'Speaking in Tongues' by Angelbert Metoyer

In an unprecedented, two-part exhibition, “Speaking in Tongues,” Tripoli Gallery presents new work by Angelbert Metoyer. The show opens with a preview in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on June 27, where it will be on view until July 3, before traveling to the East End where it opens at Tripoli Gallery in Wainscott, on Saturday, August 31, and remains on view through September 30.

In a nod toward the past, the first iteration of the exhibition will take place at the MUSE Winston-Salem in a former Federal Tax Bankruptcy Court, channeling blessings from ancestors to reclaim and reconstitute the building energetically through Metoyer’s spiritual painting practice that extends toward a metaphysical plane. This experience will commemorate the fourth year of the 1 Love Festival in Winston-Salem.

“Speaking in tongues is not merely a physical manifestation of religious ecstasy but also a profound representation of diversity,” said Dr. Melva Sampson, co-founder of the 1 Love Festival, who experiences Metoyer’s artistic offerings as a form of speaking in tongues. “It endows each person with the ability to hear and see the divine in their own language. Metoyer’s work is the call to divine embodiment. His art acts as tongues that bridge the gap between space and time. From the primordial mothers to ancient African and indigenous spiritual traditions, to folk religion and new age metaphysical spiritualities, Angelbert’s artistic expression resonates across dimensions and identities, inviting us to witness the divine in our own unique ways.”

Working in a variety of mediums, Angelbert Metoyer has perfected his craft over the years. With paintings made in 2024 such as “The Fire Spitter,” the artist reveals his journey through his physical medium of choice as much as through his titles. This new body of work enters a celestial plane by way of acrylic, oil paint and gold leaf on canvas. His painted forms are largely abstract, but every once in a while, human limbs emerge through brush strokes and mark-making as if conjured by something beyond consciousness. Not unlike the artists who trained at Black Mountain College in the 1960s, such as Robert Motherwell, Robert Rauschenberg, and even some of the Beat poets, a metaphorical pipeline exists from North Carolina to New York, abstraction to figuration. Metoyer with the exhibition “Speaking in Tongues,” retraces their footsteps traversing what he refers to as the “upper ground railroad” from Winston-Salem, North Carolina to Wainscott.

Installing this body of work in the former courtroom, visitors will be able to come to their own conclusions, weaving in and out of painterly consciousness. The 1 Love Festival in collaboration with Tripoli Gallery, goes beyond what one expects to find in a museum and speaks directly to the past and those in the present. From those who are familiar with contemporary art to someone experiencing their first exhibition, “Speaking in Tongues” gives all those present the opportunity to participate in a show that has roots in Texas that extend deeply through the ground and emerge in North Carolina before stretching toward New York.

Tripoli Gallery is located at 26 Ardsley Road in Wainscott. Visit tripoligallery.com for details.