Art Agenda | Sept. 1 – 7, 2014
ART AGENDA IS A LISTING OF MUST-SEE EXHIBITION OPENINGS and interesting talks and events happening this week in black art. Today’s edition features a pair of much-antipated exhibitions of new works by Nick Cave at Jack Shainman Gallery, art and civil rights at Dartmouth, a Hank Willis Thomas public art installation in Chicago, Kara...
The Week in Black Art | Aug. 23 – 29, 2014
A REVIEW OF THE WEEK’S NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE ART WORLD Featuring Afropunk portraits, Kara Walker, Rashaad Newsome and more Vogue Publishes Afropunk Hair Portraits by Awol Erizku Vogue.com dispatched Awol Erizku to the 10th annual Afropunk Festival in Commodore Barry Park in Brooklyn to document the fabulous, natural and architectural hairstyles...
Studio Museum in Harlem Makes Two Major Announcements
EARLIER THIS WEEK, the Studio Museum in Harlem made two major announcements. The storied institution that describes itself as a nexus for artists of African descent has tapped Amanda Hunt (at right) to join its curatorial team. The Philadelphia native will serve as assistant curator, filling a coveted post left vacant when Thomas J. Lax...
Kara Walker Pitcher Elicits a Difference of Opinion
JUXTAPOSITION CAN BE INCREDIBLY ILLUMINATING. Earlier this year, Kara Walker collaborated with Bernardaud and LizWorks to create a limited-edition porcelain pitcher and this week the New York Times asked J. Crew Creative Director Jenna Lyons and singer-songwriter Courtney Love what they thought about it. In a new feature called “Take Two: A Dual Review...
Smithsonian Announces Nominees for James Dicke Prize
From left, artists Dave McKenzie, Mickalene Thomas, Julie Mehretu, and Theaster Gates. DAVE MCKENZIE, MICKALENE THOMAS, JULIE MEHRETU, Njideka Akunyili and Theaster Gates are in good company. The artists are among 13 nominated for the biennial James Dicke Contemporary Art Prize. The Smithsonian American Art Museum announced the nominees on Aug. 14. Established by...
The Week in Black Art | Aug. 9-15, 2014
A REVIEW OF THE WEEK’S NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE ART WORLD Featuring David Hammons, Kara Walker and more New Aspen Art Museum Opens with David Hammons and Yves Klein Exhibition One of the most anticipated architectural projects of the year debuted this week. The Aspen Art Museum celebrated its new $45 million...
The Week in Black Art | July 26 to Aug. 1, 2014
A REVIEW OF THE WEEK’S NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE ART WORLD Featuring Franklin Sirmans, Kehinde Wiley, Jacob Lawrence and more Kehinde Wiley Publishes New Catalog of Jamaican Portraits Jamaica is the latest destination on Kehinde Wiley‘s world tour. A master of portraiture, Wiley has traveled to Nigeria, Senegal, Brazil, Israel, Sri Lanka and...
Artist Nick Cave Remembers Gallerist Claude Simard
IN A RECENT ARTNEWS CONVERSATION titled, ‘An Angel That Sits Upon Our Shoulders,’ Nick Cave pays tribute to gallery owner and artist Claude Simard (1956-2014) who died June 24. Simard was a partner in Jack Shainman Gallery, which represents Cave and a number of other prominent black artists including El Anatsui, Barkley Hendricks, Kerry...
A Tale of Two Flags: Sonya Clark at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
SONYA CLARK STIRS HISTORY and explores cultural meaning using human hair and all of its heavy and joyous symbolism. The artist describes hair as power, the essence of identity and a marker of chronology, wisdom and adornment. Her “Black Hair Flag” is currently on view in the “Posing Beauty in African American Culture” exhibition...
Romare Bearden’s ‘Black Odyssey’ Headed to Columbia University
CELEBRATED FOR HIS RICH, LAYERED DEPICTIONS of African American life and culture, Romare Bearden’s decision to produce 20 collages based on episodes of Homer’s “The Odyssey” was widely viewed as a departure from his practice. Citing themes familiar to the African American experience—mourning, wandering and questing for home—scholar Robert O’Meally argues that the 1977...
Collector Rodney Miller Enlists Curators to Hang His Art
THE SUMMER 2014 ISSUE OF ARTNEWS features its annual list of top art collectors in the world. The issue also profiles collector Rodney M. Miller, whose Upper East Side townhouse is filled with modern and contemporary African American and African diasporic art. A member of the acquisitions committee at the Studio Museum in Harlem, where...
Art Agenda | July 14 – 20, 2014
ART AGENDA IS A LISTING OF MUST-SEE EXHIBITION OPENINGS and interesting talks and appearances happening this week in black art. Today’s edition features a new slate of exhibitions at the Studio Museum in Harlem and more: July 17- Oct. 26, 2014 Artists in Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem | New York...
Julie Mehretu on Africa’s Emerging Presence in Contemporary Art
PORTER MAGAZINE, A NEW PRINT PUBLICATION produced by Net-a-Porter, the online luxury retailer, mostly covers fashion, but also devotes a fair amount of editorial to art and culture. Its summer edition features a brief interview with Julie Mehretu (above, right-hand page) about Africa’s emerging presence in the contemporary art world. The Ethiopian-born, Michigan-reared, New...
Mark Bradford Ranks Among Most Expensive West Coast Artists
LOS ANGELES-BASED ARTIST Mark Bradford is among the 10 most expensive living West Coast artists, according to artnet News. Last year, his 2008 mixed-media collage “Mithra,” sold for more than $2.6 million at auction, a record for the artist. The impressive price earned him a No. 7 ranking among artists including Ed Ruscha, Mark Grotjahn,...
Keeping Up with Contemporary Art Star Oscar Murillo
IN AN INFORMATIVE AND INSIGHTFUL new profile of Oscar Murillo, New York magazine likens the 28-year-old artist’s meteoric rise to the current state of the contemporary art world. A few years ago, the black Colombian-born artist was doing janitorial work in the UK where he earned a master’s degree at the Royal College of...
Art Agenda | June 23-29, 2014
ART AGENDA IS A LISTING OF MUST-SEE EXHIBITION OPENINGS and interesting talks and appearances happening this week in black art. Today’s edition features a panoply of impressive presentations of modern and contemporary art from Los Angeles and Sacramento to Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York: June 25 – Aug. 10, 2014 “If You Build...
‘Afro Margins’ by Chris Ofili Featured on New ‘Art in America’ Cover
THE LATEST ISSUE OF ART IN AMERICA is covered with a series of vertically stacked afros. The image is a detail of “Afro Margins,” a 2007 pencil drawing by Trinidad-based artist Chris Ofili. The work is part of a series Ofili began in 2004 in London and continued when he moved to Trinidad in 2005...
Insights From a Conversation with Collector Darryl Atwell at the National Gallery of Art
AFTER DARRYL ATWELL PURCHASED “Number 51,” by Leonardo Drew at an auction, he wrote the artist a note. “I knew somehow he would vibe with me,” says Atwell. “Let’s be honest about it, there are very few young African American persons who collect his work.” Drew wrote him back immediately and sent him a...
The Week in Black Art | May 31-June 6, 2014
A REVIEW OF THE WEEK’S NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE ART WORLD Featuring Dak’Art, Black abstract painters, African American art auctions, Yam Collective and more DAK’ART is winding down after a month of exhibitions and events. Artforum has a dispatch from the oldest biennial in Africa. The U.S. contingent included artists Simone Leigh...
Swann Auction Reflects ‘Things to Come’ and Current Art World Programming
NEXT WEEK, SWANN AUCTION GALLERIES is selling African American art from the 1960s and 1970s. Paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures and mixed-media works are up for bid, with estimates for most of the 157 lots averaging $1,000-$7,000 and select offerings ranging up to five and six figures. Paintings by Barkley L. Hendricks and William T....
