May 28–June 25, 2022
Steve Turner is pleased to present Dama, a solo exhibition of new complex and colorful paintings by Chicago-based Terron Cooper Sorrells that convey spirituality, culture and ritual as inspired by three African traditions from Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Mali. These traditions, whether in dance or oral tradition, all relate to the transition from life to the beyond and the endurance of the spirit. Sorrells uses the image of the sky to blend these histories and by conflating them, he aims to emphasize the diversity of the African American experience which brought together enslaved Africans from diverse origins to American plantations where stories, languages and traditions were mixed together. In so doing, he aims to celebrate the past and encourage a new sense of community.
Terron Cooper Sorrells (born 1994, Portsmouth, Virginia) graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2016 where he focused on printmaking. After moving to Chicago he has steadily developed his painting practice which focuses on imagery drawn from African American history and culture. His experience as a printmaker has enabled him to develop complicated compositions that best address this subject matter. Dama is his first solo exhibition with Steve Turner.
Born 1994, Portsmouth, Virginia
Lives and works in Chicago, Illinois
Education
2016
BFA, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore
Solo Exhibitions
2022
Dama, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
The 7 Virtues, Neiman Marcus, Chicago
2021
No Country For Black Men, 21 Grams Gallery, Chicago
2019
The Railroad, The Mansion at Strathmore, North Bethesda, Maryland
Group Exhibitions
2022
EXPO Chicago (with Steve Turner)
2021
9th Annual Art Competition, Bridgeport Art Center, Chicago
Generation Next, 21 Grams Gallery, Chicago
2020
Momuments: Creative Forces, The Mansion at Strathmore, North Bethesda, Maryland
2018
Blick Group Exhibition, Blick Art Materials, Chicago
2017
Black Creativity Exhibition, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
The Last Ten Years: In Focus, The David C Driskell Center, College Park, Maryland
2016
Minstrelsy: Thesis Exhibition, Fox Building, Baltimore
Degrees of Separation, Courthouse Gallery, Portsmouth
Curatorial Print Exhibition, Rosenberg Gallery, Baltimore
Print Exchange – Folio Exhibit, Dolphin Building, Baltimore
2015
MICA Juried Undergraduate Exhibition, Meyerhoff Gallery, Baltimore
Carte + Graphic: Juried Undergraduate Print Exhibition, Rosenberg Gallery, Baltimore Xenos, Gallery City Arts, Baltimore
Group Exhibition, Studio Center Gallery, Baltimore
2014
MICA Juried Undergraduate Exhibition, Decker Gallery, Baltimore
Masculinity, Gateway Gallery, Baltimore
Join, or Don’t, Main Gallery, Baltimore
The Empathy Project, Riggs and Leidy Galleries, Baltimore
2013
MICA Juried Undergraduate Exhibition, Decker Gallery, Baltimore
2012
Senior Show, Old Dominion University Tri-Cities Center, Portsmouth
Chesapeake Bay Art Association Annual Spring Show, ODU Innovation Place, Norfolk, Virginia Student Gallery Finalists Show, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk
Ocean View Art Show, Chesapeake Bay Art Association, Norfolk
2011
18th Annual Third Congressional District Art Competition, Downing Gross Cultural Arts Center, Newport News, Virginia
Student Gallery Finalists Show, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk
2010
Summer Residential Gov School Final Show, Radford University
Ocean View Art Show, Chesapeake Bay Art Association, Norfolk
2009
16th Annual Third Congressional District Art Competition, Washington D.C.
Grants and Awards
2021
Best of Show, Bridgeport Art Center, Chicago 2016 Y.L. Hoi Memorial Grant, Baltimore
2015
A. Claire Gaskens Harper Scholarship, Baltimore
MICA Office of Diversity Grant, Baltimore
2014
Tylden W. Street Scholarship, Baltimore
2013
Bill Woody/Tom Miller ’67, ’87 Scholarship, Baltimore 2012 Presidential Scholarship, Baltimore
John B. Tenney Memorial Art Scholarship, Norfolk
2009
16th Annual Third Congressional Distrct Art Competition, Washington D.C.
Bibliography
2021
“Monuments Featured Artists,” Strathmore
2019
McNeir, D. Kevin. “Terron Cooper Sorrells Depicts ‘Peculiar Institution’ in Stunning Exhibition,” Washington Informer, February
2018
“At Strathmore, Artists Illuminate the Darkness,” Washington Post 2015 “They did What? (I was Chastised),” Gallery City Arts
