Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture
Representation
Almine Rech now represents Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe in Europe, the UK, and China. The Ghanaian painter is known for his powerful, culturally rich portraits and vivid color palettes is also represented by Roberts Project in Los Angeles where his solo exhibition “One But Two (Haadzii)” was on view over the summer. Quaicoe is based in Portland, Ore.
Janet Taylor Pickett is exclusively represented by Jennifer Baahng Gallery. Her first exhibition with the gallery, which is also her first solo show in New York, is currently on view. “Necessary Memories” surveys Pasadena, Calif.-based Pickett’s work from the 1980s to present.
Multidisciplinary artist Rashaad Newsome joined Jessica Silverman Gallery. The gallery said his work is “informed by diasporic and Black queer modalities and imaginations.” Newsome splits his time between Oakland, Calif., and Brooklyn, N.Y.
Portrait of Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, 2021 | Courtesy the Artist and Almine Rech, Photo by Dan Kvitka
Honors & Awards
The Museum of Arts and Design in New York announced 16 finalists for the 2021 Burke Prize, including artists Ilana Harris-Babou, Hugh Hayden, and Charisse Pearlina Weston. The prize recognizes U.S. artists working in glass, fiber, clay, metal, or wood, who are aged 45 and under. The winner of the $50,000 award will be announced Oct. 21.
Maurita N. Poole is the new director of Newcomb Art Museum at Tulane University. | Courtesy of Maurita N. Poole
Appointments
Maurita N. Poole is the new director of Newcomb Art Museum at Tulane University in New Orleans, La. Poole is joining Newcomb after six years at the Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, where she served as director and curator.
Tavia Nyong’o was named curator of public programming at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. Nyong’o will continue to serve on the faculty at Yale University where he is chair of Theater and Performance Studies and William Lampson Professor of Theater and Performance Studies, American Studies and African American Studies. | Broadway World
Seattle Mayor Jenny A. Durkan appointed Royal Alley-Barnes interim director of ARTS (Seattle’s Office of Arts and Culture). She is the first Black woman to serve in the position. An artist and fixture in Seattle’s cultural community, Alley-Barnes was previously executive director of the Center on Contemporary Art, executive director of the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, and spent more than two decades in the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, where she held management roles.
The Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, Miss., announced 14 new board trustees, including Myrna Colley-Lee, Nakimuli Davis-Primer, Monique Montgomery, Marc O’Ferrall, and Kimberly Noel Sweet.
Meek Mill album cover art by Nina Chanel Abney. | © Nina Chanel Abney
Music
Art by Nina Chanel Abney covers Meek Mill’s new album, “Expensive Pain,” scheduled for release Oct 1.
Auctions
Christie’s is hosting “Bold Black British,” an online selling exhibition of Black British art, from Oct. 1-Oct. 21. The auction house is partnering with curator Aindrea Emelife and offering works by more than two dozen artists, including Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, John Akomfrah, James Barnor, Phoebe Boswell, Sonia Boyce, Kimathi Donkor, Ben Enwonwu, Samson Kambalu, Hew Locke, Zak Ové, and Ibrahim El-Salahi.
Magazines
Emmanuel Olunkwa was named editor of Pin-Up, the architecture and design magazine. | New York Times
This year’s Time 100 list of most influential people features artist Mark Bradford with a tribute by Anita Hill; food historian Jessica B. Harris (by chef Carla Hall); actress Tracee Ellis Ross (by Thelma Golden of the Studio Museum in Harlem); and lwine Sarr & Bénédicte Savoy, authors of landmark report on restitution of African art (by architect David Adjaye).
Opportunities
DEADLINE TODAY: Following the launch of their ad campaign with Tiffany & Co., Jay-Z and Beyonce announced a $2 million About Love Scholarship fund for students pursuing creative majors at five HBCUs: Lincoln University (Pennsylvania); Bennett College (Greensboro, N.C.); Norfolk State University (Norfolk, Va.); Central State University (Wilberforce, Ohio); and University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (Pine Bluff, Ark.). The deadline to apply is today, Sept. 26, 2021. | More Info here and here
