A REVIEW OF THE WEEK’S NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE ART WORLD Featuring Yams Collective, Thomas J. Lax, Christian Rosa and contemporary auction results Yams Collective Pulls Out of Whitney Biennial As the final days of the Whitney Biennial approach, a race-related kerfuffle has emerged. The Yams, (shown above) a collective of 38...
MUST-SEE EXHIBITION openings and interesting talks and appearances happening this week in black art: Through May 31, 2014 Cullen Washington Jr. Exhibition at B2OA | New York For its inaugural exhibition, B2OA gallery is featuring a series of new abstract collage and assemblage works by Cullen Washington Jr. According to the gallery release,...
TODAY, AN ARTNET NEWS HEADLINE asked “Who are the Top 10 Most Expensive Women Artists?” The answer includes Julie Mehretu, the Ethiopian-born abstract painter who lives and works in New York. She ranks No. 5, earning the spot when her 2001 work “Retopistics: A Renegade Excavation” (above) sold for $4.6 million at Christie’s New...
HENZEL STUDIO IS COLLABORATING with a dozen artists including Mickalene Thomas on a collection of art rugs that will officially launch at Barneys New York on May 7. “Candy Crush” by Thomas, is a free-form, hand-knotted rug made of Himalayan wool and silk (shown above). According to Henzel, a Swedish luxury rug manufacturer, Thomas’s floor...
MUST-SEE EXHIBITION openings and interesting talks and appearances happening this week in black art: May 7, 2014 @ 1 p.m. Artists Discuss Art and Diplomacy | Washington, D.C. The National Gallery of Art is hosting a panel discussion on the role of artists in international diplomacy. The event is a collaboration with the...
A REVIEW OF THE WEEK’S NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE ART WORLD Featuring David Hammons, Lyle Ashton Harris, David Driskell, Kara Walker, Mickalene Thomas, Chakaia Booker and Nicola Vassell David Hammons Ranks Among Most Expensive Living American Artists Artnet News published a list of the top 10 most expensive living American artists based...
THE NASHER MUSEUM OF ART at Duke University is infused with Chicago jazz and Paris blues. Since January 19, the museum has been exhibiting 45 paintings by Chicago artist Archibald J. Motley Jr. (1891-1981). “Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist” presents a rare opportunity to experience the work of one of the 20th century’s most...
A BASKETBALL HOOP with a frosted glass backboard adorned with lights and chandelier crystals by David Hammons sold for more than $8 million last fall. Created in 2000, the untitled work was the cover lot for Phillips Contemporary Art Evening sale on Nov. 11, 2013, and the hammer price ($8,005,000 with fees included) was...
MUST-SEE EXHIBITION openings and interesting talks and appearances happening this week in black art: May 1-31, 2014 Toyin Odutola at Jack Shainman Gallery | New York Nigerian-born Toyin Odutola’s latest exhibition at Jack Shainman Gallery was inspired by her two younger brothers who are depicted in the works. According to the gallery, “Like...
AICA-USA ANNOUNCED THE WINNERS of its annual Best Show awards this week. “Gravity and Grace: Works by El Anatsui” at the Brooklyn Museum (shown above) was recognized for excellence in the Best Monographic Museum Show in New York category. Exhibitions featuring Nick Cave, Isaac Julien, Kerry James Marshall and Wangechi Mutu, were among the...
THIS SUMMER, BILLBOARDS boasting images by artists Glenn Ligon, Jacob Lawrence or Kerry James Marshall may give your road trip an unexpected dose of culture. Across the nation, the huge elevated outdoor billboards that usually advertise soft drinks, automobiles and the latest reality show, will be “marketing” art selected from museums across the United...
TWO YEARS AFTER MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, Sam Gilliam created “Red April.” The draped canvas makes a bold statement with its candid reference to splattered blood in the wake of an assassin’s bullet. Gilliam, an internationally known artist whose work is influenced by Abstract Expressionism, is recognized for...
A GUIDE TO EXHIBITION OPENINGS, TALKS AND EVENTS HAPPENING THIS WEEK IN BLACK ART: Tuesday, April 1 @ 10:00 a.m. and 2 p.m. Phillips Photography Auction, New York The auction house Phillips is holding a Photography sale in New York. Among the 271 lots are works by the late Mali-born Seydou Keito (“Reclining Women,” 1958,...
A REVIEW OF THE WEEK’S NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE ART WORLD: New York Times Reviews Civil Rights Exhibit In a review of “Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties,” at the Brooklyn Museum, the Times says the show gets both the balance of history and selection of artists right. Co-curated by Teresa...
BANK OF AMERICA dontated 61 photos of a small community of slave descendants living on a South Carolina sea island to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) this week. According to an AP report published in the Washington Post, the photographs by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe were taken between 1977 and...
A GUIDE TO EXHIBITION OPENINGS, TALKS AND EVENTS HAPPENING THIS WEEK IN BLACK ART: March 26-May 10, 2014 Yinka Shonibare at Brand New Gallery, Milan London-born Yinka Shonibare MBE who was raised in Nigeria “has become well known for his exploration of colonialism and post-colonialism within the contemporary context of globalization.” His exhibition...
A REVIEW OF THE WEEK’S NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE ART WORLD: Mickalene Thomas Joins Kavi Gupta Mickalene Thomas, the Brooklyn based artist known for her powerful mixed-media portraits of women and interiors, is expanding her footprint. She is now represented by Kavi Gupta in Chicago and Berlin. In a statement, Thomas’s newest...
TOMORROW ON HBO, Mickalene Thomas‘s short documentary about her late mother Sandra Bush makes its television debut. “Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman” is a candid portrayal. While Thomas was growing up, their relationship was rife with challenges. Bush, a former runway model, struggled with spousal abuse, drug addiction and eventually health problems. Both...
WHEN YOU EXPERIENCE AN ARTIST’S WORK at a museum or gallery, do you wonder where it all came from? Where it was imagined, conceptualized and created? “Art Studio America: Contemporary Artist Spaces” answers these questions in spades, taking readers inside the studios of 116 artists from the West Coast to Chicago and New York and...
THE AFRICAN AMERICAN ART MARKET experienced a sea change seven years ago when Swann Auction Galleries began dedicating sales to African American fine art. Few auction records existed for African American artists at the time. Most sales were handled privately by galleries and dealers, making values hard to discern because prices were not disclosed to...
Vogue’s ‘Black Dandy’ Issue is Fashion Forward and Artist Centered, Featuring Photographs by Tyler Mitchell and Cover Painted by Henry Taylor
May 2, 2025
New Obama Presidential Center Artist Commissions Include Lindsay Adams Painting Inspired by Langston Hughes Poem
Apr 26, 2025
Turner Prize 2025 Shortlist of Four British Artists Includes Nnena Kalu and Rene Matić
Apr 24, 2025
Diallo Simon-Ponte is Joining Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, as Inaugural Sam Gilliam Assistant Curator of Artist Programs
Apr 23, 2025
On View: ‘Alberta Whittle: Towards a Motherful Loving Praxis, We Cast Seeds Into the Darkness’ at Nicola Vassell Gallery in New York
Apr 19, 2025
