A World Apart 

Roger Allan Cleaves

Sheet Cake Gallery is proud to present a solo exhibition from Roger Allan Cleaves opening Saturday, March 9th. A World Apart will feature paintings that exist in the rich and wondrous multiverse called the Land of the Forget Me Nots that Cleaves has created. 

Cleaves describes the multiverse as “a home for the forgotten members of society and a place where the forgotten can rediscover their history.” Through his prolific painting practice, Cleaves follows the epic adventures of recurring characters using symbolism, abstract figuration, and distortion of his subjects. He draws inspiration and references from personal experiences and contemporary culture, investigating social themes and fantasy through the lens of Afrofuturism. Oftentimes Cleaves uses motifs from Modernism that have been borrowed from African cultures to explore the complex relationship between Black artists and contemporary art institutions. The different bodies of work are generally moments from the storyline that concentrate on the characters' interactions inside the created world. The created world - Forget Me Nots Land - is a multiverse and an amalgamation of sociological ideas fused with contemporary storytelling.