Latest News: Trailblazing New York Times Photographer Has Died, Hamza Walker Will Curate Talks at Frieze Los Angeles & More
Thokaza township, Johannesburg (1991). Photo by Graeme Williams The following review of the past week or so presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related culture: NEWS New York-based artist Hank Willis Thomas has been accused by South African photographer Graeme Williams of using an iconic image he...
Latest News in African American Art: Nationwide Campaign Will Fund Political Billboards, Julie Mehretu Joins SFMOMA Board, Henry Taylor Wins De Niro Prize
For Freedoms launched a nationwide crowd-sourcing campaign to fund artist-designed billboards for display in advance of the 2018 midterm elections in the United States. The following review of the past week or so presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related culture: NEWS The Brodsky Center, a collaborative...
Acquisitions by Glenn Ligon, McArthur Binion, and Toyin Ojih Odutola are Driving Conversations Around Race and History at Mississippi Museum of Art
GLENN LIGON, “Condition Report,” 2000 THE MISSISSIPPI MUSEUM OF ART in Jackson, Miss., is encouraging constructive conversations about racial equity through contemporary art. A slate of new acquisitions, including works by African American artists Glenn Ligon, Benny Andrews (1930-2006), and McArthur Binion, a native of Macon, Miss., supports the museum’s commitment to engaging the...
Survey: The Latest News in African American Art and Beyond, Dec. 13, 2017
SURVEY is a review of the latest news and happenings related to visual art by and about people of African descent, with the occasional nod to cultural matters. From left, Artists Emeka Ogboh and Simone Leigh made the shortlist for the 2018 Hugo Boss Prize. | From left, Photos by Adolphus Opara and Paul Mpagi...
October Openings: Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Toyin Ojih Odutola, John Akomfrah, African Design, Hank Willis Thomas Debuts in London, and Women Working in Abstraction
THE FALL SEASON continues with an international slate of black artists presenting new and important work in the United States and abroad. The Whitney is hosting Toyin Ojih Odutola‘s first exhibition in a New York museum. A monumental exhibition of African design is making its U.S. debut at the High Museum in Atlanta. Njideka...
Summer Shows: New Exhibitions Feature African American Artists Beverly Buchanan, Arthur Jafa, Glenn Ligon and Bradford Young
A NUMBER OF GEMS OPENED this month. Summer tends to be a relatively quiet season art-wise, but this year major international events—Venice Biennale, Documenta 14, and Art Basel—are coinciding with compelling gallery and museum exhibitions featuring works by black artists. From San Francisco and Detroit, to Greece, London and Cape Town, exhibitions by artists including...
Artful Wisdom: Kerry James Marshall, Claudia Rankine, Leslie King-Hammond Among Speakers at 2017 Commencements
Artist Kerry James Marshall delivers remarks at Columbia College Chicago commencement on May 14. | Video by Columbia College Chicago MORE THAN 30 YEARS AGO, when Kerry James Marshall left Los Angeles to move to New York, his friend and fellow artist Carrie Mae Weems called Dawoud Bey, who was living in the city....
Great Conversations: Ellen Gallagher, Mickalene Thomas, Kellie Jones, Betye & Alison Saar are all Talking This Month
Feb. 16: Betye and Alison Saar are in Conversation at CAAM, Los Angeles | Screen Shot New York Times video THERE ARE SOME GREAT CONVERSATIONS happening between women this month. Artist Ellen Gallagher with curator Adrienne Edwards. Mickalene Thomas and scholar Beverly Guy-Sheftall. Models Pat Cleveland and Bethann Hardison. Scholar Kellie Jones with social...
Cover Stars: The 24 Best Art Magazine Covers of 2016
NOTHING BEATS LEAFING through the pages of a visually inspiring print publication, except perhaps that initial moment of spotting a compelling magazine cover on the newsstand or newly delivered to your mailbox. Over the past year, art magazines have selected winning cover images paying tribute to painter Kerry James Marshall, marking the historic opening...
Retrospective: The Latest News in Black Art – Theaster Gates Starts Apprentice Program, Rodney McMillian Wins Austin Art Prize
RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to visual art by and about people of African descent, with the occasional nod to cultural matters. This week, Theaster Gates announced a groundbreaking apprenticeship program to provide training for local residents through his Rebuild Foundation in Chicago; Rodney McMillian received an important...
Off the Beaten Path: From Cleveland to Durham, N.C., 19 Must-See Exhibitions Featuring African American Artists
Kara Walker’s work is on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art; A massive Nick Cave installation open at MASS MoCA Oct. 15. BEYOND NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, AND CHICAGO, there are major U.S. museums and innovative art institutions presenting the work of world-renowned artists. The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is one of...
Gifted: Photographer Jaimie Milner Pays Tribute to Beauty, Ingenuity of Black Men
Jaimie Milner and some of the men she has photographed discuss the Gifted project. FOR MORE THAN FIVE YEARS, Jaimie Milner has been photographing black men. She describes the process as an exploration of the “beauty and ingenuity of black men today.” Milner has made portraits of more than 50 so far, from all...
Artists Hank Willis Thomas, Nick Cave, and Rick Lowe are Among the African American Creatives Addressing 2016 Commencments
FROM LOS ANGELES TO BOSTON, it’s graduation season. Joining two of this year’s most popular commencement speakers—President Obama (Howard University, Rutgers University, Air Force Academy) and “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda (University of Pennsylvania)—Nick Cave, Melvin Edwards, Rick Lowe, Hank Willis Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems, and several other African American artists, are participating in graduation ceremonies....
Winter Wonders: 44 Exhibitions Feature Exceptional Works by Black Artists
LONG OVERDUE, THE COLORFUL AND EXPRESSIVE abstract works of Alma Thomas (1891-1978), pictured above, are being celebrated with a groundbreaking retrospective at the Tang Museum at Skidmore College in upstate New York. This summer, Thomas’s first solo museum exhibition since 2001 will travel to the Studio Museum in Harlem, which is co-organizing the show....
In Nebraska, Exhibitions and Programming Explore Intersection of Art, Race and Social Justice
THE SHELDON MUSEUM OF ART at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln is presenting four exhibitions that offer a visual journey through black history, culture and politics over the past century. From James VanDerZee and Gordon Parks to Barkley L. Hendricks and Renee Cox works by some of the most celebrated and thought-provoking artists and...
Gallery Openings: 21 Fall Exhibitions Featuring Black Artists
EACH FALL BRINGS A NEW SLATE of art exhibitions, usually the best of the calendar year. This season, commercial galleries are showing an interesting mix of African American and African diasporic artists working in a range of mediums and addressing a diversity of issues. Following William Pope.L‘s “Trinket” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art,...
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...
Recommended: Time on Chris Ofili, Wall St. Journal on Adam Pendleton, W on Hank Willis Thomas
RECOMMENDED FEATURES recently published content from around the web, recommendations from Culture Type worth taking the time to explore: “Visionary Artist: Chris Ofili” by David Adjaye | Time Magazine This week, Time magazine published its annual list of The 100 Most Influential People and Chris Ofili made the list of artists who are at the...
‘I Can’t Breathe’ Demonstration Staged at Armory Show
Photo by Victoria L. Valentine YESTERDAY AFTERNOON, A GROUP OF ARTISTS staged a die-in at the Armory Show in New York. About a dozen people chanted “I can’t breathe” and then they fell to the floor at Pier 94 where the international art show has been open to the public since Thursday. According to...
