Pamela Council USA, b. 1986
Pamela Council is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores a conceptual framework Council calls “blaxidermy”—a blend of taxidermy and blacksploitation—which includes surreal and uncanny forms and an assortment of found and fabricated materials related to the culture of adornment.
Many of Council’s works, such as her first large-scale work of public art, A Fountain For Survivors, which incorporated 400,000 acrylic fingernails, evoke associations with dedications to the deceased or monuments to the past. A playful and vivid color palette lends the work a whimsical presence, while darkly humorous materials, such as synthetic nails, crack pipes, red drink, and sneaker silicone, alludes to a predatory commercial culture that trades in superficiality and sickness.
“Blaxidermy addresses Black fungibility,” says Council, “like asking, ‘Why are so many Black people valued after life rather than during our lives?’”
Council earned a BA from Williams College and an MFA from Columbia University, and is a recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, Andy Warhol Foundation Grant, MacArthur Travel Grant, and Harpo Foundation Grant for Visual Artists, among others. Council’s work has been exhibited extensively, including at the Studio Museum in Harlem, NY; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA; Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, OR; Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, MI; New Museum for Contemporary Art, New York, NY; African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA; and Southampton Historical Museum, NY, among others. Council has been Artist-in-Residence at MacDowell Colony, Red Bull Arts, Bemis Center, Rush Arts, MANA Contemporary, Signal Culture, Mass MoCA, and Wassaic Project.
- Pamela CouncilRelief 11, 2019Silicone tiles on wood panel with metal frame18 x 18 x 2 1/2 in
45.7 x 45.7 x 6.3 cm - Pamela CouncilRelief 12, 2019Silicone tiles on wood panel with metal frame18 x 18 x 2 1/2 in
45.7 x 45.7 x 6.3 cm - Pamela CouncilRelief 15, 2019Silicone tiles on wood panel with metal frame18 x 18 x 2 1/2 in
45.7 x 45.7 x 6.3 cm
Is Your House in Order? — Pamela Council & Lori Anne Douglass, Esq.
Times Square Arts February 11, 2022Presented in conjunction with Pamela Council’s monumental public artworks in Times Square, 'Is Your House in Order?' features Council in conversation about legacy and estate...Read morePamela Council's Sweet Grace
September 18, 2021 Read morePamela Council - Sweet Grace Performance Art
September 18, 2021 Read moreRed Drink: A BLAXIDERMY Juneteenth Offering by Pamela Council
September 18, 2021 Read morePamela Council Interview: “Tenderhead”
September 18, 2021 Read more
Times Square Is Getting Its First Fountain—and It’s a Monumental Public Artwork Covered in 400,000 Acrylic Nails
Sarah Cascone, Artnet News, August 18, 2021As Detroit’s Reputation for Emerging Art Grows, a Wildly Ambitious Citywide Festival Shows a New Generation of Artists
Terence Trouillot, Artnet News, July 30, 2019How Emerging Initiatives Are Highlighting Detroit’s Evolving Arts Scene
Nia Groce, Hype Art, July 26, 2019Pamela Council finds inspiration in Flo-Jo, Venus Williams and others
LaParis Hawkins, ESPN, February 13, 2018A Sports-Inspired Exhibit That’s Not Quite a Slam Dunk
Seph Rodney, Hyperallergic, April 17, 201720 Emerging Female Artists to Keep on Your Radar
Lauren Palmer, Artnet News, December 9, 2015