Trenton Doyle Hancock: What If Torpedo Boy, My Black Superhero, Met Up With Philip Guston’s Klan Character?
Installation view of “Trenton Doyle Hancock: Something American” at James Cohan Gallery NEW PAINTINGS by Trenton Doyle Hancock collapse two worlds, bringing together Torpedo Boy, the artist’s Black superhero character and alter ego, and one of the cartoonish, hooded Klansmen figures from the work of Philip Guston (1913-1980). The images reflect the personal...
A Dilemma of Inheritance: Adebunmi Gbadebo Employs Abstraction and Non-Traditional Materials to Mine Memories and Histories of Enslavement
THERE’S A FAMILY GATHERING of sorts underway at Claire Oliver Gallery in New York. “Adebunmi Gbadebo: A Dilemma of Inheritance” features more than 45 works that consider the legacies of two South Carolina plantations, sites where Black people were once enslaved, production of rice and indigo thrived, and Adebunmi Gbadebo traces her own family...
The Struggle Continues: Kwame Brathwaite’s Iconic Images Reflect His Political Vision and ‘Black is Beautiful’ Directive
A DEEP LOVE OF BLACK PEOPLE and Black culture rings throughout the practice of Kwame Braithwaite, a self-described artist-activist who has said “Black is Beautiful was my directive.” His photography is on view at Philip Martin Gallery in Los Angeles. “Kwame Brathwaite: The Struggle Continues, Victory is Certain” showcases his iconic portraits, street shots,...
Revolution on Trial: Exploring the Black Panther Party’s Legacy in New Haven, Conn.
“A hand that held and loved someone (Personal Choice #3)” (2020) video installation by CHLOË BASS THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY for Self Defense marked its 50th anniversary in 2016 and the occasion was commemorated with books, exhibitions, and nationwide programs. In 2020, Artspace New Haven is recognizing the 50th anniversary of a pivotal moment...
Her Story: Paying Tribute to a Century of Women Who Have a Way With Words
Lorraine Hansberry, 1959 THROUGHOUT THE NATION, organizations and cultural institutions have been commemorating the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment in a variety of ways. At the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., a new exhibition marks the occasion by highlighting 24 women writers whose work has shaped the literary landscape...
Everything is Beautiful: Major Alma W. Thomas Traveling Exhibition Opening at Chrysler Museum of Art in July 2021
TOMORROW, SEPT. 22, would have been the 129th birthday of artist Alma Thomas (1891-1978). The announcement today of a major traveling exhibition co-organized by the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Va., and the Columbus Museum in her hometown of Columbus, Ga., is a wonderful way to celebrate her life and legacy. “Alma W....
An Ode to Tina Turner, Nikita Gale’s First Solo Museum Exhibition is About Refusal, Presence, and Visibility
“PRIVATE DANCER” (2020) by Nikita Gale THE FIRST SOLO MUSEUM EXHIBITION of Nikita Gale is an abstract sculptural installation at the California African American Museum (CAAM) in Los Angeles. Composed of theatrical trusses and lighting, the work pays homage to Tina Turner’s 1984 album “Private Dancer.” Gale has invoked Turner for six years and...
Employing ‘Outrageous Color,’ Peter Williams Makes Bold Paintings That Confront Racial Oppression and Envision a ‘Black Universe’
Detail of George Floyd Triptych (2020) by Peter Williams IN EARLY AUGUST, artist Peter Williams presented The George Floyd Triptych (2020), at Untitled, Art Online, the art fair’s inaugural virtual event. The work, which depicts the arrest, death, and burial of Floyd in three panels, was the central focus of the Luis De Jesus...
Renaissance Man: An Exceptional Painter, Musician, and Filmmaker, Blitz Bazawule Counts Beyoncé, Ava DuVernay, and Oprah Winfrey Among His Collaborators
A MOMENT IN TIME, a new series of paintings by Blitz Bazawule, is inspired by found photographs he located in markets around the world. The artist first discovered them in Rabat, Morocco, where vendors were selling albums full of old, black-and-white photographs belonging to families they didn’t know. In the paintings, which are on...
On View: ‘Conrad Egyir: Terra Nullius’ at Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit
Installation view of “Conrad Egyir: Terra Nullius” at Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions THE FIRST SOLO MUSEUM EXHIBITION of Conrad Egyir presents a series of individual and group portraits whose subjects hail from Detroit, New York City, or Aburi, Ghana. On view at the Museum of...
On View: ‘Terry Adkins: Resounding’ at Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, Mo.
Installation view of “Terry Adkins: Resounding,” featuring “Last Trumpet” (1995). On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions SHOWCASING A BROAD SURVEY of Terry Adkins (1953-2014), the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, Mo., reopened today after five months of closure due to COVID-19. Adkins expressed himself through sculpture, sound, performance, video, and printmaking,...
Carrie Mae Weems on Kitchen Table Series: ‘Not Simply a Voice for African American Women, but More Generally for Women’
IN A NEW ONLINE VIEWING ROOM, Jack Shainman Gallery is showcasing Carrie Mae Weems‘s iconic Kitchen Table Series (1990). The photographs feature a succession of staged scenes that explore female identity, experiences, and relationships in the context of a traditionally female domain. Employing visual performance, image making, and a compelling narrative text, the powerful...
Exploring the Beauty of New Orleans Courtyards, Artist Patrick Waldemar Channeled a Painful History of Racism
PATRICK WALDEMAR, “Hanging Out in the Courtyard,” 2020 (watercolor on paper, 12 x 12 inches). | © Patrick Waldemar, Courtesy the Artist and Stella Jones Gallery WORKING FOR NEARLY A YEAR on a series of paintings inspired by the stately courtyards of New Orleans, Patrick Waldemar‘s work began to shift. With the onset of...
On View: ‘Chase Hall: Half Note’ at Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago
On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions THE TITLE of Chase Hall‘s new solo exhibition, “Half Note,” references both the improvisation of jazz and biracial identity. He explores both in a new series of portraits on view at Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago. One of the paintings is named for a famous impromptu...
Say It Loud: Curator Destinee Ross-Sutton Partnered With Christie’s to Help Emerging Artists Showcase and Sell Their Work
CHRISTIE’S AUCTION HOUSE is providing an online platform for emerging and mid-career artists to sell their work. It’s not an auction, rather it’s a virtual selling exhibition with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the artists. “Say It Loud” is a collaboration with independent curator Destinee Ross-Sutton and features 22 international artists of...
New Voice With Plenty to Say: Kenyan Painter Michael Armitage Bridges European Traditions and East African Modernism
Artist Michael Armitage. | Photo courtesy White Cube ONE OF THE MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING figures in contemporary painting, Kenyan artist Michael Armitage probes the politics and cultural history of East Africa. His fascinating narrative scenes have a mythical quality and abstract tendencies that draw on aesthetic tensions between European traditions and East African modernism. In...
South African Artist Neo Matloga: ‘I Am Hoping the Audience Will See Their Emotions, Their Experiences, Their Spirits Living on My Canvases’
THE SCENES AND SITUATIONS in Neo Matloga‘s collage paintings are familiar. He captures small groups gathered in living rooms and around dining tables, couples engaged in intimate conversations, and individuals in the midst of introspective moments. Combining images cut from books and magazines with ink and charcoal line drawings, Matloga creates compelling characters...
Curator Shawnya L. Harris is Planning a Major Museum Retrospective of Emma Amos, Forthcoming in 2021
AN UNPRECEDENTED RETROSPECTIVE dedicated to Emma Amos (1937-2020) has been in the works for five years and is forthcoming in 2021 at the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia in Athens. Shawnya Harris is curating “Emma Amos: Color Odyssey.” Amos was a progressive painter. From the beginning, she explored and challenged...
On View: ’50 Artists: Art on the Grid,’ a Citywide Public Art Exhibition in New York
“A Great Day in Harlem” (2020) by Chase Hall On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions INITIALLY ENVISIONED IN RESPONSE to the global coronavirus pandemic, the Public Art Fund’s “50 Artists: Art on the Grid” exhibition came together with the ensuing police protests and racial justice movement top of mind. The project...
On View: ‘The Beautiful Journey: The Lens of Devin Allen’ at The Gallery at Baltimore City Hall
“Mother and Son” by Devin Allen While museums and galleries are temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 virus, On View will continue to showcase images from noteworthy exhibitions DOCUMENTING THE UPRISING that spilled into the streets of Baltimore in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray while he was in police custody,...
