Akinsanya Kambon Receives $100,000 Mohn Award, Made in L.A. Biennial’s Top Prize Honors Artistic Excellence
AKINSANYA KAMBON, Installation view of Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, Oct. 1-Dec.31, 2023. | Photo by Charles White THE CERAMIC WORKS OF Akinsanya Kambon (b. 1946) have patinaed surfaces with a striking iridescent luster. Inspired by Black narratives and his pan-African beliefs, the figurative sculptures, vessels, and wall...
Dalton Paula Joined James Fuentes Gallery, Brazilian Artist’s Portrait Paintings ‘Create a New History’
DALTON PAULA, “João Mulunga,” 2023 (oil and gold leaf on canvas in two parts, 24 x 17 3⁄4 x 1 1⁄2 inches). | © Dalton Paula, Courtesy the artist and James Fuentes THE WORK OF Brazilian artist Dalton Paula (b. 1982) may look familiar. A pair of portraits he painted representing slave resistance leaders...
Nicola Vassell and Hauser & Wirth Galleries Announce Partnership and Co-Representation of Artist Uman
UMAN, “Amapiano Dance,” 2022-23 (acrylic, oil and oil stick on canvas in artist’s frame, 159.1 x 159.1 cm / 62 5/8 x 62 5/8 inches). | © Uman. Courtesy the artist and Nicola Vassell Gallery, Photo by Lance Brewer NICOLA VASSELL GALLERY and Hauser & Wirth announced a new partnership and co-representation of Uman....
Paula Cooper Gallery Now Represents Cynthia Hawkins, New York Artist Engaged With Abstraction Since 1972
Cynthia Hawkins, 2022. | Photo by Todd Smith Fleming PAULA COOPER GALLERY announced its representation of painter Cynthia Hawkins. Since 1972, Hawkins has been working in abstraction. Describing the artist’s work, the gallery said her paintings draw on “diverse literary, philosophical, and scientific influences” and “utilize a highly developed vocabulary of symbols and signs...
Coming Soon: First International Exhibition of Mickalene Thomas Opens at The Broad in Los Angeles Next Spring, Then Travels to Museums in Philadelphia and London
MICKALENE THOMAS (b. 1971), “Din avec la main dans le miroir et jupe rouge,” 2023 (rhinestones, acrylic and glitter on canvas mounted on wood panel, 90 x 110 inches /228.6 x 279.4 cm). | © Mickalene Thomas A MAJOR TRAVELING EXHIBITION of Mickalene Thomas is launching next spring. “Mickalene Thomas: All About Love” opens...
Latest News in Black Art: Charisse Pearlina Weston Joined Patron Gallery, Danielle A. Jackson Co-Curating Carnegie International, New CEO at Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Wangechi Mutu, Christopher Myers & More
Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Charisse Pearlina Weston, a 2022-23 Artist-in-Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem, is now represented by Patron Gallery. | Courtesy Patron Gallery Representation Charisse Pearlina Weston has joined Patron Gallery in Chicago. Weston is a...
2024 Getty Prize Goes to Mark Bradford, $500,000 Grant Will Be Awarded to Nonprofit of Artist’s Choice
THE GETTY FOUNDATION in Los Angeles announced Mark Bradford is the recipient of the 2024 Getty Prize. Bradford makes large-scale paintings composed with layers of paper. Both abstract and conceptual, the work explores social and political structures and the adverse ways they impact the lives of vulnerable populations. The Getty Prize gives Bradford the opportunity...
Studio Museum in Harlem’s New Branding Presents Its ‘Identity as a Community-Centered Institution and Globally Minded Place Where Black Art Lives’
New Studio Museum in Harlem letterhead displays the institution’s new logo. | Courtesy Studio Museum in Harlem THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM has a new look and feel. The museum introduced new branding, including a bold new graphic identity, custom typeface called “Studio Museum Black,” and redesigned website. Building on its mission as a...
Culture Type Gift Guide 2023: Celebrate the Holidays with 50 Great Finds Inspired by Leading African American Artists
THE GRAPHIC QUILT DESIGNS of Gee’s Bend artists inspired a new line of upholstered furniture available exclusively from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Studio Museum in Harlem recently added new items to its Barkley L. Hendricks Collection. Interior designer Sheila Bridges continues to expand the line of products featuring her clever Harlem Toile de...
Sports Agent Rich Paul Advises Athletes to Invest in Art: ‘There’s More Areas to Park Your Finances Than Clothes, Shoes, and Cars. Those are Depreciating Assets’
Rich Paul in August, speaking in Invest Fest in Atlanta. | Screenshot from Invest Fest video by Earn Your Leisure EARLIER THIS YEAR, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) announced 11 new members were elected to its board of trustees since 2020. The group included Rich Paul, 41, CEO and founder of...
Henry Taylor’s Self Portrait of His 65th Birthday, Complete with Cake, Covers Winter Issue of Art in America
A NEW PAINTING by Henry Taylor covers the Winter 2023 edition of Art in America. The image is a self-portrait of the artist that he started on his 65th birthday in June. When Taylor talks about his work, he is usually candid, reflective, introspective, and vulnerable. Taylor sounds particularly vulnerable when speaking about the birthday...
Latest News in Black Art: Abrupt Departure of Newfields CEO Sparks Protest, New Fisk President, ‘Black Modernisms in the Transatlantic World’ Wins Porter/Driskell Book Award & More
Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture Colette Pierce Burnette. | Photo by Kylie Birchfield Appointments Newfields Board of Trustees announced the “departure” of its CEO, Colette Pierce Burnette, (above) in a brief statement on Nov. 10, abruptly ending her 15-month tenure....
White Cube Gallery Announced Its Global Representation of Sculptor Richard Hunt, a ‘Giant Hiding in Plain Sight for Decades’
RENOWNED SCULPTOR Richard Hunt, is now represented worldwide by London-based White Cube. Hunt produces abstract, organic forms that often suggest the figure and speak to African American history and culture. Working with steel, aluminum, copper, and bronze, he describes the forms as “volumetric.” In December, White Cube will present Hunt’s sculpture, “Years of Pilgrimage” (1999),...
Auction Records: At Sotheby’s, Julie Mehretu, Barbara Chase-Riboud, and Barkley L. Hendricks Reach New Heights, Major Kerry James Marshall Painting Finds One Bidder
BLACK FEMALE ARTISTS had a great night at Sotheby’s New York. “Walkers With the Dawn and Morning” (2008), an intense storm of hazy grays by Julie Mehretu, set a historic new artist record, pushing the her high mark to more than $10.7 million. Pioneering sculptor Barbara Chase-Riboud also achieved a record result and young British...
Auction Results: Robert Colescott Painting Hits $3.9M at Christie’s 21st Century Evening Sale, New Record Set by Young British Painter Jadé Fadojutimi
Lot 10A: ROBERT COLESCOTT (1925-2009), “Eat dem Taters,” 1975 (acrylic on canvas, 59 x 79 inches / 149.9 x 200.7 cm). | Estimate $2 million-$3 million. SOLD for $3,922,000 fees included PAINTINGS BY SOME OF THE MOST PROMINENT and promising Black artists on the radar of collectors and institutions were among the offerings in...
Cover Portrait: Envisioning Fall for The New Yorker, Kadir Nelson Illustrates Couple on a Rainy Day in Dumbo, Brooklyn
AS THE DAYS OF NOVEMBER roll by, the rainfall that often accompanies the fall months is at the center of Kadir Nelson‘s latest cover for The New Yorker. The artist’s double portrait depicts a couple clad in rain gear standing in the middle of a street in Dumbo, the Brooklyn waterfront neighborhood whose name is...
Latest News in Black Art: Rashid Johnson Installation at Whitney Museum Restaurant, Black Women Win Photography Prizes, Kaloki Nyamai Joins James Cohan Gallery
Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture RASHID JOHNSON, “New Poetry,” 2023 (black steel, ceramics, grow lights, plants, wood, shea butter, books, films on CRT monitors, 190 x 359 1/2 x 65 inches / 482.6 x 913 x 165 cm). | © Rashid...
Forthcoming: First Career Retrospective of Stanley Whitney Opens at Buffalo AKG Art Museum in February, Exhibition Charts Five Decades of Abstraction
Stanley Whitney in his studio, Ridgewood, Queens, 2017. | Photo by Katherine McMahon THE FIRST RETROSPECTIVE of Stanley Whitney opens at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum on Feb. 9, 2024. “Stanley Whitney: How High the Moon” will chart the artist’s five-decade career, enduring investigation of color, and evolving approach to abstraction. Following the presentation...
Rake and Furrow: Artforum Gives Sam Gilliam Cover Treatment and Considers His Unique Approach to Abstract Painting
A FIELD OF FROSTY WHITE flecked with hues of blue, violet, green, and rose, “Foggy” (2021) by Sam Gilliam (1933-2022) graces the cover of the November 2023 edition of Artforum. Inside, an essay by Julia Bryan-Wilson explores the unique characteristics that distinguish Gilliam’s abstract paintings and connects his techniques to Black women’s labor. Gilliam is...
November Exhibitions: 12 Museums Shows Feature African American Artists Betye Saar, Simone Leigh, Dawoud Bey, Charles White, Faith Ringgold, Kehinde Wiley & More
OPENING THIS MONTH, art museums across the United States are presenting the vision and works of a broad array of Black artists—historic figures, mid-career practitioners, and rising talents. Among them are important women artists including Simone Leigh, Betye Saar, Faith Ringgold, Billie Zangewa, Grace Wales Bonner, and Elizabeth Talford Scott (1916-2011). Traveling exhibitions featuring Leigh,...
