Rico Gatson Installed a Series of Powerful, Radiating Portraits of Historic Cultural Figures in a Bronx Subway Station
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 in African American Art: What to Look Forward to in 2019
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...
Latest News in African American Art: Aaron Fowler Wins Jacob Lawrence Prize, US Artists Fellows, Adrian Piper Exhibition Cancelled in Munich & More
Portrait of artist Aaron Fowler, and “Derion,” 2018 by Folwer. The following review of the past week or so presents a snapshot of the latest news in African American art and related culture: Jacob Lawrence Prize Announced The Seattle Art Museum announced assemblage artist Aaron Fowler is the recipient of the 2019 Gwendolyn...
MLK Day: From Los Angeles to New York, Art Museums are Celebrating the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., looks out at crowd in Montgomery, Ala., 1965 | Courtesy Stephen Somerstein ART MUSEUMS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES are celebrating the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., on Monday, Jan. 21, the official federal King Day holiday. This year’s commemoration of King’s birthday marks 90 years since he was born...
Howardena Pindell is Now Represented by Victoria Miro Gallery
VICTORIA MIRO has announced its representation of Howardena Pindell. The UK-based gallery is working with the multidiscplinary artist in collaboration with Garth Greenan Gallery, her rep in New York. Pindell’s first exhibition with Victoria Miro is planned for June 2019 in London. Focusing primarily on abstraction and conceptualism, Pindell engages with personal, political and social...
Shonda Rhimes Has Two Hughie Lee-Smith Paintings in Study of Her L.A. Home
In her home study, Shonda Rhimes talks about Hughie Lee-Smith’s 1988 painting “Counterpoise.” ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST publishes photos of spectacular, light-filled homes. The magazine’s latest feature focuses on the Los Angeles residence of Shonda Rhimes, an Italianate villa she recently renovated where paintings by Hughie Lee-Smith (1915-1999) hang in the study and living room. “His...
Culture Type: The Year in Black Art 2018
IN MANY WAYS, 2018 was a watershed year for black artists. Overdue recognition of art by African American artists and black artists from throughout the world, continued to grow among collectors, curators, critics, scholars, and gallery owners. There were many indicators of the ever-expanding institutional and market interest. European attention on African American artists rose....
Culture Type Picks: 18 Best Black Art Books of 2018
The best illustrated black art books of 2018. | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine THE INCREASED INTEREST among some museums in mounting exhibitions featuring the work of African American artists has translated into a growing number of catalogs published to document them, which is wonderful. Many of those catalogs made Culture Type’s 2018 list...
Washington’s Government-Funded Museums are Closed in the Wake of Shutdown, Barring Visitors from Exhibitions of Dawoud Bey, Mark Bradford, Gordon Parks, and Others
Gordon Parks, Mrs. Ella Watson, Washington, D.C., July 1942 “DUE TO THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, all Smithsonian museums are closed.” The message is featured in a banner across the top of all of the institution’s websites. A similar message is posted on the doors of the museums, which closed to the public on Tuesday. The...
Next: 28 Art Curators to Watch Who Took on New Appointments in 2018
A SELECT GROUP OF BLACK CURATORS is making significant contributions to the museum field—collaborating with artists, organizing important exhibitions, shaping collections and programming, and taking advantage of opportunities to lend their expertise beyond their institutions. Their representation is growing, slowly, but their presence and achievements remain rare. On the American museum front, among curators,...
Culture Talk: Collector Pamela Joyner on Why She Joined the Getty’s Board and Her Strategy for Reframing the Art History Canon
Collector and Philanthropist Pamela J. Joyner THE J. PAUL GETTY TRUST announced the addition of Pamela J. Joyner to its board of trustees in February 2017. The influential philanthropist and art collector accepted the opportunity for one reason. She was intrigued by the possibilities of an ambitious idea the Getty Research Institute (GRI) was...
Culture Talk: Andrew Perchuk on How the Getty Research Institute’s African American Art History Initiative Came Together
Artist Betye Saar, 1970 THE J. PAUL GETTY TRUST dedicated resources to “recover the historical record of art in Southern California” in 2002. Nearly a decade later, the endeavor led to Pacific Standard Time, a region-wide collaboration with more than 60 institutions that resulted in a sweeping series of exhibitions, programs and publications exploring...
VMFA Announces 250 Acquisitions, Adding Hale Woodruff’s ‘The Banjo Player,’ a Nick Cave Soundsuit, and KKK Mannequins by Paul Rucker to its Collection. But Where are the Women Artists?
Installation view (partial) of “Storm in a Time of Shelter” (2018) by Paul Rucker at ICA at VCU in Richmond, Va. (2018). | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine ENCOUNTERING 52 MANNEQUINS outfitted in Ku Klux Klan-style hoods and robes is unsettling, to say the least, even when the racist get-ups are made from brightly...
Pittsburgh Artist Vanessa German Wins $200,000 Don Tyson Prize
Artist Vanessa L. German THE CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM of American Art announced the 2018 Don Tyson Prize has been awarded to visual and performance artist Vanessa L. German. The $200,000 biannual prize recognizes an individual artist or organization for exceptional achievement in American art. German was selected for “pushing boundaries and taking risks in...
Latest News in African American Art: Crenshaw Getting Outdoor Museum, Sotheby’s Supports Black Film Exhibition, Shirley Chisholm Monument & More
Rendering for Destination Crenshaw 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 initial renderings have been released for Destination Crenshaw, a public art experience envisioned as a celebration of black Los Angeles. Perkins + Will is designing...
Julie Mehretu Will Be the Subject of a Major Traveling Retrospective in 2019
THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART (LACMA) and Whitney Museum of American Art are co-organizing the first-ever comprehensive retrospective of Julie Mehretu. The traveling mid-career survey will feature more than 60 works, about 30 large-scale paintings and 32 works on paper (drawings and prints) dating from 1996 to the present. The exhibition is...
Brazilian Artist Dalton Paula is Now Represented by Alexander and Bonin in New York City
Portraits of slave resistance leaders Zeferina and João de Deus Nascimento by Dalton Paula. ALEXANDER AND BONIN has added Brazilian artist Dalton Paula to its roster. Working across painting, photography, and installation, his practice explores the exigencies of the Black Atlantic and knowledge production throughout the African diaspora. His work is often realized in...
Betye Saar, 92, is Taking Steps to Secure Her Legacy While Forging Ahead with New Artwork and Exhibitions
Installation view of “Betye Saar: Something Blue,” Roberts Projects, Los Angeles THE SMITHSONIAN’S ARCHIVES OF AMERICAN ART interviewed Robert Colescott about his life and work in 1999. Paul Karlstrom, who spent his entire three-decade career at the archives as West Coast regional director, conducted the oral history interview with the artist. Toward the end...
2018 Anonymous Was A Woman Grants Awarded to 10 Artists, Deborah Roberts and Heather Hart Among Them
“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...
Guggenheim Mounting Exhibition Focused on Jean-Michel Basquiat’s ‘Defacement’ Painting About Police Brutality
WAITING TO TAKE THE L TRAIN HOME to Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, Michael Stewart was nabbed by a New York City transit officer, accused of scrawling graffiti on the wall of the First Avenue and 14th Street subway station in the East Village. The African American artist was arrested on Sept. 15, 1983, after 2 a.m....
