The Week in Black Art | July 26 to Aug. 1, 2014

A REVIEW OF THE WEEK’S NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE ART WORLD
Featuring Franklin Sirmans, Kehinde Wiley, Jacob Lawrence and more

Kehinde Wiley Publishes New Catalog of Jamaican Portraits
Jamaica is the latest destination on Kehinde Wiley‘s world tour. A master of portraiture, Wiley has traveled to Nigeria, Senegal, Brazil, Israel, Sri Lanka and beyond, hand picking young “urban” men from each destination to sit for formal portraits that reference classic European paintings executed with vibrant-hued, elaborately patterned backgrounds. Published this week, “Kehinde Wiley: The World Stage Jamaica,” features both young men and women painted against textiles by British designer William Morris. The 59-page catalog complements Wiley’s fall 2013 exhibition at Stephen Friedman Gallery in London, and includes color illustrations, installation images and an essay by British-Ghanaian writer Ekow Eshun.

Flash Art Talks to Franklin Sirmans About Prospect New Orleans
Franklin Sirmans says Prospect 3 New Orleans will reflect the Big Easy and at the same time be decidedly global. Sirmans, curator of Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), is artistic director of the third edition of Prospect New Orleans, the international art exhibition created in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. “The exhibition attempts to walk a line between New Orleans and the world,” Sirmans says in an interview with Flash Art magazine, where he served as U.S. editor early in his career. “The show looks at local issues with an existential outlook that can be felt across time and geographic space.” This year’s biennial opens on Oct. 25, 2014, and is on view through Jan. 25, 2015.

“The show looks at local issues with an existential outlook that can be felt across time and geographic space.”
— Franklin Sirmans on Prospect New Orleans, Flash Art magazine

Stanford Entrusted with Significant Collection of Jacob Lawrence Works
The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University announced three major gifts of American art on July 24, significantly expanding its collection with works by Richard Diebenkorn, Andy Warhol and Jacob Lawrence. Dr. Herbert J. Kayden of New York City and his daughter Joelle Kayden of Washington, D.C., have donated 56 works by Lawrence and a painting by his wife Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence. Representing the artist’s practice from the 1940s to the 1990s, the gift includes 11 drawings, five paintings, 39 prints, an illustrated book and archive materials related to the collection. According to a Stanford new release, Cantor now holds the largest collection of Lawrence works on the West Coast and will present the artist’s works in an early 2015 exhibition. CT