Devan Shimoyama helps explore impact of guns at Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Ernest Disney-Britton

"You Will Have to Sing" (2015) by Devan Shimoyama, 64" x 54". Oil, glitter, and colored pencil on canvas with Ernest Disney-Britton at iMOCA@devanshimoyama "I wondered when I would meet you."

INDIANA---On October 7, artists Devan Shimoyama and Tom Hubbard were featured in a gun show in Indiana. The gun show was an exhibition at the Indianpolis Museum of Contemporary Art about guns, and included both a touring exhibition created by UICA (The Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts) and a new work commissioned by IMOCA. Not everyone has the same opinion about guns. I'm oppossed but a huge number of my fellow church members are gun owners, and so as a Christian, I was drawn to this exhibition raising questions about this controversial topic. Shimoyama's self-portrait of a black figure with arms raised speaks powerfully on behalf of the Black Lives Matter movement. Hubbard's ceramic guns printed with quotes/facts that support both sides in the debate softened my own opposition.

Left: Devan Shimoyama – You will have to sing, Paper won’t hold the wound I leave, 2015, 64 x 54 in, oil, glitter, color pencil on canvas / Right: Renee Stout – Baby’s First Gun, 1990, mixed media