New Obama Presidential Center Artist Commissions Include Lindsay Adams Painting Inspired by Langston Hughes Poem
THE AWE-INSPIRING poetry of Langston Hughes informed a floral abstract painting with a rich and varied blue background by Lindsay Adams (b. 1990). “Weary Blues” shares the title of the Harlem poet’s iconic 1925 work. The poem speaks of the transformative power of blues music. Employing his signature simple and accessible language, Hughes recalls hearing...
Election 2024: For Freedoms and People For the American Way Working With Dozens of High-Profile Artists to Mobilize Voters
For Freedoms: DEREK FORDJOUR, Installation view of “Drum Roll Role Call” (billboard), Memphis, Tenn. Location: UNION VIADUCT SS 1000FT W/O POPLAR F/E-1. | Billboard in partnership with Movement Voter Fund, Courtesy For Freedoms ARTISTS ARE WEIGHING IN on the 2024 election, using their art to implore voters to turn out and have their voices...
Uprising of the Sun: Multi-Story Window Painted by Julie Mehretu Will Greet Visitors at Forthcoming Obama Presidential Center
Rendering of “Uprising of the Sun” by Julie Mehretu – Women’s Garden View, Obama Presidential Center Museum Building. | Photo: Lamar Johnson Collaborative and Julie Mehretu Studio WHEN THE OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER opens in 2026, visitors will be greeted by the work of Julie Mehretu. Working with glass for the first time, the renowned...
Paris 2024: Alison Saar’s Olympic Installation Offers Welcoming Place to Sit and Reflect in Garden of Champs-Elysées
“Salon” (2024), a bronze installation by Alison Saar, was inaugurated on June 23, 2024, in the public garden of the Champs-Elysées in Paris, France. | Photo by Fred Mauviel, Courtesy City of Paris THE PARIS OLYMPICS open next week and there is great anticipation and rampant speculation about how sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson will fare...
Washington National Cathedral Dedicated New Stained-Glass Windows by Kerry James Marshall That Speak to a Just Society
“Now and Forever,” a new social justice-themed stained-glass window installation by Kerry James Marshall was unveiled at the Washington National Cathedral on Sept. 23. | Courtesy Washington National Cathedral An original poem by Elizabeth Alexander will be enshrined in stone at the base of the stained-glass windows designed by Kerry James Marshall NEW...
‘Black Girl Magic’ Murals by Brazilian Artist Criola Present Powerful Vision of Femininity
Installation view of “Black Girl Magic” (2021) by Criola DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS is infused with public art, including a powerful portrait of a Black Brazilian woman rendered against a graphic, patterned backdrop. Towering high above 7th Street at Stewart Avenue, “Black Girl Magic” is a pair of murals recently installed by Taina Lima, the...
A Call for Justice and Healing, Nina Chanel Abney’s First Public Art Installation in Canada Declares ‘Stop,’ ‘Don’t Kill,’ and ‘Love’
A NEW THOUGHT-PROVOKING PROJECT from Yorkville Murals implores the community to choose joy and hope over violence and despair. “Generally Speaking” by Nina Chanel Abney is the artist’s first public art work in Canada. Installed in Toronto’s Yorkville district, the 120-foot street mural (one-third the length of a football field) is replete with the...
Ceiling Breaker, History Maker: Glass Portrait of Vice President Kamala Harris Unveiled at Lincoln Memorial
A PORTRAIT OF VICE PRESIDENT Kamala Harris was unveiled today on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The artwork is installed near the Lincoln Memorial, in the shadow of the Washington Monument, and will be on view through Feb. 6. Rendered in shattered glass by Swiss artist Simon Berger, the likeness is a nod...
Election 2020: Artists and Museums are Actively Engaged, Presenting Exhibitions and Public Awareness Campaigns, and Encouraging Voter Participation
Vote.org’s Plan Your Vote campaign features voting advocacy artworks by artists including, from left, Julie Mehretu and Calida Rawles ELECTION DAY IS NOV. 3 in the United States and in the lead up artists and art institutions have been active and engaged. The political season has inspired countless artist projects, information campaigns, public art...
Pittsburgh Sculptor Thaddeus Mosley’s Improvisational Methods and Modern Forms Channel the ‘Essence of Good Jazz’
USING HAND TOOLS, Thaddeus Mosley carves abstract, modern forms out of felled logs from Western Pennsylvania. A trio of sculptures by Mosley is installed at Rockefeller Center near Fifth Avenue in front of the Channel Gardens. The works were created specifically for Frieze Sculpture 2020 at Rockefeller Center. The free outdoor public art exhibition...
80 Artists are Vying for Next High Line Plinth Commissions, Nearly 20 are Black. Here’s What Their Proposed Sculptures Look Like
Chicago artist AMANDA WILLIAMS proposes Sandra’s refuge: Safe Passage for Free Movement in Public Space for the High Line Plinth. THE PUBLIC WILL HELP DECIDE the artists chosen for two forthcoming installations on the High Line Plinth in New York City. An international advisory committee nominated 80 artists from 40 countries who submitted proposals....
Artist Kehinde Wiley Talks About President Obama and His ‘Rumors of War’ Monument on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
VISITING THE DAILY SHOW, Kehinde Wiley discussed his recent projects with host Trevor Noah. Wiley explained the symbolism of “Rumors of War,” his largest work to date depicting a young black man with dreads, wearing a hoodie and Jordans, astride a horse. Standing 27 feet high, the monumental work debuted in Times Square in...
Extraordinary Frederick Douglass Archive Inspired an Exhibition and Ceremonial Tribute Staged by Artist Raphaël Barontini
The exhibition “Frederick Douglass: Embers of Freedom” at the SCAD Museum of Art was accompanied by “The Golden March,” a special commission by artist Raphaël Barontini composed of a marching band performance and site-specific installations. | Photography Courtesy of SCAD SAVANNAH, GA.—Carrying flags and banners bearing the image of Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), the Savannah...
Dread Scott’s Slave Rebellion is Finally Happening With Hundreds of Re-Enactors Marching 26 Miles Headed For New Orleans
FOR SIX YEARS, Dread Scott has been planning a slave rebellion. The artist wants to bring attention to a fight for freedom waged more than two centuries ago by hundreds of African, American, and Haitian-born people in the Mississippi River parishes outside New Orleans. Scott is reimagining the German Coast Uprising of 1811. It...
Officially Underway, David Hammons’s Hudson River Project is a Monument to New York City History and Artistic Intervention
THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART sits adjacent to the Hudson River, a waterfront with a storied history that inspired “Day’s End,” a monumental, permanent public art project by David Hammons. Once home to meatpacking warehouses and commercial piers that served the shipping industry, the piers were reclaimed in the early 1970s becoming a...
Amy Sherald Worked With Mural Arts Philadelphia on an Amazing Six-Story Portrait that Celebrates Young Black Women
AN EMPOWERING MURAL of a North Philadelphia teen graces the facade of the Target in Center City. Rising high above the downtown expanse, Najee Spencer-Young wears a mustard-colored hat cocked just so with a black-and-white floral coat. Despite the coat’s bold print, one’s attention is drawn to her eyes. Almond-shaped, they gaze directly back...
Leonardo Drew in New York: The Brooklyn-Based Artist Installed His First Public Art Project in Madison Square Park and is Showing New Works at Galerie Lelong
Artist Leonardo Drew in his Brooklyn studio. WORKING IN HIS UNIQUE STUDIO SPACE in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, artist Leonardo Drew simultaneously produced work for two projects. He fabricated “City in the Grass,” which features a trio of towers rising from an abstracted cityscape grounded by a massive surface resembling a topographically patterned carpet. His...
Public Editor: Alexandra Bell Highlights Bias in the News and Rewrites Racist Headlines
Installation view of “A Teenager With Promise (Annotated)” (2017) AT THE END OF FEBRUARY, the Whitney Museum of American Art announced 75 artists selected to participate in the 2019 Whitney Biennial. Among them is Alexandra Bell, an artist with a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. Rather than using her journalism degree to...
Known for Her Free-Form Line Drawings, Shantell Martin is Collaborating With the New York City Ballet
Artist Shantell Martin x New York City Ballet BRITISH ARTIST Shantell Martin has turned her bold, black-and-white line drawings into a cottage industry. Over the past decade, Martin has parlayed her work into a series of high-profile exhibitions, projects, and collaborations. In her latest venture, she’s transformed Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater, home...
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...
