At Whitney Museum, ‘America is Hard to See’ Acknowledges African American Contributions to Recent Art History
FOR GENERATIONS, IT HAS BEEN HARD to visit American museums and genuinely appreciate the experience when rarely is the depth and breadth of American art represented in exhibitions and collections. Far rarer, has been the inclusion of works by African American artists in retrospectives intended to capture the broad sweep of American art history....
LaToya Ruby Frazier, Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Kalup Linzy Discuss Met Museum Works that Inspire Them
SINCE SHE WAS A TEENAGER, LaToya Ruby Frazier has been using a camera to document her family and community. Growing up in Braddock, Pa., where the steel mill was the chief employer, her photographic endeavor became a serious pursuit when the industry collapsed. The local economy failed and its citizens faced critical health challenges caused...
Mark Bradford’s Art + Practice is on a Mission to Change Lives
ART + PRACTICE IS PRESENTING “The Beautyful Ones,” Njideka Akunyili Crosby‘s first exhibition in Los Angeles. Awarded the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s 2014 James Dicke Contemporary Artist Prize, Nigerian-born Akunyili Crosby lives and works in Los Angeles. Curated by the Hammer Museum, the exhibition features a new body of work that “explores intimacy and interiority...
Architect David Adjaye, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and 21st Century Design
FOR THE FIRST TIME in its nearly 50-year history, the Studio Museum in Harlem plans to construct a new building designed expressly to meet the needs of its ambitious programming. The news came last month, coupled with the announcement that architect David Adjaye is designing the $122 million public-private project made possible by partial...
Summer Shows: 25 Noteworthy Exhibitions Feature Black Artists
THIS SUMMER, MAJOR CITIES are presenting major exhibitions featuring the work of important African American artists. In greater Detroit, Nick Cave (shown above) is staging pop-up performances showcasing his mesmerizing Soundsuits in conjunction with a museum exhibition at the Cranbrook Art Museum, his first in Michigan. In New York, the Studio Museum in Harlem is...
Faith Ringgold’s Latest Children’s Book Celebrates 1920s Harlem
IMAGINE BOARDING HARLEM AIRLINES to journey back in time to the 1920s when the Harlem Renaissance was in full swing. This mesmerizing prospect is the premise of artist Faith Ringgold‘s latest children’s book, “Harlem Renaissance Party.” The story begins with an open invitation written in the sky, “Come one! Come all! To a party...
Chris Ofili’s ‘Holy Virgin Mary’ Make News Again, This Time Setting Auction Record
AT CHRISTIE’S LONDON, expectations were high for Chris Ofili‘s “The Holy Virgin Mary” and the results didn’t disappoint. The mixed-media painting sold for more than $4.5 million (including fees) at the Post-War and Contemporary Evening Auction last night, setting a record for the British-born Ofili. In a post-sale press release announcing the record, Christie’s called...
New York Times Publishes First-Ever, Art-Themed Issue of Sunday Book Review
FEATURING “ILLUSTRATED BOOKS, art-themed fiction, artist biography, nonfiction about the art world, original photography and original artwork,” the New York Times published its first-ever art-themed Sunday Book Review section today (June 28, 2015). The print version arrived in this morning’s paper, but the reviews began appearing online Wednesday and a specially designed web page...
Willie Cole, Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall and Hank Willis Thomas Featured in Season 2 of Met Museum’s Artist Project
FEATURED FOUR YEARS AGO in the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition “Reconfiguring an African Icon: Odes to the Mask by Modern and Contemporary Artists from Three Continents,” Willie Cole recently returned to the museum to talk about his introduction to African art. It was the late 1960s, after the Kennedy and King assassinations and the...
Henry Taylor Paintings Featured in Sotheby’s London Selling Exhibition
IN AN ERA WHEN COUNTLESS ARTISTS are creating untitled abstract and conceptual work, there is a certain satisfaction in viewing paintings by artists who not only remain fixated on figures, but also relish the art of naming their canvases. Henry Taylor‘s title choices are often as blunt, cheeky and colorful as his images. “Walking with...
Black Artist News – June 19: Nick Cave, Gordon Parks, Mickalene Thomas & More
THE WEEK’S TOP NEWS COVERAGE from around the web featuring artists Nick Cave, Gordon Parks, Noah Purifoy, Mark Bradford, Mickalene Thomas and designer Duro Olowu. Nick Cave: Soundsuit Invasion, Mike Kelley’s Mobile Homestead. | Photo by PD Rearick, Courtesy of Cranbrook Art Museum via T Magaine Nick Cave T MAGAZINE talks to Chicago-based artist Nick...
Porter Magazine Reports on ‘Quiet Power’ of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s Paintings
MYSTERIOUS AND CAPTIVATING are among the descriptors often used to label the subjects in Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s remarkable portraits. Fictional figures, the men and women she paints—whether sitting, standing, reclining, gazing at a floral arrangement or nursing a cup of tea—betray no sense of time or place, and their clothing and spare surroundings don’t offer any...
Jacob Lawrence’s ‘Struggle’ Series Documents Broad Sweep of Early American History
RECOGNIZED FOR HIS RAPT ATTENTION to the historic narratives of African Americans, Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) envisioned a series of paintings about the history of the United States that would encompass all of the nations’s people. In 1954, Lawrence began working on “Struggle…From the History of the American People” (1954-56), a new series conceived as...
ARTnews Publishes Special Report on Women in the Art World, Black Artists Respond
BORN IN PORTLAND, ORE., IN 1953, photographer Carrie Mae Weems has steadily built a critically acclaimed, internationally recognized practice. Weems uses photography and video to test and explore assumptions about race, gender, class and history. She is a trailblazer, who had few examples to turn to, model her career after or use as a...
Commencement 2015: African American Artists Bestow Wisdom on Graduates
LIKENING ARTISTS TO SUPER HEROES, Los Angeles-based artist Alison Saar offered an animated message of encouragement at the Maryland Institute of College of Art (MICA) undergraduate commencement on May 18. “In our studios…our super hero persona emerges, determined to save the day, with the desire to make this world a better place through our creative...
Swann Announces September Sale of Maya Angelou’s Art Collection
View image | gettyimages.com AN AVID COLLECTOR OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ART, Maya Angelou (1928-2014) surrounded herself with paintings, sculpture, fine prints and works on paper. The vaunted poet and author acquired works by Romare Bearden, John Biggers, Elizabeth Catlett, Melvin Edwards and Faith Ringgold, among many others, that have largely remained unseen by the...
Modern Painters: Engaging African American Artists in Talks About Police Brutality
OVER THE PAST YEAR, visual artists have responded to the steady clip of national news stories about unarmed black men and youth being killed by police. Titus Kaphur painted the Ferguson, Mo., protestors for Time magazine; Dred Scott wrote an essay titled “Illegitimate” for the Walker Art Center on the killing of Michael Brown;...
Mark Bradford’s ‘Smear’ Sells for Record $4.3 Million at Sotheby’s
TEN BIDDERS VIED FOR A NEW PAINTING by Mark Bradford at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction on May 12. The sale price for “Smear” was ultimately $4,394,000 (including fees), a record for the Los Angeles-based artist, according to Sotheby’s and Iris Index. A brilliant nexus of color, technique and materials executed in 2015, the...
Okwui Enwezor’s Vision for Venice Biennale is Right Up Front
Glenn Ligon and Oscar Murillo for “All the World’s Futures” curated by Okwui Enwezor #VeniceBiennale A photo posted by Artforum (@artforum) on May 5, 2015 at 3:49am PDT THE 56th VENICE BIENNALE officially opens to the public on May 9 and black artists are at the forefront. The entrance to the Central Pavilion...
Kara Walker Offers a Critical Assessment of Toni Morrison’s New Book
View image | gettyimages.com FOR TWO DECADES, KARA WALKER HAS PURSUED a unique practice focused on exploring the history of race, gender, power and exploitation in the antebellum South through large-scale cut-paper silhouettes, drawings, watercolor and video animation. The artist’s primary subject parallels that of Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Beloved” (1987), as well...
