THE EVER-PRESENT FLORAL PATTERNS in the background of Kehinde Wiley’s famous portraits inspired a set of notecards. A deck of playing cards features artwork by Gee’s Bend, Ala., quilt artists. Rashid Johnson’s Untitled Escape Collage is emblazoned on a hoodie. From apparel and accessories to stationery and home goods, African American artists have inspired...
CURRENTLY ON VIEW IN LOS ANGELES, five galleries are presenting solo exhibitions of highly regarded African American artists working in a variety of mediums and styles, including portraiture, abstraction, and sculpture. The presentations include the first West Coast exhibition of Amy Sherald, Stanley Whitney’s first full-scale exhibition in Los Angeles, and Brenna Youngblood’s first...
AFTER FEATURING TWO WORKS by Brenna Youngblood at Art Basel OVR: Miami Beach, the digital art fair held in December, Roberts Projects in Los Angeles announced its representation of the multidisciplinary artist yesterday. Youngblood expresses herself through abstraction and often integrates found objects and materials into her work, many with personal significance. Trained as a...
THE SPRING CONTEMPORARY AUCTIONS at Phillips New York featured a variety of works by critically acclaimed African American artists—emerging, mid-career, and long-established figures. Lots sold against the backdrop of Mark Bradford’s “Helter Skelter II” (2007), which was on display behind the auctioneer’s podium over the course of three sales spanning two days. On May...
A NUMBER OF EXHIBITION FIRSTS coincide with Black History Month this year. “Royal Flush,” Nina Chanel Abney’s first solo museum show opens Feb. 16 at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. In February, South African artist Nicholas Hlobo is presenting his first exhibition in Sweden. Major works by British artists Yinka Shonibare...
Installation by Ebony G. Patterson. IN JUNE, ARTNEWS DEVOTED a special issue to women in the art world and the findings revealed a major gulf between the experiences of male and female artists and curators. According to ARTnews, women are seriously underrepresented when it comes to running major museums. Female artists trail far behind...
THIS WINTER IS PROVING TO BE UNPREDICTABLE, with massive snow expected one week and relatively mild temperatures the next. On the art front, the forecast this season is more reliable with a robust slate of exhibitions, from New York, San Francisco and Ontario to London and Munich, featuring a range of modern and contemporary black...
WITH A NEW YEAR UNDERWAY and a promising selection of new books, exhibitions and events on the horizon, here is what is on my radar, what I am most looking forward to in 2015: “Represent: 200 Years of African American Art,” a sweeping new exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Jan. 10 – April...