Tremaine Emory
'Denim Tears from the Pool of Black Genius'
Tremaine Emory is the founder of Denim Tears, a self-described “African American sportswear” label that tells a story about the African Diaspora with each new collection, addressing our complicated national history and collective cultural heritage. This retrospective look at his practice showcases highlights from his endlessly inventive creative output and numerous collaborations. The exhibition incorporates Emory’s manifold influences, in the titular “Pool of Black Genius,” with works by Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Alma Thomas, Faith Ringgold, and others from the SCAD Museum of Art Permanent Collection, as well as an extensive display of contemporary works by his collaborators and other artists he is in dialogue with, including Arthur Jafa, Hank Willis Thomas, David Hammons, and more. Emory translates these various strands and important historical references into cultural touchstones, using fashion as a form of conceptual art. Reconfiguring hierarchies and provoking crucial conversations with inclusive gestures, Emory offers us all an opportunity for reflection, learning, and growth.
Tremaine Emory is the founder of Denim Tears, a self-described “African American sportswear” label that tells a story about the African Diaspora with each new collection, addressing our complicated national history and collective cultural heritage. This retrospective look at his practice showcases highlights from his endlessly inventive creative output and numerous collaborations. The exhibition incorporates Emory’s manifold influences, in the titular “Pool of Black Genius,” with works by Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Alma Thomas, Faith Ringgold, and others from the SCAD Museum of Art Permanent Collection, as well as an extensive display of contemporary works by his collaborators and other artists he is in dialogue with, including Arthur Jafa, Hank Willis Thomas, David Hammons, and more. Emory translates these various strands and important historical references into cultural touchstones, using fashion as a form of conceptual art. Reconfiguring hierarchies and provoking crucial conversations with inclusive gestures, Emory offers us all an opportunity for reflection, learning, and growth.
About the artist
Tremaine Emory founded Denim Tears in 2019, with each new collection intended to tell a story that reveals another facet of the African Diaspora. Born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1981 and raised in Jamaica, Queens, New York, Emory utilizes the art of visual storytelling and clothing as a Trojan horse for his gestures to traverse the intersection between fashion, music, and culture, while producing dialogue and awareness of the critical issues that define our complicated national inheritance and shared global history. From his earliest output, Emory forged a fast-growing reputation as a visionary agent provocateur and countercultural catalyst. Amplified through creative playground No Vacancy Inn, co-founded with Ade “Acyde” Odunlami and Brock Korsan, his ability to widen the current cultural lexicon through collaborations centered on contemporary art provides some of the most designative cultural touchstones to date, which have garnered him numerous positions, awards, and accolades. His cross-generational group of collaborators and co-conspirators reads like a “who’s who” of culture today: Theaster Gates, Hank Willis Thomas, Virgil Abloh, Frank Ocean, André 3000, and Serge Becker, among many others. Emory continues to constantly innovate and eschew traditional definitions and bounds of media or genre — a true conceptual artist.
Credits
Denim Tears from the Pool of Black Genius is organized by SCAD Museum of Art chief curator Daniel S. Palmer.
