COMMERCIAL ART GALLERIES in New York are dedicating their September exhibitions to a variety of Black artists. Singular, mid-career figures Mickalene Thomas and Sanford Biggers are presenting new works. A survey of the late artist Ed Clark’s dynamic career is spread across two floors. The selections also include inaugural exhibitions of Brazilian artist Emanoel Araújo (1940-2022) and Caribbean American artist Kandy G Lopez, who recently joined new galleries where their work is on view:
EMANOEL ARAÚJO, Installation view of “Navio,” 2021 (wood, automotive paint, nails, photographs, vintage globe, 89 3/8 x 27 1/8 x 11 inches), Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, N.Y. 2023 | Courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery
Emanoel Araújo @ Jack Shainman Gallery, 513 West 20th Street (Chelsea), New York, N.Y. | Sept. 12-Oct. 28, 2023
In August, Jack Shainman Gallery announced its co-representation of Emanoel Araújo (1940-2022). A Brazilian artist, museum director, curator, and collector, Araújo’s debut exhibition with the gallery features a survey of sculptural works made from the 1970s until his death last year. The geometric and dimensional works draw on his childhood experiences in the Afro-Brazilian spiritual capital of Bahia, the history of the Middle Passage slave trade, textile patterns from Nigeria and Benin, and Yoruba iconography.
MICKALENE THOMAS, “November 1977,” 2023 (rhinestones on dye sublimation prints, 60 3/4 x 48 7/8 x 3 inches). | © Mickalene Thomas, Courtesy the artist and Yancey Richardson
Mickalene Thomas: je t’adore @ Yancey Richardson Gallery, 525 West 22nd Street (Chelsea), New York, N.Y. | Sept. 9-Nov. 11, 2023
Mickalene Thomas explores the beauty of Black women and the Black female body. Her latest exhibition introduces 13 new large-scale, mixed-media photo collages. The works are based on historic erotica, including nude images of Black women featured in calendars published by Jet magazine and the pages of a 1950s French publication called Nus Exotique. “Mickalene Thomas / Portrait of an Unlikely Space,” an exhibition co-organized by the artist, is also on view at Yale University Art Gallery (Sept. 8, 2023-Jan. 7, 2024).
ED CLARK, “North Light (Paris),” 1987 (acrylic on canvas, 186.7 x 206.4 cm / 73 1/2 x 81 1/4 inches). | © The Estate of Ed Clark, Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo by Thomas Barratt
Ed Clark – The Big Sweep @ Hauser & Wirth Gallery, 542 West 22nd Street (Chelsea), New York, N.Y. | Sept. 7-Oct. 21, 2023
The abstract paintings of Ed Clark (1926-2019) are defined by bold strokes of color. His latest exhibition at Hauser & Worth explores the breadth of his output over six decades, including his pioneering innovations with shaped canvases and using an ordinary push broom to move paint across large canvases laid out on the floor. The show is accompanied by a new publication, “Ed Clark: The Big Sweep: Chronicles of a Life, 1926–2019.” The volume is available now through the gallery and more widely in October.
“The paint is the subject. The motions of the strokes give the work life.”
— Ed Clark
Installation view of “Sanford Biggers | Meet Me on the Equinox,” Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, N.Y. (Sept. 7-Oct. 14, 2023). Shown, from left, “The Repatritate” (2023) and “Slow Murder” (2023). | © Sanford Biggers, Photo by Lance Brewer
Sanford Biggers: Meet Me on the Equinox @ Marianne Boesky Gallery, 507 West 24th Street (Chelsea), New York, N.Y. | Sept. 7-Oct. 14, 2023
New York conceptual artist Sanford Biggers works across a range of mediums. Described as “a foray into the origin of myth and the malleability of historical narrative,” Biggers’s latest exhibition presents new works from some of his most significant bodies of work, including Codex, a series based on found quilts that the artist paints and collages; and Chimera, series of marble sculptures composed of elements from African and European masks, busts, and figures; in addition to Equinox, a new site-specific, graphic line drawing installed on the gallery walls and floors that frames the works on view and inspired the title of the exhibition.
KANDY G LOPEZ, “Melo,” 2022 (yarn and spray paint on mesh canvas, 60 x 60 inches, 152.4 x 152.4 cm). | © Kandy G Lopez, Courtesy the artist and ACA Galleries
Kandy G Lopez: Situational Identity @ ACA Galleries, 173 Tenth Avenue at 20th Street (Chelsea), New York, N.Y. | Sept. 5-Oct. 21, 2023
Based in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, ACA Galleries has expanded to a second nearby location at 173 Tenth Avenue. The inaugural exhibition in the new street-level space is dedicated to multimedia artist Kandy G Lopez, the latest addition to the gallery’s roster. Lopez is showing a new series of fiber works, portraits “painted” with yarn that explore the immigrant experience. A Caribbean-American artist of Dominican descent, she is based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “Black behind my Ears: Dominican Racial Identity from Museums to Beauty Shops,” an essay by Ginetta Candelario, inspired the works featured in the current exhibition.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. There is no fee to see the art gallery exhibitions or attend public programming at the galleries. Most of the art on display is for sale
CHECK DIRECTLY WITH THE GALLERIES to confirm exhibition dates and gallery locations and hours
