New Mark Bradford Exhibition Features Tribute to Fellow Abstract Painter Jack Whitten: ‘It Was Comforting Because I Could Look at a Lineage’
MARK BRADFORD, Detail of “Moody Blues for Jack Whitten” (2018). WHEN JACK WHITTEN JOINED Hauser & Wirth in April 2016, the gallery’s roster claimed two of contemporary art’s most innovative abstract painters—Whitten (1939-2018) and Mark Bradford. A generation apart, while the African American artists have unique approaches to abstraction, both have largely dedicated their...
Faith Ringgold’s First European Exhibition is Open in London, Her Historic Lens on Race and Gender is More Relevant Than Ever
FAITH RINGGOLD, “American People Series #15: Hide Little Children,” 1966 THE EXPERIENCES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTISTS and women artists half a century ago, their fight to make any kind of art they wanted and struggles to be recognized and have their work represented in mainstream institutions, has come to the fore in recent books...
Lines of Influence: Commissioned Works by Barbara Earl Thomas and Derrick Adams Respond to Legacy of Jacob Lawrence
Barbara Earl Thomas discusses her commissioned work “Caught in the Matrix” (2017). SAVANNAH, GA. — A luminesce installation glows and emits shadows at the far end of the gallery. The floor to the ceiling work is a series of paper-cut panels of Tyvek. Standing 14-feet high, from a distance it appears lantern-like. Up close,...
Lines of Influence: Centennial Exhibition Explores Jacob Lawrence’s Connections with Artists Past and Present
Jacob Lawrence, “The Card Game,” 1953 SAVANNAH, GA. — Sixty-five years ago, Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) made a painting about a Harlem card game, depicting four nattily dressed card players in the midst of a hand. Left to the devices of a lesser artist, an image of black people engaged in a game of cards...
Coming Soon: Major Charles White Retrospective to be Presented at Museum of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art
A LARGE-SCALE RETROSPECTIVE of works by Charles White (1918-1979) debuts this summer in Chicago and will travel to New York and Los Angeles, cities where the artist spent key periods of his life. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) announced the exhibition today. “Charles White: A Retrospective” is organized by MoMA, where it will...
Studio Museum in Harlem Offers ‘Last Look’ Before Making Way for New Building
AN ERA IN ART HISTORY is coming to an end in order to make way for the future. The Studio Museum in Harlem is closing for three years while a new building designed by architect David Adjaye is built at its current West 125th Street location. The groundbreaking is set for this fall and...
Coming Soon: First-Ever Exhibition of Sculptures by Jack Whitten Opening at Baltimore Museum of Art in April 2018
THIS SPRING, Jack Whitten is sharing a previously unknown aspect of his practice with the public for the first time. “Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture, 1963-2016” opens at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) on April 22, 2018. Co-organized with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the show will feature 40 sculptures Whitten...
November Exhibitions: 18 New Shows Feature African American Artists Nick Cave, Ellen Gallagher, Sam Gilliam, Mark Bradford, Nina Chanel Abney, Kehinde Wiley, and More
“White River Fish Kill” (2017) by Nina Chanel Abney. PROSPECT.4 OPENS TO THE PUBLIC on Saturday. The international triennial features major exhibitions and inventive installations by more than 70 artists, including prominent artists of African descent, the late Barkley L. Hendricks, Derrick Adams, John Akomfrah, Hank Willis Thomas, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Kahlil Joseph, Odili...
October Openings: Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Toyin Ojih Odutola, John Akomfrah, African Design, Hank Willis Thomas Debuts in London, and Women Working in Abstraction
THE FALL SEASON continues with an international slate of black artists presenting new and important work in the United States and abroad. The Whitney is hosting Toyin Ojih Odutola‘s first exhibition in a New York museum. A monumental exhibition of African design is making its U.S. debut at the High Museum in Atlanta. Njideka...
Soul of a Nation: Jack Whitten on Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and ‘the Political’ in His Abstract Paintings
Jack Whitten walks through “Soul of a Nation” at the Tate Modern and talks about his work and “present times” in America. | Video by Tate Modern NO STRANGER TO RACIAL DIVISION and political strife, Jack Whitten’s abstract canvases tackle weighty issues, confront hard truths, and consider the insights and sacrifices of important cultural...
Known for Her Conceptual Portraiture, Toyin Ojih Odutola’s First Solo Museum Show in New York Opens at the Whitney Oct. 20
OYIN OJIH ODUTOLA (b. 1985), “Pregnant,” 2017 (charcoal, pastel and pencil on paper, 74 1/2 x 42 inches). | © Toyin Ojih Odutola. Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York FOR HER FIRST SOLO MUSEUM EXHIBITION in New York, Toyin Ojih Odutola plumbs the culture and heritage of her native Nigeria. She...
A Major Retrospective of Conceptual Pioneer Adrian Piper is Opening at Museum of Modern Art in 2018
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART (MoMA) in New York is presenting a major retrospective of conceptual artist Adrian Piper in spring 2018. The most comprehensive exhibition to explore her practice,”Adrian Piper: A Synthesis of Intuitions, 1965–2016″ will feature more than 280 works drawn from public and private collections around the world and be on...
New Season, New Art: Fall Begins with 45 Notable Exhibitions Featuring Works by Black Artists
THE FALL EXHIBITION SEASON IS UNDERWAY and a wide variety of amazing shows featuring Black artists is on view in museums and galleries. This month, exhibitions featuring major figures and emerging talents opened across the United States and at international venues. Kara Walker, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Jordan Casteel, Kahlil Joseph, Chris Ofili, Adrian Piper, and...
‘Black Pope’ by Charles White is Going on View at Museum of Modern Art in October
FOUR YEARS AFTER ACQUIRING “Black Pope (Sandwich Board Man)” by Charles White (1918-1979), the Museum of Modern Art in New York will display the signature work for the first time in a special exhibition conceived by artist David Hammons. “Charles White—Leonardo da Vinci. Curated by David Hammons” opens Oct. 7 and pairs “Black Pope”...
Julie Mehretu: ‘What Does It Mean to Paint a Landscape in this Political Moment?’
FOR MORE THAN TWO DECADES, curators at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) have been commissioning artists to create works for a pair of walls in its voluminous atrium. In 1997, Sol LeWitt was the first artist selected. Kerry James Marshall painted murals for the space in 2008. In anticipation of the...
Summer Shows: New Exhibitions Feature African American Artists Beverly Buchanan, Arthur Jafa, Glenn Ligon and Bradford Young
A NUMBER OF GEMS OPENED this month. Summer tends to be a relatively quiet season art-wise, but this year major international events—Venice Biennale, Documenta 14, and Art Basel—are coinciding with compelling gallery and museum exhibitions featuring works by black artists. From San Francisco and Detroit, to Greece, London and Cape Town, exhibitions by artists including...
‘Figuring History’: Seattle Art Museum Announces Major Three-Artist Exhibition Featuring Robert Colescott, Kerry James Marshall, and Mickalene Thomas
ROBERT COLESCOTT, “George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware” (1975). THE SEATTLE ART MUSEUM (SAM) is organizing a major exhibition of three critically recognized African American artists—Robert Colescott (1925-2009), Kerry James Marshall, and Mickalene Thomas. The exhibition will explore how their distinct approaches to figuration and history painting have recast the Western canon and challenged...
The Age of Basquiat: New Books, Important Exhibitions, and Soaring Auction Sales Are Substantiating the Artist’s Legacy
Embed from Getty Images FASCINATION WITH THE LIFE AND WORK of Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) has never really quelled since his death three decades ago. Over the past few years, a crush of exhibitions and catalogs, and soaring auctions sales have further shaped the legacy of Basquiat whose life was cut short by a drug...
Nasher Museum Hosting Barkley Hendricks Memorial Celebration, Presenting Special Tribute Exhibition of Artist’s Work
Barkley Hendricks (1945-2017). | Photo by Duke University, Courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery THE NASHER MUSEUM OF ART at Duke University is celebrating the life and work of Barley L. Hendricks (1945-2017) today. The extended museum and campus community, along with the family, friends, and fans of Hendricks are gathering at the museum to pay...
Artist and Citizen: Mark Bradford Presents His Democratic Vision at Venice Biennale
Installation view, from left, MARK BRADFORD, “Leucosia,” 2016 (mixed media on canvas); “Medusa,” 2016 (acrylic, paint, paper, rope, caulk), and “Raidne,” 2017 (mixed media on canvas). OVER THE PAST YEAR, Mark Bradford has been ruminating. Chosen in April 2016 to represent the United States at the 57th Venice Biennale, the Los Angeles artist has...
