This Miami Beach art exhibition wants you to remember the ‘Good Times’
You can’t see their faces, but you can tell they’re having a blast.
A young Black man in a suit dances by himself, his back turned to you. Across from him, a woman in her Sunday best dances as her hair swings in front of her face. We don’t know who they are, where they are, what year it is or why they’re dancing. That’s the point.
At “Good Times,” Miami-based artist Chris Friday’s latest exhibition, Black people can have fun in peace.
On Wednesday, Friday opened the show at nonprofit Oolite Arts’ gallery space on Lincoln Road. The exhibition references the 1970s sitcom “Good Times,” and just like its namesake, the collection of new artwork revels in nostalgia despite hardship. The show’s overall positive outlook touches on nuanced themes, like hair care, rest, community spaces and living through oppression.
“It encompasses a lot of different subject matter all at once,” Friday said. “I can talk about anything when I talk about good times.”
Friday is a multidisciplinary artist who often analyzes pop culture and how Black people are portrayed in media. Her large scale drawings, like the ones on display at “Good Times,” are of figures doing leisurely activities, like resting, dancing and having fun. The show is on view until April 2.
“I‘m hyper aware of how Black bodies are portrayed in media because I am a Black body,” Friday said. “If I see something that makes me look bad, it concerns me, and I have children so I have to worry about how we’re being portrayed and perceived in the world. Media, social media, TV, movies, radio, all of that stuff is very powerful in affecting everyone’s perceptions of each other and ourselves.”
Her work also prioritizes privacy, something that has become more precious and obscure in the social media era. Since the murder of George Floyd in 2020 — which was captured on cellphone footage and seen around the world — and the protests against police brutality that followed, Friday said she felt tired of talking and explaining why certain narratives about the situation were inaccurate or harmful. Her art reflects that tiredness and a desire to unplug, she said.
“My figures aren’t going to face you. I’m not going to face you,” she said. “We’re just going to have a moment of privacy and we’re going to turn inward for a little bit.”
When thinking of themes to explore in her artwork, Friday remembered “Good Times,” the sitcom she used to watch about an African-American family getting by in a poor Chicago neighborhood.
She was especially inspired by the theme song: “Temporary layoffs, good times! Easy credit ripoffs, good times! Scratchin’ and survivin’, good times!”
“For me, it was always a little bit sarcastic. Like, these are not necessarily good times,” Friday said, laughing. “It proves that you can look back on anything within a nostalgic view and say, ‘Hey, you know what? Those were good times.’ ”
In the upstairs gallery space, viewers are greeted with lyrics curving along the wall, “It’s not a place…” The lyrics continue above an archway and then onto another wall, “This country is, to me, the sound of drum and bass.”
Music fans will recognize the lyrics from the 2017 songs “XXX” by rapper Kendrick Lamar and “American Soul” by rock band U2. In each song, the same lyrics take on different meanings. U2 references immigration and the American dream. Lamar references gun violence. That duality represents the show perfectly, Friday said.
The artwork in the gallery’s smaller rooms represent comfort and care. In one room, a portrait of a young Black girl wearing her natural hair faces away from the viewer. Her head is surrounded by a purple halo and 400 small ceramic flower hair clips dot the wall and line the bottom of the wall. The phrase “And then, they told us to relax” is printed next to the portrait, referencing the hair relaxer products used to straighten natural hair. Despite the name, the process isn’t relaxing at all, Friday said.
“It completely destroyed an entire generation of Black women’s hair in the ‘90s,” she said. “But we still look back at it and laugh.”
In the other room, ceramic recreations of comfort food are splayed onto the walls, like a ham sandwich and a handful of Doritos chips. In the center, a TV plays a video of Friday’s grandmother speaking about her life growing up in Mississippi during the Jim Crow era. Her face is shrouded by a shadow, allowing her privacy even as she shares her story in a public setting.
Though her grandmother recounts times of hardship and struggle, every once in a while, she chuckles. She remembers the good times, too, Friday said.
Laura Novoa, the show’s curator, said the exhibition is an opportunity for people to reflect on their own lives. Though the show mainly speaks to the Black community, anyone can relate to feeling nostalgic about the past, even when it was far from perfect.
The center of the main gallery space was intentionally left empty except for two benches, Novoa said.
“We really do want people to sit and reflect,” Novoa said. “The beauty of Friday’s figures is that they’re cutouts, so they can be placed in any context you want. We want the viewer to come in and recognize this person and be like, ‘That’s my uncle, or that’s my brother, or that’s my cousin.’ ”
The end result is a small yet effective show. The minimalist approach allows viewers to find their own meanings in the artwork and see themselves in the people dancing, sleeping and showing off their braided hair.
“I like the fact that you have to look a little deeper to find meaning,” Friday said. “That’s with everything in life. Art is imitating life right now.”
‘Good Times’ by Chris Friday
Where: Oolite Arts, 924 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach. Located on the second floor.
Hours: Monday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. On view until April 2.
Info: oolitearts.org/exhibition/good-times
This story was produced with financial support from The Pérez Family Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.
