SURVEY is a review of the latest news and happenings related to visual art by and about people of African descent, with the occasional nod to cultural matters.
From left, Artists Emeka Ogboh and Simone Leigh made the shortlist for the 2018 Hugo Boss Prize. | From left, Photos by Adolphus Opara and Paul Mpagi Sepuya
Artists Simone Leigh and Emeka Ogboh Among Finalists for Guggenheim’s Hugo Boss Prize
Six artists made the shortlist—Leigh, Ogboh, Bouchra Khalili, Teresa Margolles, Frances Stark, and Wu Tsang. The winner of the $100,000 prize will be announced in fall 2018, and present an exhibition in 2019
Rujeko Hockley Announced as Co-Curator of 2019 Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Museum of American Art named members of its curatorial staff Jane Panetta, associate curator at the museum, and Rujeko Hockley, an assistant curator, to organize the forthcoming biennial which will open in May 2019
1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair Releases Gallery List for 2018 Marrakech Edition
Hosting fairs in London and New York, 1:54 will be presented for the first time in Africa in February 2018. The Marrakech edition will showcase more than 60 emerging and established artists from more than 20 nations and feature 17 galleries, five of them—including Yossi Milo Gallery of New York—participating for the first time
ARTnews Asked Top Collectors About Art They Missed Out on Buying
Drawing from its annual list of Top 200 collectors, the magazine asked collectors about works that got away. Among those surveyed were Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida, who said it was “Untitled (Studio)” (2014) by Kerry James Marshall, which is now owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was featured in “Mastry,” the artist’s 30-year survey exhibition. Raymond J. McGuire and Crystal McCrary mentioned a painting by Mark Bradford. Other collectors also referenced works by Marshall and David Hammons.
Filmmakers are crowdsourcing funds to make documentary “Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts.” | Video by Jeffrey Wolf
Kickstarter Campaign Launched to Raise Funds for Bill Traylor Documentary
Filmmakers state film will premiere with Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Bill Traylor retrospective and are seeking $28,000 to begin production in Montgomery, Ala., in early 2018
READ MORE about forthcoming SAAM exhibition “Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor” on Culture Type
National Endowment for the Humanities Announced $12.3 Million in Grants
NEH funds are supporting 253 humanities projects across the United States, among them, “a video-based web platform allowing scholars to publish papers in sign language, and a new tool that uses digital analysis of architectural floor plans to show how Frank Lloyd Wright’s structures changed over time, …and a local community digitization projects will preserve historic materials held by the congregations of African-American churches in Georgia”
Art Matters Announced 22 Grants to Support U.S. Artists Working Around the World
Recipients of $7,500 awards for “ongoing work that breaks ground aesthetically and socially,” include E.J. Hill, Free Black Dirt, Tunde Olaniran, and Naima Ramos-Chapman
Knight Arts Challenge Announces 43 Grants for Miami-Area Projects
Announced Dec. 4 at Perez Art Museum Miami, the Knight funding totaling $2.5 million and supports art initiatives focused on cultural diversity throughout the city’s neighborhoods
Concept design of Kerry James Marshall’s “A Monumental Journey,” which is composed of manganese black brick and steel, and will be sited in Hansen Triangle Park in downtown Des Moines. | Courtesy Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation
Kerry James Marshall Commissioned to Create Public Monument to Pioneering Black Lawyers
Located in Des Moines, Iowa, where the National Bar Association was established in 1924, “A Monumental Journey” is inspired by a West African talking drum and is expected to be unveiled in late spring 2018.
Kerry James Marshall Mural Honoring 20 Chicago Women Unveiled
The public mural installed on the facade of the Chicago Cultural Center celebrates women who helped shape the city’s arts and culture landscape, including artists Barbara Jones-Hogu and Margaret Burroughs, Oprah Winfrey, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sandra Cisneros, and actress Cheryl Lynn Bruce, Marshall’s wife
Hank Willis Thomas, winner of 2017 Aimia | AGO Photography Prize discusses his work. | Video by Aimia | AGO Photography Prize
Hank Willis Thomas Won the 2017 Aimia | AGO Photography Prize
Described as Canada’s “most significant award for contemporary photography,” the annual prize includes $50,000 for the winner who is chosen by public vote. Liz Johnson Artur, a Russian-Ghanaian photographer based in London, was also among the remaining finalists who received $5,000 each. Work by all four nominees is on view in an exhibition at Art Gallery Ontario in Toronto through Jan. 14, 2018
African Biennial of Photography Announced Prize Winners
11th Rencontres de Bamako in Mali recognized Athi-Patra Ruga, who was awarded the Seydou Keïta Grand Prize, along with Julien Creuzet, Fethi Sahraoui, Gabrielle Goliath, and Moise Togo, who also received prizes
Annual $25,000 William H. Johnson Prize Awarded to Lauren Halsey
A Los Angeles-based installation artist, Halsey is currently working on “The Crenshaw District Hieroglyph Project,” a public monument. A 2014-15 Studio Museum in Harlem Artist-in-Residence, she also received the 2017 L.A. Design Festival EDGE award in June. Andy Robert and Autumn Knight, who had 2016-17 residencies at the Studio Museum, were finalists for this year’s Johnson Prize
The Christopher Moller Gallery booth presented a solo exhibition of works by Cape Town-based artist Tony Gum at the Miami Beach Pulse Art Fair. | via Artsy
South African Artist Tony Gum Wins 2017 Miami Beach Pulse Prize
The Cape Town-based artist presented a series of portraits called “Ode to She” paying homage to Xhosa women at Christopher Moller Gallery booth. The $2,500 juried prize is awarded for a solo exhibition at the art fair
Derica Shields Among Recipients of 2017 Commissions From Triple Canopy
The magazine chose three proposals for an upcoming issue focused on resentment. a London-based writer, editor, and programmer, Shields is working on “A Heavy Nonpresence,” an oral history project that will collect interviews with black adults and children about their contemporary experiences with the British welfare state.
Inaugural Barbara Hammer Lesbian Experimental Filmmaking Grant Goes to Fair Brane
Los Angeles-based artist and filmmaker Fair Brane was selected from 76 applicants and will receive a $5,000 grant. She is working on “Drink More Water,” a short film that blends her interest race, power, and “the hidden oppressive constructs rigorously at work in our society” CT
