This program is partially funded by a grant from Delaware Humanities, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

OPENING EVENT:
Friday, September 11 | 5 - 8 PM

SPECIAL PROGRAMMING:
Friday, October 2 | 5 - 8 PM

- 5 PM | Duo Jazz Music performance by E. Shawn Qaissaunee and Sam Nobles

- 6 PM | Voter Education Presentation - WATCH VIDEO
Patti Christopher from the League of Women Voters, New Castle County will provide a voter education presentation along with related literature or take-away materials for museum visitors.

- 7 PM | Panel Discussion - WATCH VIDEO
Featuring artist Chawky Frenn, Mel Hardy of the Millennium Arts Salon, and Traci Manza-Murphy of the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence. Speakers will discuss the social justice and civil rights themes found in the We The People series; historical and artistic interpretation; and the role of artists and museums at this unique moment in history.

Learn more about Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence: decagv.org

Chawky Frenn's We the People, for Show or for Sure features forty-seven mixed media paintings executed on posters of the Constitution. These works represent Frenn's response to the timeless manipulations of power and wealth, and their timely manifestations in Citizens United, the Revolving Door, deliberate injustice, and perpetual wars. The paintings summon the viewer to reflect on two fundamental concerns: the influence of money on politics and policy, and the history of the struggle for human rights. Combinations of image and text provide a visual space for reflection on people, triumphs, challenges, and threats to democracy as expressed in the words of presidents, lawmakers, justices, economists, historians, writers, and civil rights activists.

How are the values and ideals of the United States manifested in politics and policies? Why, in the "Land of the Free", are people still fighting to attain the inalienable rights enshrined in the foundation of our democracy? Can politicians and legislators serve the two masters of the American people and wealthy election donors with integrity? In his first solo exhibition at The Delaware Contemporary, Chawky Frenn asks us to be true to our values and protect the legacy that made the United States a beacon of democracy and human rights. Although our history is plagued with cruelty and hostility, it is still ripe with abundant decency, compassion, and empathy. Frenn's life, teaching, and art attests to this abundance.

Despite the use of facsimiles of the United States Constitution as the canvas for the paintings, and the quotes from politicians, We the People is not only political, it is humanistic, civic, social, ethical, moral, and even spiritual. We the People is a tribute to Goya's The Disasters of War, Otto Dix' The War, Henry Moore's London's War - The Shelter Drawings, and Käthe Kollwitz' and Leon Golub's oeuvre. It is an active meditation fueled by empathy for humanity, awareness of the interconnectedness of humankind and nature, and recognition that people share similar basic rights, needs, and hopes. This series aspires to promote ideals that inspire people around the world, and seeks to stimulate a candid dialogue leading to a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world.

Before emigrating to the United States in 1981, Frenn witnessed six years of civil war in his native Lebanon. The devastating effects of war have powerfully influenced his life and work. Frenn received a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, MA in 1985 and an MFA from Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA in 1988. He received critical acclaim by the New York Times, NY ARTS, Art New England, Boston Globe, Connecticut Post, Atlanta Magazine, and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in the United States, and An-Nahar, L'Orient - Le Jour, and The Daily Starin Lebanon. In 2017, Frenn was awarded the Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award and spent five months painting and teaching in New Delhi, India. He is currently an Associate Professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA.

Beckler Gallery and Hennessy Project Space

East City Art
East City Art Reviews: We the People, For Show or For Sure: Chawky Frenn 2010-2020
By Claudia Rousseau, Ph.D. on December 8, 2020
An unusual and timely exhibit of works by Virginia-based artist Chawky Frenn is on view at the Delaware Contemporary Art Museum in Wilmington, DE. It features a series of forty-seven mixed media paintings, selected by curator Kathrine Page from one hundred seven images made on posters of the United States Constitution. Each is accompanied by a text selected by the artist that is quoted from one of a diverse group of political and religious leaders, including a list of presidents going back to Lincoln, economists, justices, writers, civil rights activists and others.

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The Old Town Crier
The Art of Chawky Frenn
By F. Lennox Campello, November 1, 2020
There are artists to whom the creation of art is a very personal thing, often decipherable only to the artist. There are also artists who create art to cause a public reaction – this is often where the gimmick masters tend to flourish. There are artists who experiment, try, test and explore and spend decades recreating themselves…

And there are artists, such as Chawky Frenn, to whom art is a harsh mistress who gives pleasure through both a brutal ability to record the dark footprint of the evil side of mankind, as well as the inherent beauty of the human race.

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