“Hammons meets a hyena on holiday,” (2016) by Henry Taylor sold for $70,000 at Blum & Poe gallery. HOWARDENA PINDELL WAS ON HAND to talk about her work at Garth Greenan Gallery. Sean Combs spent time checking out the latest offering by Mickalene Thomas. Nigel Freeman of Swann Auction Galleries shared an image of...
Jack Shainman Gallery is presenting two new untitled paintings by Nina Chanel Abney at Art Basel Miami Beach. THE JACK SHAINMAN BOOTH at Art Basel Miami Beach is always a big draw, presenting artists from its impressive roster of diverse artists. This year the space will feature a new artist. Jack Shainman announced its...
WILLIAM T. WILLIAMS, “Truckin,” 1969 (acrylic on cotton canvas). | via Swann Auction Galleries A SINGLE PAINTING GREETS VISITORS when they enter the fourth-floor visual art galleries at the new National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C. The large-scale, abstract geometric painting, a captivating mix of color and composition,...
FOR THE ART ENTHUSIASTS ON YOUR LIST, consider a gift inspired by one of the most critically acclaimed African American artists working today. Culture Type has curated a list of 30 fabulous finds to fit any budget and suit a variety of recipients. Many special products were created to accompany major exhibitions in 2016,...
Oprah Winfrey tells Steve Harvey that Whitfield Lovell’s work inspires her (starting at 4:00) | Video by The Steve Harvey Show PERSONAL PHOTOS OF NELSON MANDELA and countless Emmys fill the shelves of Oprah Winfrey’s office, and across from her desk is an installation by artist Whitfield Lovell. Yesterday, Steve Harvey dedicated an entire...
“Drown” by Njideka Akunyili Crosby sold for more than $1 million at Sotheby’s New York on Nov. 17, 2016. | via Sotheby’s MANY ARTISTS GO OUT OF THEIR WAY to make clear that the issues raised in their work serve to start a conversation rather than reflect their own opinion and the figures they...
RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to visual art by and about people of African descent, with the occasional nod to cultural matters. United States Artist Fellows for 2016 were announced, including Senga Nengudi and Stanley Whitney. Curatorial appointments were made at the Tang Teaching Museum and Chrysler Museum....
THE CHRYSLER MUSEUM OF ART in Norfolk, Va., announced the appointment of Kimberli Gant as curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. She joins a succession of young black women who have accepted prestigious curatorial appointments at important institutions across the country this year. “With her bold vision, international perspective, scholarship, and verve, Kimberli Gant will...
Clockwise, from left, Deana Lawson, Pope.L, Lyle Ashton Harris, Maya Stovall, and Cauleen Smith (center). THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART announced 63 individual artists and collectives participating in the museum’s 2017 biennial. Largely informed by the contentious political climate and the socioeconomic issues dividing Americans, the exhibition will explore themes including “formation of...
For Freedoms: NARI WARD, “Mass Action,” 2016 (shoelaces). | ©Nari Ward. Courtesy the Artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong ONE WEEK AGO TODAY, AMERICA WOKE UP to a new president-elect. The largely unexpected result has struck fear, anger, disappointment, and disbelief, in a majority of the voting populace. Americans are dismayed...
CURATOR, SCHOLAR, AND WRITER Isolde Brielmaier is joining the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College as curator-at-large. The Tang is expanding its curatorial team in order to advance its 21st century approach to presenting innovative contemporary art exhibitions and programming. In announcing the appointment, which begins this month, the...
THE FINAL DAYS OF THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION are playing out in a handful of states, battlegrounds with key electoral votes likely to determine the outcome of a hard fought, stranger-than-fiction race for the White House. There are 538 electoral votes up for grabs and 270 are needed to win. The campaigns of Hillary...
CHARLES “TEENIE” HARRIS, Linda Starkey handing bouquet to Shirley Chisholm, surrounded by Delta Sigma Theta sorority members, including Christine Jones Fulwiley on left, Vivian Mason Lane, and Marcia Davis, in Loendi Club, March 5, 1972 (black and white: Kodak Safety Film). | Carnegie Museum of Art, Heinz Family Fund FOR GENERATIONS, AFRICAN AMERICANS in...
RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to visual art by and about people of African descent, with the occasional nod to cultural matters. This week, Theaster Gates announced a groundbreaking apprenticeship program to provide training for local residents through his Rebuild Foundation in Chicago; Rodney McMillian received an important...
NINA CHANEL ABNEY, “Class of 2007,” 2007 (acrylic on canvas). ONE OF THE MOST STRIKING PAINTINGS in the exhibition “30 Americans” is by Nina Chanel Abney. It’s a compelling work, depicting her MFA class at Parsons School of Design in New York. The artist envisions herself as a bespectacled, gun-toting blonde; Her classmates don...
Kemang Wa Lehulere’s first American museum exhibition, “In My Wildest Dreams” at the Art Institute of Chicago, is on view through Jan. 16, 2017. | Video by Art Institute of Chicago LIKE COUNTLESS OTHER NATIONS, South Africa has an uneven history. Unlike its African neighbors, its recent past has garnered sustained international attention—from apartheid-era...
RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to visual art by and about people of African descent, with the occasional nod to cultural matters. This week, the Studio Museum in Harlem announced the recipient of its annual Joyce Alexander Wein prize; and art news outlets published lists of the most...
THE LOS ANGELES-BASED ARTIST Betye Saar is known for her assemblage works, mixed-media objects that explore race, history, death and rebirth through found objects. Indeed, Saar herself is enjoying a bit of a renaissance. After serving as a resident faculty member in 1985, Saar returned to Skowhegan in 2014 as a visiting artist. Further,...
RETROSPECTIVE is a review of the latest news and happenings related to visual art by and about people of African descent, with the occasional nod to cultural matters. This week, Mark Bradford designed a museum logo; Sanford Biggers joined a new gallery; and Ralph Lemon was recognized with a dance award. New exhibitions opened...
BOOK REPORT CHARTS recently published art books. The four titles featured here explore the work of African African contemporary artists Whitfield Lovell, Rashid Johnson, and Shinique Smith through recent and current exhibitions. “Whitfield Lovell: Kin,” with contributions by Sarah Lewis, Julie L McGee, Klaus Ottmann and Elsa Smithgall, and an introduction by Irving Sandler...