“My Body, Your Rules” (2018) by Deborah Roberts EVERY YEAR, 10 WOMEN ARTISTS receive Anonymous Was A Woman grants. The unrestricted awards of $25,000 go to women artists who are more than 40 years old. The 2018 recipients were just announced and Deborah Roberts, Heather Hart, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, and Michèle Stephenson, are among...
Installations by Derrick Adams and Tavares Strachan, left background. MIAMI ART WEEK is well underway and there are an overwhelming number of opportunities to socialize and see, buy, and experience art beyond Art Basel Miami Beach. A plethora of activities focused on artists of African descent continue this weekend. Many galleries participating in satellite...
“In My Solitude” (2018) by Billie Zangewa at Blank Projects. ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH (ABMB) opens to the public today. The 17th edition of the art fair features more than 250 galleries from 35 countries in the newly renovated Miami Beach Convention Center. The enthusiasm surrounding ABMB has infused the entire city over the...
Artist Tavares Strachan’s work paying tribute to a pioneering African American astronaut was launched into into space on Dec. 3. (Liftoff begins at 19:40). The following review of the past week or so presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related culture: NEWS After a couple of delayed...
“A Flag for the Least of Them” (2018) by Theaster Gates CHICAGO-BASED ARTIST Theaster Gates is now represented by Gagosian gallery. Over the past decade, Gates has gained global renown for his unique social practice focused on preservation, restoration, and archiving. Constantly traveling, he has captivated the international art world with his vision for...
“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...
Oct. 15, 2018: Writers gather at the Brooklyn Historical Society WATCHING “MOONLIGHT” in theaters across the nation, American audiences were reminded of the power of black male storytelling. The screenplay for the 2016 film was written by Barry Jenkins and adapted from a semi-autobiographical stage play by Tarell Alvin McCraney. The story follows the...
FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA recommends giving a gift of museum membership this holiday season. On the occasion of the publication of her new book “Becoming,” Obama contributed a gift guide to People magazine. She said when she first became a mom, she and her girlfriends would take their children on museum tours. She mentioned...
“Love is the Message, The Message is Death” (2016) by Arthur Jafa was acquired by the Smithsonian The following review of the past week or so presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related culture: NEWS A new report requested by French President Emmanuel Macron outlines proposals for...
“Conspicuous Fraud Series #1 (Eminence)” (2001) by Kehinde Wiley A MAJOR EXHIBITION of more than 100 artwroks 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...
“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...
Jeffery C. Stewart accepts National Book Award on Nov. 14 THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION went to Jeffrey C. Stewart for “The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke.” Stewart’s definitive biography explores the public influence and private persona of Alain Locke (1885-1954), the gay intellectual and champion of visual artists who...
Gee’s Bend Quilter Mary Lee Bendolph AFTER MAKING A CAPTIVATING documentary about artist and musician Lonnie Holley, Maris Curran has trained her lens on the quilters of Gee’s Bend, Ala. In 2016, Curran delivered a brief but memorable portrait of Birmingham, Ala.-born Holley. “The Man is the Music” documents his work and shares the...
BEST KNOWN FOR HIS HISTORY PAINTING—multi-panel series about Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and the Great Migration, among many others—artist Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) has made auction history. “The Businessmen,” a 1947 painting by Lawrence sold for more than $6.1 million (including fees) last night at Sotheby’s New York. The price far exceeded the estimate which...
2018 Anonymous Was A Woman Grants Awarded to 10 Artists, Deborah Roberts and Heather Hart Among Them
Dec 13, 2018
Guggenheim Mounting Exhibition Focused on Jean-Michel Basquiat’s ‘Defacement’ Painting About Police Brutality
Dec 12, 2018
Beyond Basel: Where to See, Buy, and Experience African and African American Art During Miami Art Week 2018
Dec 8, 2018
Art Basel Miami Beach 2018: Select Galleries Throughout the Mega Fair are Showing Works By African and African American Artists, Here’s Where to Find Them
Dec 6, 2018
Latest News in African American Art: Tavares Strachan Launches Sculpture Into Space, Urgent Call to Repair Richmond Barthé Frieze & More
Dec 4, 2018
