ART AS CHAIRS PRESENTS
LAST SUPPER
ALLEN-GOLDER CARPENTER
LOGAN WAYNE WHITE
WORKS OF ART AND RESEARCH
DETROIT
Last Supper brings together the practices of artists Logan Wayne White and Allen-Golder Carpenter. The show centers on two sets of tables and chairs by White. It also features several collages encased in tarps by Carpenter.
Logan Wayne White calls his table sets "Jumbos"—thick, sculptural monoliths. The original idea was to present the table and chairs as a unified megablock, emphasizing scale and minimalist craftsmanship to create a visceral experience.
One of White's tables becomes a surface for Carpenter's large-scale image grids. The piece, composed of over 1700 images, was initially informed by "walls of shame"—ready-made grids of surveillance images sourced from gas stations and convenience stores.
Allen-Golder Carpenter's image archive weaves together contemporary culture with photographs from earlier eras, including material from The Great Migration, a time when Black Americans left the South in pursuit of opportunity in cities like Detroit. The work draws from attention to the evolution of Black music traditions and their deep connection with American identity and ritual. The pairing of the past and present demonstrates that history happens everyday, you just have to be able to see it.
An image Carpenter returns to, is the libation ritual, which is the act of pouring a drink out on the ground as an offering to the dead. It's a contemporary tradition with ancient roots, a form of reaching across the barrier into the afterlife. Carpenter's use of everyday supplies in the work, via tarps and plastic, reminds the viewer of these barriers and veils.
The title Last Supper nods to humble objects—tables, chairs, bread, wine-that can be imbued with the weight of death and hope.
