“Yellow Turtleneck” (2018) by Amoako Boafo AFTER MOVING TO VIENNA, Amoako Boafo began a new portrait series. The work grew less out of inspiration and more out of motivation. Boafo found the Austrian capital generally unreceptive to black people and the art scene was just as challenging. The portrait series served as a...
“Strategy” (1994) by Jacob Lawrence IN THE HANDS OF Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), images of revolution and rebellion are both “serious,” as the artist described them, and radically imagined. His narrative series depicting the life and leadership of Toussaint L’Ouverture includes a portrait of the Haitian liberator in profile in formal military dress, an intense...
From left, Howardena Pindell is receiving the 2019 Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement and Joyce J. Scott is delivering the CAA conference keynote address. THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE of the College Art Association (CAA) is happening this week in New York City. Students and art historians are gathering at the New York Hilton Midtown...
One of New York City’s “unusual characters.” | Photo by Clay Benskin for Time. Used with permission from the photographer TIME TAPPED Ava DuVernay to guest edit a special issue devoted to optimism and she delivered a magazine chock full of hope, promise and creativity. The award-winning writer/director/producer elected to explore optimism through the...
BLACK HISTORY MONTH coincides with a number museum and gallery exhibitions marking new milestones for African American artists. On-the-rise talents such as Jordan Casteel, Eric N. Mack, and Amy Sherald are presenting their first major solo museum exhibitions this month. Nari Ward and Kevin Beasley are having their first New York museum shows. Mid-career...
Thelma Golden is organizing a solo show of painter Michael Armitage at MoMA in fall 2019. ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS of the Studio Museum in Harlem’s exhibition programming is the annual group show presenting new work by budding artists in its Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program. Each cohort mounts a show at the conclusion of its...
THE LATEST RECIPIENT of the David C. Driskell Prize is scholar Huey Copeland. The High Museum of Art in Atlanta announced today the Northwestern University art historian is the winner of the 2019 prize, which includes a $25,000 cash award. Copeland will be honored on April 26 at a celebratory dinner at the museum. Copeland’s...
“Blood (Donald Formey),” 1975 by Barkley L. Hendricks “I’m most concerned about Barkley’s legacy now that he’s gone. I want more and more people to understand what all the hoopla’s about. He was a master painter and this is one of his greatest works.” — Collector Kenneth Montague IF YOU VISIT the Brooklyn...
Los Angeles County Museum of Art HISTORICALLY, THE U.S. MUSEUM FIELD has lacked diversity, with African Americans significantly underrepresented. A 2015 Art Museum Staff Demographic Survey by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation found 84 percent of art museum curators, educators, conservators, and leadership was white. People of color (blacks/African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and those...
A 2014 triptych by Kara Walker dominates the living area of Ari Emanuel’s home. A painting by Mark Bradford is on display to the left. THE ART-FILLED HOME of talent power broker Ari Emanuel is for sale. Emanuel is co-CEO of Endeavor, the talent and entertainment agency, The contemporary-style home in the Mandeville Canyon...
Director Rashid Johnson at Sundance The following review of the past week or so presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related culture: Prioritizing Museum Board Diversity The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) is launching a three-year, $4 million initiative designed to diversify museum boards and leadership. A...
Artist Shantell Martin x New York City Ballet BRITISH ARTIST Shantell Martin has turned her bold, black-and-white line drawings into a cottage industry. Over the past decade, Martin has parlayed her work into a series of high-profile exhibitions, projects, and collaborations. In her latest venture, she’s transformed David H. Koch Theater, home of the...
James Baldwin by Rico Gatson THE YEAR 2019 is off to a promising start for artist Rico Gatson. Paying tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., he unveiled a mural titled “Mountain Top” at CityPlace, a shopping plaza and entertainment destination in downtown West Palm Beach, Fla. Also this month, he debuted a series of...
THE YEAR AHEAD begins and ends with major traveling exhibitions, each presenting nearly a century of works by African American artists. The January debut of “Black Refractions: Highlights From the Studio Museum in Harlem” at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco kicks off a tour of six venues. Scheduled for seven...
Major Works From the Charles White Archive Make a Rare Appearance in a Selling Exhibition at David Zwirner
Feb 16, 2019
Amoako Boafo’s First Exhibition at Roberts Projects in Los Angeles Centers Black Subjectivity
Feb 15, 2019
DC Moore Gallery is Showing Jacob Lawrence Series Documenting Life of Haitian Revolutionary Toussaint L’Ouverture
Feb 14, 2019
Feb. 13-16: Students and Art Historians Are Gathering in New York City for the College Art Association Conference
Feb 13, 2019
Ava DuVernay Guest Edits Time Magazine, Offering Art as an ‘Antidote for Our Times’
Feb 10, 2019
