The Year in Black Art Books, Catalogs and Magazines 2014
IT WAS A THRILL TO OPEN the January issue of W magazine and find photographer Lorna Simpson’s evocative images of the cast of “12 Years a Slave” and conclude the year with a package delivered after Christmas containing “Du Bois in Our Time,” a visual testament to the intellectual’s legacy. In the months between, some...
W Magazine Concludes 2014 with Coverage of Sam Gilliam, Rashid Johnson, Julie Mehretu and Kevin Beasley
OFFERING COVERAGE OF ARTS AND CULTURE that rivals its fashion reporting, W magazine has recently trained its lens on several Black artists. In November, articles were published on Sam Gilliam and Rashid Johnson. Though separated by nearly two generations, the artists are closely connected. Both are represented by David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles where...
Culture Type: The Year in Black Art 2014
FROM THE DAK’ART BIENNIAL in Senegal, to the 1:54 art fair in London and Prospect.3 in New Orleans, 2014 was brimming with compelling exhibitions, innovative projects and well-deserved honors. Kara Walker’s sugar sphinx installation in Brooklyn was perhaps the most thought-provoking and buzzed about exhibition of the year; Chris Ofili’s “Night and Day” survey at...
11 Best Black Art Books of 2014
THE BEST EXHIBITION CATALOGS do more than document their gallery counterparts. They provide critical context, visual reference, an opportunity for innovative design that reflects the work, and a format in which the exhibition can live beyond its presentation dates. This year, there were a number of remarkable exhibitions featuring Black artists and the coinciding catalogs...
Artforum Asks Artists, Critics and Curators to Name the Best of 2014
WHAT MAKES AN EXHIBITION exceptional? For artist Glenn Ligon, it must be “rigorous, challenging, and beautifully installed” and it really registers if it causes him to self reflect. “A good exhibition is one that makes me reconsider my own practice,” he says in Artforum. The magazine’s December “Best of 2014” issue takes a look back...
Shelf Worthy: New Books on Black British Artists, Chris Ofili, Basquiat and More
A SELECTION OF SHELF-WORTHY, COFFEE TABLE-READY books and catalogs published recently that explore black art and artists “The Image of the Black in Western Art, Volume V: The Twentieth Century, Part 2: The Rise of Black Artists” edited by David Bindman and Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Belknap Press, 368 pages) Since 2010, Harvard University Press...
Art & Antiques: An Overdue Look at Archibald Motley, Modernist ‘Mix Master’
THE MOTIVATION BEHIND MOUNTING “Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist” has everything to do with exposure, recasting the legacy of an important 20th century painter. Based in Chicago, Archibald Motley (1891-1981) painted captivating portraits, lively street scenes and spirited social gatherings with a modern perspective. His canvases capture African American life with wry humor and...
Weekend Reading: The Intersecting Worlds of Chris Ofili and David Adjaye
Chris Ofili portrait by Malick Sidibe in Oct. 6, 2014 issue of The New Yorker IN ADVANCE OF CHRIS OFILI’S first solo museum show in the United States, New Yorker writer Calvin Tompkins traveled to Trinidad where the artist lives and works. “Into the Unknown,” his comprehensive and revealing profile opens in a “dilapidated...
A Browse Through the ‘Ideal Bookshelf’ of Hilton Als
THE IDEAL BOOKSHELF of Hilton Als is an economic selection of seven books including “The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction, 1948-1985” by James Baldwin and titles by Marcel Proust, Truman Capote, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Anton Checkhov. The New Yorker writer’s choices are included in “My Ideal Bookshelf,” a compilation of artist Jane Mount’s...
‘Afro Margins’ by Chris Ofili Featured on New ‘Art in America’ Cover
THE LATEST ISSUE OF ART IN AMERICA is covered with a series of vertically stacked afros. The image is a detail of “Afro Margins,” a 2007 pencil drawing by Trinidad-based artist Chris Ofili. The work is part of a series Ofili began in 2004 in London and continued when he moved to Trinidad in 2005...
Theaster Gates Among Fast Company’s Most Creative People
FAST COMPANY NAMED Theaster Gates one of the 100 Most Creative People of 2014. The magazine ranked Gates No. 11, recognizing him for mastering the art of urban renewal. A conceptual artist whose multi-disciplinary practice explores the intersection of art, culture and community, Gates (above) is founder of the Rebuild Foundation and serves as...
‘Witness’: Artists Offer Powerful Visual Voice for Civil Rights Era
TWO YEARS AFTER MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, Sam Gilliam created “Red April.” The draped canvas makes a bold statement with its candid reference to splattered blood in the wake of an assassin’s bullet. Gilliam, an internationally known artist whose work is influenced by Abstract Expressionism, is recognized for...
‘Art Studio America’: Glenn Ligon Makes Those Text Paintings in an Old Canning Factory
WHEN YOU EXPERIENCE AN ARTIST’S WORK at a museum or gallery, do you wonder where it all came from? Where it was imagined, conceptualized and created? “Art Studio America: Contemporary Artist Spaces” answers these questions in spades, taking readers inside the studios of 116 artists from the West Coast to Chicago and New York and...
Culture Talk: Swann’s Nigel Freeman on Early African American Art
THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ART MARKET experienced a sea change seven years ago when Swann Auction Galleries began dedicating sales to African American fine art. Few auction records existed for African American artists at the time. Most sales were handled privately by galleries and dealers, making values hard to discern because prices were not disclosed to...
Culture Talk: Lorna Simpson on Capturing the Cast of ’12 Years a Slave’ for W Magazine
RACE, IDENTITY, MEMORY AND HISTORY figure prominently in Lorna Simpson‘s practice, making her a natural choice for W magazine which reached out to the photographer to capture the cast of the Oscar-nominated “12 Years a Slave.” Even before it debuted in theaters, major buzz surrounded British artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen’s film. Critics and historians...
Bartlett’s Black Quotations: New Volume Features Insight from Artists
HAPPY 2014! WHAT BETTER WAY to plunge into the new year than to study the wise words of black artists past and present? After years of establishing itself as the chief purveyor of notable quotes and sayings, Bartlett’s recently published “Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations: 5,000 Years of Literature, Lyrics, Poems, Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs from Voices...
6 Best Black Art Books of 2013
WHETHER YOU WISH TO ADD to your own collection or you’re looking for the perfect gift for your favorite art aficionado, several excellent books were published this year, expanding the scholarship on contemporary Black art. Significant volumes from Kara Walker, Theaster Gates and Lorna Simpson were among the best. Here is the list of...
Elle Magazine Features Mickalene Thomas, Julie Mehretu and Carrie Mae Weems
THE FASHION IN THE NEW ISSUE of Elle magazine is eclipsed by coverage of women making a name for themselves in the art world. Carrie Mae Weems, Julie Mehretu and Mickalene Thomas—three bonafide art stars—made the cut. The December 2013 issue features the notable contemporary artists, black women with vastly different practices who’ve forged...
Lorna Simpson: Heady Portraits on Paper
THE CLASSIC BLUE matte-finish cover masks the wonder beyond. “Lorna Simpson: Works on Paper” is an enchanting march of portraits. It’s like a year book capturing various eras, page-after-page of watercolor images, painted by an artist with plenty to say. There are graphite, ink and watercolor portraits of women, images of heads with flourishes of...
Benny Andrews: The People’s Painter
Benny Andrews in 1982, detail of photo by Kathy Mims (page 120). Today would have been the artist’s 83rd birthday. | Reproduced from “Benny Andrews: There Must Be a Heaven” AN EXPRESSIVE COLLAGE TECHNIQUE introduces both tactile and narrative dimensions to the canvases of Benny Andrews (1930-2006). Evoking a tangible sense of pride, strength...
