Reflecting on the senseless killing of George Floyd and the universality of human experience, Marvin Espy presents new and recent paintings in Up from the Asphalt. Using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a framework for processing the painful last minutes of George Floyd’s life on May 25, 2020, Espy’s paintings and words offer us a pathway to unite in mourning, stand in resolve, and share in our hopes.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs suggests that human motivation follows a pyramid structure, starting with basic survival needs such as food, shelter and safety, and building to a sense of belonging, esteem and, ultimately, self-actualization. In his last breaths, George Floyd pleaded for the most essential needs of Maslow’s hierarchy. This exhibition explores what is core to all people, everywhere.

Left: Marvin Espy, Forward, 2024, oil on wood panel, 36 x 48 inches; Right: Marvin Espy, Queen, 2024, oil on wood panel, 48 x 36 inches.
Buried in the asphalt are the dreams of our fathers and hopes of our mothers. Beneath the clatter of traffic and the bustle of commerce spring the philosophies of panhandlers and fables from the wise. From the pavement, we hear the chants of protest, songs of resilience, and the echoes of our ancestors linked arm in arm. Voices in the pavement, trace like diary entries. Our cracked pavements drizzled with tar read like musical notes from a quill pen. Like the movement of a clarinet over a walking bass line.

Yet our shared streets remain divided along the double-yellow lines of power and privilege. And while our feet share in a connection greater than us all, we are all captive to Earth’s gravity, pulling us ever downward. We share in the universal quest for safety, shelter, belonging and community. We spring from the ground. We rise. "Up from the Asphalt. Out of the ground."

Marvin Espy
June 4, 2024

In Yoruba mythology, the deity Eleggua, also referred to as Esu or Elegba, is said to provide access to the path to one’s destiny.

Puerto Rican artist Imna Arroyo’s art explores connections between the African continent and its diaspora in an on-going endeavor to reclaim a lost and scattered heritage. Opening Paths explores the artist’s emergence and path forward by showcasing works in various disciplines and mediums from her early years (1968-1980’s) when she began to assert her uniquely expressive Afro-Caribbean agency, through her 2022 mixed-media installation, Eleggua, dedicated to Yoruba Orisha Eshu/Elegguá, representing the crossroads of the world and the opening of the paths.

Opening Paths reflects the artist’s connectedness to her Afro-Caribbean heritage, giving voice to the stories and rich traditions of her ancestors as she “…finds solace in the belief that artmaking can be a form of healing.”

About the Artist
Imna Arroyo is a Puerto Rican artist living and working in eastern Connecticut whose work weaves the threads of heritage and ecological veneration into a contemporary artistic dialogue. In her multidisciplinary practice, she finds inspiration in the concept that art-making can be a ritualized form of healing.

Born in Guayama, Puerto Rico, Imna Arroyo studied at La Escuela de Artes Plasticas del Instituto de Cultura in San Juan, Puerto Rico and obtained her BFA from Pratt Institute and her MFA from Yale University.

Imna Arroyo has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants, among them the title of Connecticut State University (CSU) Professor in 2010 in recognition of her teaching, mentorship and nationally and internationally acclaimed artistic achievements and, in 2007, the honorary title of Chief Yeye Agboola of Ido Osun (Chief Mother of the Garden of Honor) in recognition of selfless service to enrich the Ido-Osun Kingdom. This honor was conferred by his Royal Majesty Aderemi Adeen Adeniyi-Adedapo, Ido-Osun, Nigeria. She was awarded the 2012 Outstanding Latino Cultural Award from the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education for artistic achievements that have contributed significantly to the understanding of Latino culture.

Arroyo has exhibited extensively throughout the United States, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama, Mexico and the Czech Republic. Her work can be found in numerous collections including the Museum of Modern Art Library/Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection, Yale Art Gallery and Schomberg Center for Research and Black Culture.