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Posts tagged as “art”

“Fore” Exhibit at Studio Museum in Harlem Features Emerging Artists of African Descent

By goodblacknews on November 29, 2012
“Joyce” by Jennifer Packer

Fore presents twenty-nine emerging artists of African descent who live and work across the United States. Born between 1971 and 1987, the artists inFore work in diverse media, often blending artistic practices in new and innovative ways. While some artists create large-scale oil paintings, others draw on top of photographs, or combine sculpture and two-dimensional work. More than half of the works in Fore have never been exhibited publicly; some are site-specific and react directly to the Harlem neighborhood and its social landscape.

Fore is the fourth in a series of emerging artist exhibitions presented by the Studio Museum, following Freestyle (2001), Frequency (2005–06) andFlow (2008). This exhibition traces the development of artistic ideas sinceFlow, taking into account social, political and cultural conditions in the United States. Whether gathering and assembling everyday objects, referencing urban architecture and economies, or using film and video to mirror the transmission and reception of information through social media, the artists in Fore emphasize that contemporary art is deeply tied to its location, time and historical context. This exhibition investigates questions at the core of the Studio Museum’s mission, exploring art’s relationship to U.S. and global communities.

perFOREmance, two three-day performance presentations in December 2012 and February 2013, provides a platform for the new and commissioned performances in Fore.

Organized by Lauren Haynes, Naima J. Keith and Thomas J. Lax, Assistant Curators at the Studio Museum, Fore continues the Studio Museum’s mission as the nexus for artists of African descent, locally, nationally and internationally, and for work inspired by black culture.

Narcissister “Mannequin” Photo: Tony Stamolis
Firelei Báez / b. 1980, Santiago, Dominican Republic; Lives and works in New York, New York
Sadie Barnette / b. 1984, Oakland, California; Lives and works in Los Angeles, California
Kevin Beasley / b. 1985, Alexandria, Virginia; Lives and works in New York, New York
Crystal Z. Campbell / b. 1980, Prince George’s County, Maryland; Lives and works in New York, New York and Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Caitlin Cherry / b. 1987, Chicago, Illinois; Lives and works in New York, New York
Jamal Cyrus / b. 1973, Houston, Texas; Lives and works in Houston, Texas
Noah Davis / b. 1983, Seattle, Washington; Lives and works in Los Angeles, California
Abigail DeVille / b. 1981, New York, New York; Lives and works in New York, New York
Zachary Fabri / b. 1977, Miami, Florida; Lives and works in New York, New York
Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle / b. 1987, Louisville, Kentucky; Lives and works in Los Angeles, California
Steffani Jemison / b. 1981, Berkeley, California; Lives and works in New York, New York
Yashua Klos / b. 1977, Chicago, Illinois; Lives and works in New York, New York
Eric Nathaniel Mack / b. 1987, Columbia, Maryland; Lives and works in New York, New York
Harold Mendez / b. 1977, Chicago, Illinois; Lives and works in Chicago, Illinois
Nicole Miller / b. 1982, Tucson, Arizona; Lives and works in Los Angeles, California
Narcissister / b. 1971, New York, New York; Lives and works in New York, New York
Toyin Odutola / b. 1985, Ife, Nigeria; Lives and works in San Francisco, California
Akosua Adoma Owusu / b. 1984, Alexandria, Virginia; Lives and works in Alexandria, Virginia
and Ghana
Jennifer Packer / b. 1984, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Lives and works in New York, New York
Taisha Paggett / b. 1976, Los Angeles, California; Lives and works in Chicago, Illinois and Los
Angeles, California
Valerie Piraino / b. 1981, Kigali, Rwanda; Lives and works in New York, New York
Nikki Pressley / b. 1982, Greenville, South Carolina; Lives and works in Los Angeles, California
Jacolby Satterwhite / b. 1986, Columbia, South Carolina; Lives and works in New York, New York, and Provincetown, Massachussetts
Sienna Shields / b. 1976, Rainbow, Alaska; Lives and works in New York, New York and Rainbow, Alaska
Kianja Strobert / b. 1980, New York, New York; Lives and works in Hudson, New York
Jessica Vaughn / b. 1983, Chicago, Illinois; Lives and works in New York, New York
Cullen Washington Jr. / b. 1976, Alexandria, LA; Lives and works in New York, New York
Nate Young / b. 1981, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania; Lives and works in St. Paul, Minnesota
Brenna Youngblood / b. 1979, Riverside, California; Lives and works in Los Angeles, California

Fore is made possible thanks to Leadership Support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Major support provided by Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Additional support provided by the Ed Bradley Family Foundation.

information via studiomuseum.org

Nigerian Sculptor Nnenna Okore Impresses at Contemporary African Art Gallery

By goodblacknews on November 8, 2012

Raised in Nigeria, now living in the United States, the young sculptor Nnenna Okore makes a strong impression in this solo show of new work in New York’s Contemorary African Art Gallery. Her primary materials are organic recyclables — burlap, jute rope, paper — along with small, cylindrical, fingerlike ceramic forms. In several cases she attaches the ceramic pieces to sheets of burlap that have been stiffened with resin and molded into undulating curves. The effect is decorative, the basic format a reminder that she spent an apprentice year working in El Anatsui’s studio in Nigeria around the time he was developing his pieced-together and draped metal “fabrics.”

More interesting, because more her own, are wall sculptures that take her closer to abstract natural forms. Some are open, seemingly fragile networks made from dye-soaked jute threads that twist and intertwine, like tendrils or root systems.

Other pieces, shaped from handmade paper, have the furrowed texture of tree bark or leathery skin. One extraordinary paper piece, dyed pink and brown, seems to burst from the gallery wall like a giant dried and withered rose. Like all of Ms. Okore’s best work, this is a tough, unlovely image, about when recycling passes into disintegration.

article by Holland Cotter via nytimes.com

Tate Modern Gallery Opens the Door to Africa

By goodblacknews on November 4, 2012

Meschac Gaba's Museum of Contemporary African Art

Meschac Gaba’s Museum of Contemporary African Art. Photograph: Nils Klinger

Since the building of the great modern art museums in New York, Paris and London, the narrative of 20th-century and contemporary art has been told, by and large, through the stories of the great European and North American cities.  But the Tate has announced it is time to look further afield. “There is not a crisis in British or European art,” said the Tate director, Sir Nicholas Serota, “but we are conscious art is being made across the world and those areas outside Europe and North America cannot be regarded as the periphery.”

artist Otobong Nkanga

Tate will reflect its new international focus through a two-year programme of activities focused on Africa, beginning on 24 November. Events will include performance works in the new Tate Tanks by Nigerian artist Otobong Nkanga and Angolan Nástio Mosquito. Next year, Tate Modern will show an extensive work that it has recently acquired by the artist Meschac Gaba, from Benin. Titled Museum of Contemporary African Art 1997-2002, and in 12 sections or “rooms”, it acts as a playful, questioning museum – while highlighting that there is, in fact, no such thing as a museum of contemporary African art.

Collector Russell L. Goings Prepares To Disperse Rarely-Seen Romare Bearden Trove

By goodblacknews on October 23, 2012

At first glance the modest living room with parquet floor and track lighting resembles any space with an indifferent housekeeper: papers abound, stacks of paintings lean against walls, an indistinct jumble of items swallows a small table. But then Russell L. Goings starts pulling out what he calls his “stuff,” and his home improbably transforms into a personal art gallery, one brimming with his extensive collection of work by Romare Bearden, the 20th-century artist best known for his soulful collages of African-American life. Bearden also happened to be Mr. Goings’s longtime close friend.

UK Puts Haitian Art In The Picture With Major Exhibit

By goodblacknews on October 21, 2012

Kafou - Haiti, Art & Vodou exhibition

Paintings by Frantz Zephrin are showcased in the Kafou – Haiti, Art & Vodou exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian
Haiti is often known for its grinding poverty, brutal oppression and natural disasters but the biggest exhibition of its art ever staged in the UK aims to provide more of a balance.  “When you walk in here, hopefully it is, on a simple level, visually eye-popping, astonishing,” said the director of Nottingham Contemporary, Alex Farquharson. “These images speak to a very rich culture. There is a lot of joy.”  Farquharson was speaking ahead of the opening of a major show of Haitian art inspired by Vodou, the religion which has been a central part of people’s lives since Haiti became the world’s first black republic in 1804.

"Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe" Exhibit Opens at Brooklyn Museum

By goodblacknews on September 29, 2012
Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe Portraits by this artist in this Brooklyn Museum show. (Librado Romero/The New York Times)

Mickalene Thomas’s brash, exuberant paintings don’t care what you think of them; they are much too busy simply — or not so simply — being themselves. Their sense of independence is driven home by this artist’s invigorating exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, along with the realization that the museum’s populist program sometimes hits the nail on the head.
Organized by the Santa Monica Museum of Art in California, and substantially expanded in Brooklyn, “Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe” is a show of broad appeal, free of dumbing down. It has examples of the large, color photo-portraits and clusters of the small, truculent collages that function as studies for Ms. Thomas’s paintings while being works of art themselves.

“Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe” Exhibit Opens at Brooklyn Museum

By goodblacknews on September 29, 2012
Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe Portraits by this artist in this Brooklyn Museum show. (Librado Romero/The New York Times)

Mickalene Thomas’s brash, exuberant paintings don’t care what you think of them; they are much too busy simply — or not so simply — being themselves. Their sense of independence is driven home by this artist’s invigorating exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, along with the realization that the museum’s populist program sometimes hits the nail on the head.

Organized by the Santa Monica Museum of Art in California, and substantially expanded in Brooklyn, “Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe” is a show of broad appeal, free of dumbing down. It has examples of the large, color photo-portraits and clusters of the small, truculent collages that function as studies for Ms. Thomas’s paintings while being works of art themselves.