Houston artists unite to bring paintings to life at Sawyer Yards

Ray Jiang and Elijah Alhadji Gibson are two artists who work in different mediums. Jiang is a painter, while Gibson works in dance. Both men do bring out the boldness in their respective works, which they appear to recognize in each other. When Jiang had the opening reception for his exhibition LIFE—currently on display at The Silos at The Sawyer Yards—last month, he brought in Gibson to bring something special to the proceedings. 

Several people wearing all-black outfits were positioned around the exhibit’s paintings—moving, swaying, dancing. These people were part of Gibson’s Social Movement Contemporary Dance Theater, which has done previous gigs at Sawyer Yards. One dreadlocked dancer is right in the middle of the action, doing a combination of breakdancing and capoeira, right next to Jiang and a self-portrait of Jiang. Another one is on the side, pirouetting near a portrait of a woman’s nude, lying, yellow torso. Eventually, those two and another dancer come together to collectively formulate some low-to-the-ground moves as Jiang and other hosts make opening remarks.  

“Ray approached me about putting something together before his opening,” said the San Diego-born founder/artistic director. “I was looking at all the works and the pieces and it’s about love and life. All those works were excerpts from different pieces we’ve choreographed that deal with that subject.” Jiang appreciates the work they do not only as dancers but also as advocates for such resources as Houston Food Bank and The Mahogany Project. “I love their concept,” Jiang said. “They want to help poor people, against [being] hungry. Their performances are great.” 

A graduate of China’s Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts, Jiang showed up in Houston in the late ’90s, when he enrolled in St. Thomas University on a full scholarship, eventually getting his master’s degree in 2002. Since then, he’s been the president of the US-China Artists Association, the chairman of the American Youth Ambassador Foundation, and the former chairman of Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival’s Panorama China Program. But, these days, Jiang is more focused on his art. 

“I love to have a simple life,” Jiang said. “Now,  I would just focus on art, music, philosophy, religion studies.”

For LIFE, Jiang has been compiling oil paintings on canvas for the past seven years, warmly colored visions that usually feature surreal imagery (like a trippy recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa,” except the model’s head has been replaced with a panda’s) and nude figures. 

“Before 2016, I tried to do art to please and make other people happy,” he said. “After 2016, I do the art to make myself happy. I love first, you know. So, people talk of political or country or boundaries. I’m more focused on humans. It’s never Japanese or American or Antarctican. We are all human.”

Jiang also surrounds himself with people who are ready to bring some fresh color. At the reception, he and his team wore shiny, silver, sleeveless hoodies. “I love bold color a lot,” Jiang said. “Yes, silver is one of my favorite colors. Did you see that my hair color was silver during the exhibition? That is why I chose silver hoodies.”

Gibson and his SMCDT troupe weren’t wearing hoodies, but they made an artful impression. Founded in 2019, SMCDT is a company that, as it says on the official website, “addresses the cultural boundaries, limitations, and expectations of the human experience.” 

“We promote social consciousness and bring that to the stage,” said Gibson, who has also taught at such colleges as the University of Houston, the University of Texas in Austin, and Texas A&M University. “We try to express it through dance, storytelling, theater, music—all those things combined all into one.” 

Since they’re officially in their sixth season, SMCDT has many things planned for 2024. On Saturday, Jan. 13, they’ll be performing at Mix-MATCH, Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston’s day-long, mixed-arts festival. Next month, they’ll be part of San Jacinto College’s Artists for Hope charity concert. And, for the summer, Gibson is working on doing monthly park shows in Third Ward. 

“When I was living in Chicago,” Gibson said, “they always had music and theater in the parks for free for people to come and participate in. So, we wanted to do something with dance in the parks. One of the reasons we wanted to do it in the Third Ward community is we wanted to try to bring different types of dance that they usually would not be exposed to.

Jiang and Gibson will also be teaming up for a SMCDT fundraiser in April. According to Gibson, Jiang will help out behind the scenes. Said Gibson, “He’s been instrumental in supporting us with some of our stuff that we’re doing, as far as planning and jumping behind it.” “I cannot wait,” added Gibson. “I will do my support as much as I can. I will try to ask some friends to help too.”

While Jiang and Gibson may come from different backgrounds, it is wonderful seeing two artists support and encourage each other in their middle-age mission of being more creative—and more human. 

Ray Jiang: LIFE is on display through Saturday, Jan. 20, at Gallery 200 at The Silos at Sawyer Yards, 1502 Sawyer St.