Terry Adkins Conceived His Exhibitions as a Conversational Interplay Among Objects, Installations, and Musical Performances
RIGOROUS, POETIC, AND HIGHLY ABSTRACT, the practice of Terry Adkins (1953-2014) is a nexus of art, music, and language. He repurposed found objects and reimagined instruments; brought visibility to the layered biographies of pivotal historical figures such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Matthew Henson, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, Sojourner Truth, and John Brown; and...
‘Give Me Some Moments’: Lorna Simpson’s New Collages Channel the Imagined Lives and Complex Interiority of Black Women
THE IMAGES OF AFRICAN AMERICANS that populate the pages of vintage Ebony and Jet magazines have been a source of inspiration for Lorna Simpson for nearly a decade. Black men and children have featured in her collages, but overwhelmingly she’s focused on advertising images of Black women culled and cut from the pages of the...
Prospect New Orleans Postpones Prospect.5, Pushed Back One Year, Contemporary Art Triennial Will Open October 2021
THIS MORNING, Prospect New Orleans announced that Prospect.5 has been postponed by one year. The forthcoming citywide contemporary art triennial was scheduled to open this fall and, due to the COVID-19 virus, it has been delayed by one year. The new dates are Oct. 23, 2021-Jan. 23, 2022. Prospect.5 is the latest major art...
Call and Response: Full of Drawings of Envisioned Works, Betye Saar’s Sketchbooks Serve as a ‘Wellspring of Creativity’
THE EXHIBITION CATALOG that accompanies “Betye Saar: Call and Response,” the artist’s showcase of sketchbooks and related artworks, is a real treasure. Organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the traveling exhibition features sketchbooks dating from 1970 to 2015. The show represents an important milestone for Saar, given it is...
In the Wake of COVID-19, Inveterate Traveler Theaster Gates is Grounded in Chicago, Making Pottery Again, and Still Collaborating
Theaster Gates is featured in “Firsthand: Coronavirus,” a series from Chicago’s PBS affiliate. | Video by WTTW TRAVELING THE GLOBE is a constant in the life of artist Theaster Gates. His schedule of exhibitions, talks, lectures, and projects is unrelenting. Gates has a diverse portfolio. In his bio, he states that his practice “focuses...
Everyone Can Relate to Trees and Wood, So Hugh Hayden Uses the Materials to Change How We Think About Larger Cultural Issues
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, a worldwide environmental movement to drive transformative change and positive action for our planet. THESE AREN’T ORDINARY LOGS, positioned just so, one on top of the other. Together, they form a mixed-media sculpture by Hugh Hayden. He meticulously collaged Sharptail grouse feathers to create the...
New Paintings by Stanley Whitney Speak to Enduring Influence of Rome and Realization That ‘Space is in the Color’
IN THE 1990s, Stanley Whitney spent five years in Rome. He says he arrived in 1992 or 1993 and that living and working in Rome was a turning point, the beginning of his “mature” work. Whitney speaks in a language of color, working within a grid structure mindful of rhythm, density, and space. Visually, the...
On View: ‘Sula Bermúdez-Silverman: Neither Fish, Flesh, nor Fowl’ at California African American Museum in Los Angeles
While museums and galleries are temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 virus, On View will continue to showcase images from noteworthy exhibitions THE FIRST SOLO MUSEUM EXHIBITION in Los Angeles of Sula Bermúdez-Silverman, debuted Feb. 28. “Sula Bermúdez-Silverman: Neither Fish, Flesh, nor Fowl” was open for about two weeks at the California African...
New York Photographer Dannielle Bowman Wins 2020 Aperture Portfolio Prize
THE WINNER of the 2020 Aperture Portfolio Prize is Dannielle Bowman. Aperture’s annual international competition aims to “identify trends in contemporary photography and highlight artists whose work deserves greater recognition.” Recent bodies of work, made in the past five year and not previously published or displayed prominently are considered. The goal is to discover new...
In Wake of COVID-19, Artists are Uniting to Support the Museum of the African Diaspora San Francisco With an Online Benefit Auction
AN IMPORTANT PLATFORM for artists of African descent, the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco is facing a funding shortfall and possible interruption of operations in the wake of the COVID-19 virus. To help raise funds, the museum is launching its first-ever benefit auction with Artsy. Artists, galleries, and collectors from...
Knoxville Museum of Art Explores ‘Intellectual Exchange’ Between Artist Beauford Delaney and Writer James Baldwin
THE CREATIVITY of Beauford Delaney (1901-1979) flourished in New York City and Paris. An exhibition at his hometown museum brings attention to a pivotal relationship that thrived in parallel. “Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin: Through the Unusual Door” at the Knoxville Museum of Art explores the nearly four-decade relationship between Delaney and James Baldwin...
Roberts Projects Announced Representation of Wangari Mathenge, Whose Paintings Foreground Experiences of Black Women
THE WOMEN confidently claim space on sofas, gazing directly at the viewer, holding our attention. The women, reclining and sitting, embrace their culture and express their style through the vibrant colors and patterned fabrics of their clothing, head scarves and throw pillows. The women, by turns introspective, skeptical, and assertive, are the subjects of...
Beginning in Late 1950s, African American Painters Known as ‘Highwaymen’ Captured Florida’s Natural Landscapes
Untitled and undated painting by Harold Newton BEGINNING IN THE LATE 1950s, a group of mostly self-taught African American artists devoted themselves to capturing Florida’s natural landscapes. During a time when Black artists were generally focused on figuration and the best way to express themselves in the wake of Jim Crow and the fight...
Exploring the Subjectivity of Black Children, Works by Deborah Roberts Have Recently Been Acquired by Museums in Boston, San Francisco, and Scotland
STEPHEN FRIEDMAN GALLERY in London recently announced 10 institutional acquisitions that occurred over the past year. Works by six artists on its roster, including Deborah Roberts, Yinka Shonibare CBE, and Denzil Forrester, have been acquired by museums around the world. “Adam and Eve” (2013) and “The British Library” (2014), installations by Shonibare, were added...
A Look Inside Johnson Publishing Archive: From Pearl Bailey on Set of ‘Carmen Jones’ to Coretta Scott King in Mourning and Eartha Kitt Poolside
Adam Clayton Powell and Malcolm X attend school boycott rally in New York City, March 1964 BLACK-AND-WHTIE PHOTOGRAPHS of Pearl Bailey on the set of the 1954 film “Carmen Jones”; Sammy Davis Jr., hanging with the Rat Pack; Eartha Kitt reading Richard Wright’s “Pagan Spain” poolside at a swank hotel; and Coretta Scott King...
Blum & Poe Now Represents Japanese-Brazilian Artist Asuka Anastacia Ogawa
“Medicine girl” (2019) by Asuka Anastacia Ogawa AFTER HAVING HER FIRST U.S. solo exhibition at Henry Taylor’s studio in Los Angeles on Feb. 11, 2017, Asuka Anastacia Ogawa is now on the roster at his longtime gallery. Blum & Poe announced its representation of Ogawa on April 1. The gallery expects to present her...
In Memoriam, Artists, Curators, and Scholars Share Memories of David C. Driskell: He ‘Was an Agitator for African American Art’ and ‘Lit the Way in Our Lives and Careers’
DAVID C. DRISKELL (1931-2020) helped build the field of African American art history and was a nexus for three generations of artists, curators, and scholars who have studied and are fortifying the discipline. A pivotal figure in American art and leading authority on African American art, Driskell died on April 1. He was 88....
On View: ‘Christina Quarles’ at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
While museums and galleries are temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 virus, On View will continue to showcase images from noteworthy exhibitions REPRESENTING THE BODY as flexible and free, contorted and constricted, intertwined and engaged, the work of Christina Quarles reflects the pressures and pleasures of life and the complexities of identity. The...
Asked to Name an Artwork She’d Want to Live With, Curator Zoé Whitley Immediately Thought of a 1973 Alma Thomas Painting
MUSEUM CURATORS are constantly immersed in art, which might make it a challenge to choose one single work to which they are particularly drawn. When asked to name an artwork she’d want to live with, Zoé Whitley thought about the spring tones of a stunning abstract painting made half a century ago. “I don’t...
On View: ‘Alpha Crucis – Contemporary African Art’ at Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo, Norway
While museums and galleries are temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 virus, On View will continue to showcase images from noteworthy exhibitions SINCE 2005, the Astrup Fearnley Museum has been staging expansive exhibitions exploring national and continental art scenes around the world. After showcasing the United States, Brazil, India, China and Europe, the...
