Summer Shows: 25 Noteworthy Exhibitions Feature Black Artists
THIS SUMMER, MAJOR CITIES are presenting major exhibitions featuring the work of important African American artists. In greater Detroit, Nick Cave (shown above) is staging pop-up performances showcasing his mesmerizing Soundsuits in conjunction with a museum exhibition at the Cranbrook Art Museum, his first in Michigan. In New York, the Studio Museum in Harlem is...
Jacob Lawrence’s ‘Struggle’ Series Documents Broad Sweep of Early American History
RECOGNIZED FOR HIS RAPT ATTENTION to the historic narratives of African Americans, Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) envisioned a series of paintings about the history of the United States that would encompass all of the nations’s people. In 1954, Lawrence began working on “Struggle…From the History of the American People” (1954-56), a new series conceived as...
Okwui Enwezor’s Vision for Venice Biennale is Right Up Front
Glenn Ligon and Oscar Murillo for “All the World’s Futures” curated by Okwui Enwezor #VeniceBiennale A photo posted by Artforum (@artforum) on May 5, 2015 at 3:49am PDT THE 56th VENICE BIENNALE officially opens to the public on May 9 and black artists are at the forefront. The entrance to the Central Pavilion...
Spring Openings: 28 New Exhibitions Feature Black Artists
THIS SPRING MARKS THE OPENING of a number of notable exhibitions featuring work by African and African American artists. In Los Angeles, William Pope.L’s largest-ever museum presentation is on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. In New York, a comprehensive overview of colorful works by Alma Thomas is at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery,...
2015 Venice Biennale to Include More than 35 Black Artists
WHEN OKWUI ENWEZOR WAS NAMED director of the Visual Arts Sector of the 56th Venice Biennale on Dec. 4, 2013, the appointment was historic. Nigerian-born Enwezor, the increasingly influential curator, writer and critic who serves as director of the Haus der Kunst in Munich, is the first African director of the Venice Biennale. At the...
Toyin Odutola Discusses New York, Artistic Influences and the Wonders of Ballpoint
EARLIER THIS MONTH, Toyin Odutola spoke to BOMB magazine about race, representation and inspiration. The Nigerian-born artist’s work is instantly recognizable. Executed in charcoal, ink and often ballpoint pen, her self portraits and images of her brothers and others are usually set against dark backgrounds, the subject’s skin depicted in black hues defined by...
25 Exhibitions for Your Winter 2015 Agenda
THIS WINTER IS PROVING TO BE UNPREDICTABLE, with massive snow expected one week and relatively mild temperatures the next. On the art front, the forecast this season is more reliable with a robust slate of exhibitions, from New York, San Francisco and Ontario to London and Munich, featuring a range of modern and contemporary black...
Martin Luther King Jr., ‘Selma’ and the Images that Captured the 1965 Voting Rights March
Marchers on the way to Montgomery, Ala., as families watch from their porches, 1965 | Courtesy Stephen Somerstein WITHOUT THE IMAGES, the protracted fight for American civil rights is an abstract notion. The legal outcomes are tangible, but the untenable measures undertaken by countless foot soldiers in the pursuit of racial justice are brought...
In New York for the Holidays? 17 Exhibitions for Your Agenda
NOTHING BEATS SPENDING THE HOLIDAYS in New York City and the best way to avoid the clutch of shoppers is to sneak away and take in some art. All around Manhattan, from the New Museum, where British-born Chris Ofili’s first solo exhibition at a major U.S. museum is on view, to the Metropolitan Museum of...
On ‘Black Friday,’ a Look Back at Kerry James Marshall’s ‘Dollar for Dollar’ Exhibition
“Buy Black” by Kerry James Marshall on view at “Black Eye” group exhibition curated by Nicola Vassell, May 2014 in New York | Photo by Victoria L. Valentine AMERICA’S THIRST FOR HOLIDAY CONSUMPTION, paired with retailers desperate push to convince consumers to spend, spend, spend so that they can maximize revenues during the most...
Senga Nengudi’s First UK Exhibition Opens at White Cube Gallery
ARTISTS HAVE LONG USED EVERYDAY OBJECTS as inspiration, tools and materials, often transforming and utilizing them in entirely new and unrecognizable ways. A generation before Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto began filling nylon textiles with spices, Senga Nengudi (below left) was twisting, stretching and manipulating nylon pantyhose, testing their tension and form by stuffing them...
American Masters: 7 Exhibitions Feature Important 20th Century Artists Who Broke Barriers
JACOB LAWRENCE COMPLETED “The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture,” his first series of historic narrative paintings in 1938. It was the same year Talladega College commissioned Hale Woodruff to paint a series of murals depicting the Amistad uprising. Both projects document pivotal moments in black diasporic history and demonstrate the immense talent of important 20th century...
Culture Talk: Lauren Haynes on ‘Speaking of People: Ebony, Jet and Contemporary Art’
A NEW EXHIBITION AT THE STUDIO MUSEUM in Harlem was inspired by the pluck of a young Chicago entrepreneur. When positive images of black people were absent from America’s most popular household magazines, John H. Johnson started his own. Fixtures on the coffee tables of countless black families across the country, Ebony and Jet served...
Kay Hassan Uses Everyday Materials to Tell Compelling Stories
STORIES, MEMORIES AND DREAMS fill Jack Shainman Gallery. They are embedded in ambitious portraits composed of torn paper and installations of found radios, album covers and eyeglasses. The materials have a history that artist Kay Hassan mines for meaning, envisioning how everyday people live, face challenges and find joy. Images from billboard advertisements and the...
Art & Antiques: An Overdue Look at Archibald Motley, Modernist ‘Mix Master’
THE MOTIVATION BEHIND MOUNTING “Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist” has everything to do with exposure, recasting the legacy of an important 20th century painter. Based in Chicago, Archibald Motley (1891-1981) painted captivating portraits, lively street scenes and spirited social gatherings with a modern perspective. His canvases capture African American life with wry humor and...
Chris Ofili Presents His Greatest Hits at New Museum
SPANNING THREE GALLERY FLOORS, Chris Ofili’s exhibition at the New Museum doesn’t hold back, presenting his greatest hits and new works, fabulous canvases that refute any notion that painting is dead. His culturally tuned layered and embellished canvases from the 1990s are on view, along with a quintet of red, black and green nods...
London Calling: 6 Must-See UK Exhibitions Featuring Black Artists
HEADED TO LONDON? Frieze, Frieze Masters and the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair likely top your list of things to do, but make certain exploring the gallery scene is a priority too. A group of highly regarded black artists is currently showing in London galleries and art spaces. Six must-see solo exhibitions featuring British artist...
On the Road Again: 8 Must-See Traveling Exhibitions
THE MESMERIZING, STRANGE AND FANTASTIC WORLD envisioned by Wangechi Mutu is on full display at the Block Museum in Evanston, Ill. If you missed “Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey” at Duke University’s Nasher Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum or the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, it recently opened on the campus of...
Picturing the Black Diaspora
FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF ERNEST COLE documenting blacks during apartheid-era South Africa and the work of Royal Court Photographer Chief S.O. Alonge in Benin, Nigeria, to Dean Chalkley’s images of Jamaican ‘Rude Boys’ in Britain, several recent and current exhibitions are presenting photography that documents the rich history, style and culture found throughout the...
Artforum: Thomas J. Lax Previews Chris Ofili’s Fall Exhibition
ONE OF FALL’S MOST ANTICIPATED MUSEUM SHOWS is “Night and Day,” Chris Ofili’s forthcoming exhibition at the New Museum on Oct. 29. His first solo museum show in the United States will be presented on all three gallery floors and survey his entire career. Exploring race and gender issues through cultural and historical references,...
