The process of turning away from someone’s gaze is generally associated with rejection and denial. It’s a resistance to engaging with them and looking elsewhere, whether out or inward, without acknowledging their presence.
When viewing the sketched subjects of Miami artist Chris Friday, no eyes meet your gaze as you walk around “Good Times,” the artist’s solo exhibition on view through April 2 at Oolite Arts’ Lincoln Road gallery. The subjects in the intimate portraits of Black identity keep to themselves in acts of painful storytelling, joyful dancing, and domestic beautification — they’re being and living in their own world, indifferent to the viewer’s presence.
