Isaac Scott
Rua Do Poço Dos Negros, 2023
Glazed Stoneware with Steel Chain
17.25h x 12.25w x 12d in
Archival Pigment Inkjet Print mounted on Dibond
36 x 36 in
IS016
SOLD
Rua Do Poço Dos Negros (Road of the Black Pit) is a street in Lisbon today. This street is a mass grave site for slaves. The irony is that the justification for taking the Slaves was so they could be converted to Christianity yet once converted, they were not considered worthy of being buried in the Catholic cemeteries. The Black Bust is wearing a crown of gold chain with eyes covered by a mask bearing the name of this street.
Isaac Scott
Pombo (Pigeon), 2023
Glazed Stoneware
17.75h x 9w x 9.5d in
Archival Pigment Inkjet Print mounted on Dibond
36 x 36 in
IS017
$ 5,500.00 for the Pairing
The artist uses the pigeon as a symbol for the African Diaspora, which like the bird, spread all over the world and were domesticated. Most cities have feral pigeons. Once they are free, they are seen as a problem. The bust is covered with meticulously carved sculptured feathers with wings on the side.
Isaac Scott
Castelo Dos Mouros, 2023
Glazed Stoneware
18.75h x 11w x 11.5d in
Archival Pigment Inkjet Print mounted on Dibond
36 x 36 in
IS022
$ 5,500.00 for the Pairing
This piece is inspired by the Moorish Castle in Cientro outside of Lisbon. The image is of a section of the castle. The plaque is a reference to another mass grave found at this location. After a renovation, experts were unable to distinguish which bodies were Moors or which bodies were Christian and reinterred them in a mass grave with a tombstone that read “What Man brought together only God can separate.”
Isaac Scott
Mouro do Graffiti, 2023
Glazed Stoneware with Gold Luster
17.75h x 9.25w x 9.75d in
Archival Pigment Inkjet Print mounted on Dibond
36 x 36 in
IS019
$ 5,500.00 for the Pairing
Here Scott was thinking about how Hip-Hop Culture and Graffiti have influenced Portugal. The photo is of Rosio Square, a destination for tourists and a cultural center in Lisbon today where slaves were once traded. The artform was started in America by people brought here through the Slave Trade, originated by Portugal, and now graffiti is here taking up space in the same area where slaves were traded. The ‘tags’ stand out in a way that is very present and dominate the Rosio Square. The cultural impact of what resonates in that space now is tied back to what the Portuguese started with the Slave Trade. The head has a graffiti tag on the back.
Isaac Scott
Igreja de São Domingos, 2023
Glazed Stoneware
18.5h x 10.25w x 10.75d in
Archival Pigment Inkjet Print mounted on Dibond
36 x 36 in
IS018
$ 5,500.00 for the Pairing
There is a church of St. Dominic in Lisbon which is important for Afro-Portuguese people. It was the home of the first Black Brotherhood, the Brotherhood Our Lady of the Rosary. This sculpture references architecture in the church. Around the head is a crown of thorns which is also a rosary. The Brotherhood was made of Free and Enslaved Africans and helped them to become free. The statue in the photograph is outside Lisbon and is a sister statue to the one in Rio. He wanted to represent this overarching presence of Catholicism which looms over Lisbon, and ties back to Brazil, once a colony of Portugal. The Black Brotherhood that started this church still exists in Brazil.
Isaac Scott
Caravel, 2023
Glazed Stoneware
17h x 10w x 10.25d in
Archival Pigment Inkjet Print mounted on Dibond
36 x 36 in
IS020
$ 5,500.00 for the Pairing
This sculpture is based on the caravel, a ship designed by the Portuguese to be small enough to allow them to go down the Coast of Africa to capture Slaves. Around the Head, the wood of the ship is depicted, with the red representing blood. On the back is a prominent Red Cross emblazoned on the sail, an emblem of Christianity and all the things done in its name. The photograph is of the Placio do Comericio where slaves were first brought to be sold after leaving the ship.
ISAAC SCOTT: MOUROS
POWERFUL STORIES REAVEAL SLAVERY’S TRUTHS
Lucy Lacoste Gallery is pleased to present MOUROS September 16 - October 14, 2023, with the brilliant young sculptor and photographer, Isaac Scott. Through a completely new series of ceramic heads, called Mouros, paired with photographs taken by the artist in contemporary Lisbon, the exhibition powerfully brings to light the origination of the Slave Trade which began in that city in 1455; references the African diaspora; and brings us back full circle to the present day with graffiti and hip-hop culture.
Scott received his MFA from Temple University in 2021 under Roberto Lugo. Introduced to Lucy Lacoste in 2022, Scott was included in a well-received group show at the Gallery that year in which he showed his Philadelphia Series, sculpture inspired by the riots and deconstruction in Philadelphia, where he lives, after the murder of George Floyd. Scott also documented these riots in photographs which were picked up by the New Yorker and for which he won the National Magazine Award for Feature Photographer of the Year. This is his first solo with a major art gallery.
Traveling through Portugal in 2022 during an artist residency in Cerdeira, Isaac Scott became aware that Lisbon was the city where the Slave Trade originated in 1455, with the blessing of the Pope under the guise of converting the Blacks to Christianity. He also learned that many of the Moors who ruled the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages were Black Muslims. In response to this, the artist created Mouros, a series of ceramic heads that tell the stories of the peoples of West African descent and speak to these issues.
He sees Mouros as immortal beings, living in spaces with history, collecting the stories of Africans who have passed through there. This was inspired by an old mythology in Northern Portugal and the North Iberian Peninsula called Mouros, giants who were black skinned Africans. For this exhibition, Scott made a series of heads that represent these beings and focus on different aspects that were of interest from his research. These are paired with photographic rondels taken by the artist in contemporary Lisbon. Together they convey all the irony, twists, and evolution of the effects of slavery—and the stories of the Mouros.
The term Moor refers to people from Northern Africa and Blacks from Western Africa. The Moors were from all over; it referred to anybody who worshipped Islam and had dark skin. It was also another word for foreigner.
“Every now and then one comes across a new artist whose work excites and is worthy of the highest accolades. Realizing the content and the art in this completely new series, I knew I had to do everything possible to bring it to light in the fullest possible way.” — Lucy Lacoste=
The public is invited to the Opening Reception with the artist Saturday, September 16, 3-5 pm. Isaac Scott will give an Artist Talk with a Slide Presentation on Sunday, September 17 at 2 pm.
Please email info@lucylacoste.com for high resolution images and additional information
Notes on the Artworks
Rua Do Poco Dos Negros, 2023
Road of the Black Pit is a street in Lisbon today. This street is a mass grave site for slaves. The irony is that the justification for taking the Slaves was so they could be converted to Christianity yet once converted, they were not considered worthy of being buried in the Catholic cemeteries. The Black Bust is wearing a crown of gold chain with eyes covered by a mask bearing the name of this street.
Pombo (Pigeon), 2023
The artist uses the pigeon as a symbol for the African Diaspora, which like the bird, spread all over the world and were domesticated. Most cities have feral pigeons. Once they are free, they are seen as a problem. The bust is covered with meticulously carved sculptured feathers with wings on the side.
Castelo Dos Mouros, 2023
This piece is inspired by the Moorish Castle in Cientro outside of Lisbon. The image is of a section of the castle. The plaque is a reference to another mass grave found at this location. After a renovation, experts were unable to distinguish which bodies were Moors or which bodies were Christian and reinterred them in a mass grave with a tombstone that read “What Man brought together only God can separate.”
Mouro do Graffiti, 2023
Here Scott was thinking about how Hip-Hop Culture and Graffiti have influenced Portugal. The photo is of Rosio Square, a destination for tourists and a cultural center in Lisbon today where slaves were once traded. The artform was started in America by people brought here through the Slave Trade, originated by Portugal, and now graffiti is here taking up space in the same area where slaves were traded. The ‘tags’ stand out in a way that is very present and dominate the Rosio Square. The cultural impact of what resonates in that space now is tied back to what the Portuguese started with the Slave Trade. The head has a graffiti tag on the back.
Igreja de Sao Domingos, 2023
There is a church of St. Dominic in Lisbon which is important for Afro-Portuguese people. It was the home of the first Black Brotherhood, the Brotherhood Our Lady of the Rosary. This sculpture references architecture in the church. Around the head is a crown of thorns which is also a rosary. The Brotherhood was made of Free and Enslaved Africans and helped them to become free. The statue in the photograph is outside Lisbon and is a sister statue to the one in Rio. He wanted to represent this overarching presence of Catholicism which looms over Lisbon, and ties back to Brazil, once a colony of Portugal. The Black Brotherhood that started this church still exists in Brazil.
Caravel, 2023
This sculpture is based on the caravel, a ship designed by the Portuguese to be small enough to allow them to go down the Coast of Africa to capture Slaves. Around the Head, the wood of the ship is depicted, with the red representing blood. On the back is a prominent Red Cross emblazoned on the sail, an emblem of Christianity and all the things done in its name. The photograph is of the Placio do Comericio where slaves were first brought to be sold after leaving the ship.
