 in
      35.6 x 35.6 cm
    • Sun Ra The Soul Vibrations of Man, c. 1976 offset print on blue paper 13 1/2 x 13 1/2 in 34.3 x 34.3 cm
      Sun Ra
      The Soul Vibrations of Man, c. 1976
      offset print on blue paper
      13 1/2 x 13 1/2 in
      34.3 x 34.3 cm
  • Press

    • News

      Sun Ra Touches Down

      Rachel Small · Interview Magazine June 26, 2014
      To understand the postwar jazz musician Sun Ra is to recieve him as a performer with ideas and ambitions literally out of this world. Impossible to miss in Egyptian-style garb,...
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