ART AGENDA IS A LISTING OF MUST-SEE EXHIBITION OPENINGS and interesting talks and appearances happening this week in black art. Today’s edition features a new slate of exhibitions at the Studio Museum in Harlem and more:
July 17- Oct. 26, 2014
Artists in Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem | New York
The future is likely bright for Kevin Beasley, Bethany Collins and Abigail Deville, the latest cohort of artists-in-resdience at the Studio Museum in Harlem. With a founding mission to promote the work of artists of African descent, the museum is an influential incubator for emerging artists who are given the time and resources to develop and hone their practices. David Hammons, Leonardo Drew, Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu, Mickalene Thomas and Kehinde Wiley are among the residency program’s critically recognized graduates. “Material Histories: Artists in Residence 2013-14” presents installations, paintings, works on paper and mixed media works by Beasley, Collins and Deville, three artists who “share an interest in exploring and contemplating the particular histories and experiences of families, regions and cultural groups, as well as their own lives.”
July 17 – Oct. 26, 2014
Charles Gaines at the Studio Museum in Harlem | New York
The Studio Museum in Harlem is presenting the early work of Los Angeles-based Charles Gaines, an important conceptual artist “celebrated primarily for his photographs, drawings and works on paper that investigate systems, cognition and language.” “Gridwork: 1974-1989” features 75 works by Gaines.
“The works in Charles Gaines: Gridwork 1974–1989 are radical gestures. Eschewing overt discussion of race, they take a detached approach to identity that exemplifies Gaines’s determination to transcend the conversations of his time and create new paths in artistic innovation.”
— Studio Museum in Harlem on Charles Gaines
An instructor at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Gaines’s more recent work was presented at Paula Cooper Gallery last year, and in 2012, a selection of his works from 1975 to 2012 was presented at Pomona College Museum of Art and at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif. The first museum survey of Gaines’s early work, “Gridwork: 1974-1989” at the Studio Museum includes rare works on view for the first time. The exhibition is accompanied by a forthcoming 168-page illustrated catalog
Friday, July 18 @ 8:30 pm
Betye Saar Delivers Barbara Lee Lecture | Skowhegan, Maine
Every summer, emerging artists participating in Skowhegan‘s intensive residency program benefit from the wise words of their more accomplished colleagues. Los Ageles-based artist Betye Saar will give the Barbara Lee Artist Lecture, which is free and open to the public, on July 18 at the Old Dominion Fresco Barn on the Skowhegan Campus. Saar is among 11 artists participating in the 2014 series, including Jennie C. Jones who delivered her lecture on June 9. CT
