"I'll Be Back This Way" Art Show

I’ll Be Back This Way takes its title from a legendary moment in the life of Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight champion of the world, who, when ticketed by a police officer for speeding, is said to have paid a $50 fine with a $100 bill and declared, “I’ll be back this way,” a statement that fused bravado, resistance, and an unyielding assertion of presence. Comprising 25 8.5 x 11 drawings and executed in graphite, gouache, china marker, crayon, and glass pencil on cold-press watercolor paper, the exhibition translates this spirit of defiance into a visual language of recurrence and prophecy.

Hands, faces, and luminous points of light emerge from dark, textured fields; eyes appear embedded in palms, fingers are crowned with star-like flares, and figures seem simultaneously watched and visionary. The material contrasts, oily, gestural marks against dry graphite, velvety subtle grays against the tooth of paper, create a charged surface tension. These works do not illustrate Johnson’s story so much as echo its psychic resonance, rendering returnings as both historical fact and cosmic inevitability.

Musical Performance by Christopher and music partner Rasul who make up the group

Revenge of the Four Five

Starts at 7, ends at 9

with DJ Fibonacci to join us afterwards 9:30pm-1:30 am

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Arcana, 2512 Mission Street, San Francisco, United States

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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