After Debuting Two Major Public Art Works in New York, Derek Fordjour is Headed to Miami for a Solo Presentation at Art Basel
“Derek Fordjour: Half Mast” (2018), outdoor installation at the Whitney Museum of American Art WITH IMAGES OF MOURNING and celebration, Derek Fordjour is commanding the attention of New Yorkers. The artist’s work is the subject of two prominent public art installations in the city. Downtown, near the Whitney Museum of American Art and the...
The Studio Museum in Harlem is Sharing its Collection with America, Launching a Touring Exhibition of 100 Artworks in January 2019
“Conspicuous Fraud Series #1 (Eminence)” (2001) by Kehinde Wiley A MAJOR EXHIBITION of more than 100 artworks by a broad selection by black artists is headed to Seattle, Kalamazoo and Salt Lake City. In January, the American Federation of Arts (AFA) is launching “Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem,” a national...
Curators Explain Why British Painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Won the Carnegie International’s Top Prize
“Amaranthine” (2018) by Lynette Yiadom Boakeye A SERIES OF ARRESTING PORTRAITS is on view at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. Single and double portraits are exhibited along with a painting of four black males standing together, seemingly in conversation. Lithe figures, all bare-chested wearing only dark pants, any number of narratives could...
Joyce J. Scott Employs the Beauty of Beads to Raise Issues Such as Violence and Racism: ‘My Best Voice is as an Artist’
IN THE HANDS of Joyce J. Scott, the possibilities of glass beads are endless. She uses beads to tell stories, raise challenging social and political issues, and celebrate her mother. A quilt artist, Elizabeth Talford Scott (1916-2011), taught her daughter to sew with beads when she was five years old. Scott’s early exposure was...
Nina Chanel Abney Debuts a New Series of Monumental Works at Pace Prints
WHETHER ITS THE BREAKING NEWS or a song she recently heard, Nina Chanel Abney is inspired by contemporary events and meaningful moments that often find their way into her work and may spontaneously define or change its direction. A new generation storyteller, Abney blends abstraction and figuration. Her images draw on the public discourse,...
Amid Rising Calls for Social Justice in America, the Clenched Fist is Appearing in Artwork and Museums
From left, “Bridge” by Glenn Kaino; Tommie Smith (center) and John Carlos at the 1968 Summer Olympics. THE CLENCHED FIST, a symbol of Black Power and strength in the face of adversity, is showing up in museums. The historic gesture reflects the current moment in which many groups, frustrated with the political climate and...
Looking in London: 10 Exhibitions to See This Season Featuring Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu, and Adam Pendleton Among Others
YEAR AFTER YEAR, serious art aficionados descend on various locales around the world for art fairs, biennials, and major exhibition opening. The rolling schedule unfolds in New York, Basel, Paris, Venice, Berlin, Chicago, Miami, Johannesburg, Lagos, Los Angeles, and beyond. Each fall brings buyers and lookers to London for the 1-54 Contemporary Art Fair,...
‘Royal Flush’: Artist Nina Chanel Abney Debuts in Los Angeles at Two Museums
IN A 2008 PAINTING, Nina Chanel Abney brought together the seemingly disparate images of her friend Randal, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a pack of dogs, and Michael Vick, the NFL player who was serving 21 months in prison for participating in dog fighting, when the work was made. Titled “Randaleeza,” the...
This Fall, Multiple Exhibitions Dedicated to ‘Soul of a Nation’ Artists are on View Throughout New York City
Installation view of “Frank Bowling: Make It New” at Alexander Gray Associates TEN DAYS AGO, “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power” opened at the Brooklyn Museum. The groundbreaking traveling show “shines light on a broad spectrum of Black artistic practice from 1963 to 1983, one of the most politically,...
Gary Simmons Shines a Light on Historic ‘Race’ Films with All-Black Casts
Installation view of “Gary Simmons: Fade to Black” at CAAM A MONUMENTAL INSTALLATION has transformed the atrium/lobby of the California African American Museum (CAAM) in Los Angeles. The five wall-sized panels read: “Juke Joint,” “Moon Over Harlem,” “Midnight Shadow,” “The Joint is Jumpin, “Souls of Sin,” “Jivin in Be-Bop,” “The Bronze Buckaroo,” and on...
Dawoud Bey’s Photographic Tribute to the Victims of 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Collapses the Past and Present
WHEN HE WAS 11 years old, a book of photographs forever changed Dawoud Bey‘s perspective in terms of his vulnerability as a black child. His parents purchased the book in 1964 after hearing James Baldwin speak at their church in Queens, N.Y. The event was part of a tour organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating...
‘Soul of a Nation’ Opens in New York Where Many of the Exhibition Artists Were Active During the Civil Rights, Black Power Eras
“Pittsburgh Memory” (1964) by Romare Bearden HOW SHOULD AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTISTS respond to the Civil Rights Movement? The question was central to the organization of Spiral, the New York artist collective formed in 1963 in advance of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The 15-member group including Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis, Reginald...
Major Retrospectives of Adrian Piper, Charles White, and Howardena Pindell are Traveling to New Venues This Fall
“Everything #2.8” (2003) by Adrian Piper THE PRESENTATION of Adrian Piper’s retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) was historic. “Adrian Piper: A Synthesis of Intuitions, 1965–2016” was the museum’s largest-ever exhibition devoted to a living artist. At once sprawling and intentionally organized, the show featured more than 290 works. A conceptual pioneer, Piper...
She’s a ‘Brick House’: Simone Leigh’s Monumental Vision of a Black Woman is Inaugural Commission for High Line Plinth
In Progress: Simone Leigh assesses her towering “Brick House” sculpture. A STUNNING CLAY SCULPTURE by Simone Leigh rises 16-feet high in a Philadelphia foundry. Leigh’s monumental vision of a black woman is titled “Brick House” after the 1977 song by the Commodores. Blending architectural forms from West Africa and the American South with the...
For Made in L.A. Biennial, Artist EJ Hill is Taking a Stand in the Name of ‘Excellence, Resilience, and Victory’
EJ Hill at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles WHAT DID YOU DO THIS SUMMER? E.J. Hill spent his entire summer standing on a platform at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. The museum’s Made in L.A. biennial opened on June 3 and every since, six days a week for three months, Hill has...
Culture Talk: Curator Jonathan Walz on the Rich History Found in the Archives and Collections Dedicated to Artist Alma Thomas
Portrait of Alma Thomas painted by Laura Wheeler Waring (1947). | Smithsonian American Art Museum RESEARCH IS ONGOING for a forthcoming exhibition dedicated to the life and work of Alma Thomas (1891-1978), the accomplished and technically rigorous abstract painter who was the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney...
‘Soul of a Nation’ is Traveling to the West Coast, Exhibition Will Be on View in Spring 2019 at The Broad in Los Angeles
“Did the Bear Sit Under the Tree” (1969) by Benny Andrews THE INTERNATIONAL TOUR for “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power” has been extended. The exhibition will be on view at The Broad next March. The Los Angeles museum is the exhibition’s only West Coast venue and the show’s...
Loaded with Symbolism, a Fountain Sculpture by Pope.L is Among New Acquisitions at Carnegie Museum of Art
“Fountain (reparations version)” (2016-17) by Pope.L EARLIER THIS MONTH, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh announced several new acquisitions, including “Fountain (reparations version)” (2016-17) by Chicago-based Pope.L. The sculpture is on view in the modern and contemporary galleries which have been re-hung to reflect the “depth, diversity, and eccentricities” of the Carnegie Museum’s...
Basel and Beyond: Overdue Recognition of African American Artists at Home is Generating Unprecedented Curatorial and Collector Interest Throughout Europe
“The Music of Color: Sam Gilliam, 1967-1973” recently opened in Basel, Switzerland. THE GALLERIES OF KUNSTMUSEUM BASEL are alive with color in the form of 45 abstract paintings by Sam Gilliam. “The Music of Color: Sam Gilliam, 1967-1973” is the Washington, D.C.-based artist’s first solo survey exhibition in a European museum. The show is...
On View | ‘Meleko Mokgosi: Bread, Butter, and Power’ at Fowler Museum at UCLA
IN RELATABLE IMAGES, Meleko Mokgosi explores weighty themes. He makes history paintings about the politics, culture, and history of Southern Africa. Post-colonial scenes of the quotidian are visions of democracy. For five years, Mokgosi has been pursuing “Democratic Intuition” (2014-present), a singular project, composed of eight chapters, each realized as an exhibition. The latest...
