Press – Kavi Gupta Gallery

On View: ‘Wadsworth Jarrell: Come Saturday Punch’ at Kavi Gupta in Chicago — VICTORIA L. VALENTINE
Culture Type , 08.03.2019

CHARTING THE EVOLUTION of Wadsworth Jarrell‘s practice, “Come Saturday Punch” presents more than two-dozen works spanning 55 years. One of five original co-founders of AfriCOBRA, the collective established in Chicago in 1968, Jarrell has maintained a unique visual...

In Chicago, Overlooked Achievements by L.G.B.T.Q. Artists — Arthur Lubow
The New York Times, 08.02.2019

CHICAGO — Because photographs record a moment that has passed, they are by nature poignant. But a particularly bittersweet mood infuses an ambitious exhibition here of photographs, paintings and videos of L.G.B.T.Q. art. The show,...

Potent Pigments: A Review of Wadsworth Jarrell at Kavi Gupta — Caira Moreira-Brown
Newcity Art, 07.29.2019

“Come Saturday Punch,” a career survey of Wadsworth Jarrell’s work at Kavi Gupta Gallery, delves into the core elements of the artist’s practice. Jarrell’s influence on the Chicago art community began with his contribution to...

Black models in modern art — Kay Lim
CBS News, 07.14.2019

Since 1865, when Édouard Manet’s painting “Olympia” debuted in Paris, all eyes have been focused on the reclining nude gazing directly out at the viewer. “It was very controversial,” said curator Denise Murrell. “This aspect...

TAKE A LOOK AT THE BLANTON’S LATEST EXHIBIT: “THIS IS THE DAY” —
Austin Monthly, 07.11.2019

Stepping into the galleries of the Blanton’s latest exhibition Jeffrey Gibson: This Is the Day is like walking into a vibrant, inclusive future. Contemporary artist Jeffrey Gibson brings together his Choctaw and Cherokee heritage, as well...

Three year Smithsonian exhibition to highlight men of colour and their impact on history — Katherine Keener
Art Critique, 07.08.2019

In August, the Smithsonian will launch a long-term travelling exhibition highlighting African American men. Titled ‘Men of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth.’, the exhibition will feature men of colour who are historic and contemporary icons linked...

Museums Are Swapping Paintings by White Male Artists for Works by Black Artists, Filling Historic Gaps in Their Collections — Victoria L. Valentine
Culture Type , 07.06.2019

FOR GENERATIONS, African American artists have not received anywhere near the institutional and market recognition experienced by their white peers. In terms of acquisitions, many museums are attempting long-delayed corrections. Few museums have consistently collected...

Artist Scott Reeder Revisits Moon World at Kohler Arts Center — John Michael Kohler Arts Center
Shepard Express, 07.03.2019

Working across a variety of mediums, artist Scott Reeder offers commentary on contemporary culture, politics, and trends. His public sculptures reference and remix news headlines, while his humorous list-based paintings offer hypothetical book titles, band...

Firelei Báez at the Mennello Museum of American Art — Jean Marie Carey
Artefuse, 07.02.2019

“Immersion into Compounded Time and the Paintings of Firelei Báez” at the Mennello Museum of American Art in Orlando is at first pass an accessible and pleasant exhibition, neither a confounding academic treatise nor confrontational...

Widewalls Welcomes Perrotin and 18 Other Top-Tier Galleries Into Its Marketplace — Widewalls
Widewalls, 07.02.2019

LONDON, July 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Widewalls, the online marketplace and magazine dedicated to modern and contemporary art, is delighted to announce that 19 internationally renowned galleries will shortly join its marketplace, in a collective effort to...

Nina Chanel Abney Packs a Visual “PUNCH” in Massive LA Exhibition — Eith Estiler
Hypebeast, 07.01.2019

Following her New York installment last fall, acclaimed visual artist Nina Chanel Abney now launches the Los Angeles exhibition of “PUNCH” at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in Los Angeles. Abney curates an expansive presentation featuring a total of...

SFMOMA Sells Rothko Painting To Fund Purchase Of 11 Works By Women And Minorities — Jay Barmann
SFMOMA, 06.28.2019

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is making a strategic effort to diversify its collection following a major bequest from Gap founders Doris and Donald Fisher that many saw as overly skewed toward white male artists....

SFMOMA’s new acquisitions an important drop in the bucket — Charles Desmarais
SFMOMA, 06.28.2019

Neal Benezra would not be pinned down. In February, the director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art granted an exclusive interview to The Chronicle. He was seated at a round table in his...

SFMOMA Sold a Rothko for $50 Million to Diversify Its Collection. Here’s What They Bought With the Proceeds — Taylor Dafoe
artnet news, 06.26.2019

In an effort to diversify its collection and address art-historical gaps, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) deaccessioned a prized Mark Rothko painting for $50.1 millionat Sotheby’s contemporary evening sale last month. Now, just five...

Tilda Swinton Curates Photography Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s Orlando — Ksenia M. Soboleva
hyperallergic, 06.26.2019

“Guest-edited by Tilda Swinton. Inspired by Virginia Woolf,” so reads the cover of this year’s summer edition of Aperture. The issue and the accompanying exhibition are centered around Woolf’s 1928 novel Orlando, a piece of writing Swinton...

‘Be Seen’: Portraits reclaiming the gay experience at Wadsworth Atheneum — Susan Dunne
Hartford Courant, 06.26.2019

The 1969 Stonewall riots emboldened LGBTQ people nationwide to fight for their rights. As an extension of that freedom, queer and nonbinary artists started coming out of the shadows. No longer would their faces be...

Aiming to Diversify Collection, SFMOMA Purchases 11 Works with Profits from $50 M. Rothko Sale — Claire Selvin
Artnews, 06.26.2019

With funds from the sale of Mark Rothko’s Untitled (1960) from its collection, which fetched $50.1 million at Sotheby’s in New York last month, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has acquired 11 works by 10...

Art Top 5: July 2019 — Kerry Cardoza
Newcity Art, 06.25.2019

1 Eric J. Garcia: The Bald Eagle’s Toupee (DePaul Art Museum) Part of the National Veterans Art Museum’s first-ever triennial, Garcia’s immersive installation offers a satirical critique of the militarization of U.S. culture. Through August 11 2...

ART DEALERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA WELCOMES EIGHT NEW MEMBER GALLERIES — Artforum
Artforum, 06.19.2019

The Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) has annoucned that eight new galleries have joined the ranks of the nonprofit organization. Its new members are Avery Galleries (New York and Bryn Mawr), Kavi Gupta (Chicago), David...

Clarkson: Hinsdale Library acquires five limited edition prints for its art collection — Sara Clarkson
Chicago Tribune, 06.13.2019

“We want to surprise you and delight you every time you come into the library,” Karen Kleckner Keefe, the Hinsdale Public Library’s executive director, told me last year during its 125th anniversary commemorations. To the...

New Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Profiles Revolutionary African American Men — Webwire
Webwire, 06.11.2019

A new traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian presents the narrative of a nation through the profiles of significant African American men who are icons in the country’s historical and cultural landscape. “Men of Change: Power....

Surround yourself in the 70s: Mickalene Thomas installation comes to Miami’s Bass Museum — VICTORIA STAPLEY-BROWN
The Art Newspaper, 06.06.2019

Mickalene Thomas is bringing a major installation and series of programming, grounded in her personal history but conceived for a wider community, to the Bass in Miami Beach in December with the immersive environment Better...

MIAMI’S RUBELL MUSEUM TO OPEN NEW 100,000-SQUARE-FOOT HOME IN DECEMBER — Artforum
Artforum, 06.06.2019

The Rubell Family has revealed that it will move its contemporary art collection of 7,200 works by more than one thousand artists—including Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Rashid Johnson, William Kentridge, Cindy Sherman, and Mickalene Thomas—to...

National YoungArts Foundation Competition Open To 15- To 18-Year-Old Artists Across Disciplines — Danceland
Danceland, 06.06.2019

(Miami, FL) – The National YoungArts Foundation (YoungArts) announced that applications for the 2020 YoungArts competition will be accepted beginning today, June 4, through October 11, 2019 at youngarts.org/apply. Approximately 700 of the country’s most...

Upcoming MMOCA show a ‘mash-up’ of tradition and identity — Gayle Worland
Wisconsin State Journal, 06.03.2019

When Madison Museum of Contemporary Art curator Leah Kolb was in New York a couple of years ago, she got an invitation to visit the rural studio of artist Jeffrey Gibson. “It’s this amazing studio...

Whitney Biennial Artists Reveal the Creative Processes Behind Their 2019 Work — Milan Polk
Vulture, 05.31.2019

Whitney Biennial co-curators Jane Panetta and Rujeko Hockley are giving the public a look behind their artists’ curtains. In a new video series, five Biennial participants go in-depth on their work, explaining how they planned...

Arts District to get Sixth Street bridge’s first public art piece: a sculpture of the ‘LA’ fingers — Bianca Barragan
Curbed | Los Angeles, 05.23.2019

A large-scale sculpture of hands making the “LA” fingers—the only work of art definitively planned for a 12-acre park below the new Sixth Street Viaduct—will go on the Arts Districtside of the bridge, not Boyle Heights. The location was...

Tilda Swinton Has Curated an Exhibition Themed on Virginia Woolf’s Orlando — Belle Hutton
AnOther, 05.23.2019

In 1992, Tilda Swinton played the titular character in Sally Potter’s film Orlando, an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s 1928 novel of the same name. In Woolf’s seminal book, Orlando, born a man in Elizabethan times, was a poet who...

A Buyer’s Guide to the Whitney Biennial: What You Need to Know About the Exhibition’s Brightest Rising Stars — Caroline Goldstein & Eileen Kinsella
Artnet News, 05.22.2019

The Whitney Biennial is officially open to the public, and like many of the sprawling biennials and triennials that have proliferated worldwide, it’s difficult to know where to start. This year’s iteration is organized by...

Artist Jeffrey Gibson’s Artwork Activates Overlooked Histories and Marginalized Identities — Jacoba Urist
Smithsonian.com, 05.21.2019

The National Portrait Gallery’s “Identify” performance showcases the multimedia artist’s masterful 50-person drumming event Artist Jeffrey Gibson, a half-Cherokee member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, takes a multidisciplinary approach to his work—he is...

14 CULTURED ARTISTS IN THE 2019 WHITNEY BIENNIAL —
Cultured Magazine, 05.13.2019

For the 2019 Whitney Biennial, curators Rujeko Hockley and Jane Panetta spent a year traveling, visiting artists in their studio, searching for work that resonated with the times—crucially and energetically (and sometimes optimistically). It’s one of...

Initial Thoughts and Highlights from the 2019 Whitney Biennial — Zachary Small
Hyperallergic, 05.13.2019

The 2019 Whitney Biennial is about the state of American culture and how contemporary artists are responding to the conditions of living in a country with increasingly inequitable social stratifications. Curators Jane Panetta and Rujeko Hockley have...

Required Reading — Hrag Vartanian
Hyperallergic, 05.12.2019

Holland Cotter of the New York Times joins the chorus of voices that thinks Warren Kanders should step off the Whitney Museum board and wonders if museums can really police themselves: We need these institutions,...

Resort 2020 – First Collections Overview — Trendstop
Fashion United, 05.10.2019

Trendstop gives FashionUnited readers an insight into the first collections gracing the international Resort 2020 runways. Trendstop’s catwalk experts bring you a first taste of the Resort season’s most extravagant and influential catwalk events staged...

Mighty Mighty Art Installation is Centerpiece of Barbershop Project at THEARC — George Kevin Jordan
AFRO, 05.10.2019

The barbershop has long been a safe space for certain parts of the Black community- particularly Black men. Artist Devan Shimoyama wanted to take an in-depth look at that relationship in his art installation “Mighty...

We Speak to the Artist Who Just Redesigned the Dior Bar Jacket — Hannah Tindle
AnOther, 05.09.2019

In 1947, Christian Dior unveiled his inaugural haute couture collection in Paris. It famously marked the birth of the ‘New Look’, after then Harper’s Bazaar Editor-in-Chief Carmel Snow declared: “It’s quite a revolution, dear Christian! Your dresses have such...

‘They’re not necessarily welcoming’ | Artist challenges hypermasculinity in black barbershops with exhibit in Anacostia #ForTheCulture — Michael Quander
WUSA9, 05.09.2019

WASHINGTON — Inside of a big, blue shipping container on Mississippi Avenue in Southeast D.C., you’ll find a fully-functioning barbershop adorned with rhinestones, silk flowers, and paintings to make you think. “I think barbershops have...

PAST MEETS PRESENT IN INDIGENOUS FASHION SHOW — Mari Iwasaki
Spectator , 05.08.2019

The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) hosted an event on May 2 in partnership with yəhaw̓ (pronunciation: yahowt), an Indigenous-led year-long project to give exposure to their artists and creatives. This event, Lifting the Sky: An...

ALUMNA MICKALENE THOMAS HONORED WITH THE 2019 PIONEER WORKS VISIONARY AWARD — PRATT INSTITUTE
PRATT INSTITUTE, 05.07.2019

Renowned artist and Pratt alumna Mickalene Thomas, BFA ’00, was honored with the Visionary Award in recognition of her influential work at the 2019 Village Fête at Pioneer Works. Thomas’ colossal mixed media portraits of...

Every Must-See Moment From Dior’s Resort 2020 Show — Francesca Wallace
Marie Claire, 05.06.2019

Christian Dior’s resort show is always one for the history books. From the iconic walls of Oxfordshire in England to the architectural wow of Palais Bulles in France, the heritage French brand has never been...

DC art exhibit features barbershop, free haircuts throughout the summer — Madeleine Simon
WTOP, 05.05.2019

There’s no shortage of art museums in D.C., but a new exhibit is offering visitors something most galleries won’t have: free haircuts. The Barbershop Project is the latest installation inside the Mobile Art Gallery, the...

Inside Pioneer Works’s 6th Annual Village Fete — LILAH RAMZI
Vogue, 05.05.2019

“There’s a lot of people here that I’m looking around at,” said Mickalene Thomas, the artist and woman of honor at Pioneer Works’s sixth annual Village Fete on Saturday, April 27. “I thought I saw...

Firelei Báez’s Intoxicating Installation Is a Feminist Ode to the African Diaspora — Julia Wolkoff
Artsy, 05.03.2019

Lift the ragged hem of the blue tarp framing the entryway to James Cohan’s Grand Street gallery and you’ll find yourself in a quixotic, tented fantasy. As your eyes adjust to the dim light filtered through...

Mickalene Thomas’ Total Engagement — Sharon Edelson
WWD, 05.02.2019

Mickalene Thomas’ shimmering, tactile collage portraits aren’t just pretty faces. Exploring themes of self-love, black female sexuality, beauty, power and exploitation, the works are as multilayered as the artist’s process, which combines painting, drawing and...

Nigerians react to the #DiorCruise 2020 “African Wax” Collection — BellaNaija Style
BellaNaija , 05.01.2019

The show opened with a quote by Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun: Culture teaches us to live together, teaches us that we’re not alone in the world, that other people have different traditions and ways of...

Meet the dior cruise collaborator who dressed nelson mandela — Steve Salter
i-D, 05.01.2019

From turning to one of the last remaining factories producing wax fabrics through artisanal techniques, Abidjan-based Uniwax, to inviting designer Grace Wales Bonner and visual artist Mickalene Thomas to reimagine the iconic New Look for...

Dior Cruise 2020: Mickalene Thomas and Grace Wales Bonner on redesigning the iconic Bar jacket — PAR VOGUE
VOGUE , 04.30.2019

Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri has tapped two visionary women – artist Mickalene Thomas and designer Grace Wales Bonner – to reinterpret Christian Dior’s Bar jacket for the Cruise 2020 show. Here, they tell...

Maria Grazia Chiuri Finds Common Ground in Marrakesh for Dior — Trey Gaskin
L’OFFICIEL, 04.30.2019

THE COLLABORATIONS Maria Grazia Churri worked with collaborators to promote cultural appreciation and emphasize the importance of local craftsmanship. Wax print fabrics were produced in collaboration with Uniwax. The opening look- a beige wool coat...

Open Society Foundation Names Winners of 2019 Soros Arts Fellowships — Annie Armstrong
ArtNews, 04.25.2019

The Open Society Foundation in New York has announced the 2019 recipients of its Soros Arts Fellowships. Some 11 artists, curators, researchers, and filmmakers from eight different countries are receiving the 2019 fellowships, which recognize...

How Queer Artists Are Leveling the Scales For the Next Generation — Mikelle Street
OUT Magazine, 04.25.2019

In March 2018, art consultant Racquel Chevremont and her partner, multimedia artist Mickalene Thomas, jointly curated The Aesthetics of Matter exhibition at the Volta New York art fair. The groundbreaking night served as a launch...

Lexicon: The Language of Gesture in 25 Years at Kemper Museum — Breeze Richardson
CISION PRWeb, 04.24.2019

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art is pleased to present “Lexicon: The Language of Gesture in 25 Years at Kemper Museum” with a free opening reception taking place Thursday, May 16, from 6:00–8:00 p.m. Celebrating Kemper...

Around America’s Dinner Table — Merrell Hambleton
The New York Times Style Magazine , 04.10.2019

For a story in T’s Culture issue, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon invited 25 American (or working-in-America) guests to a series of imaginary dinner parties. We asked them to contemplate the country now, and in...

Tony Tasset Named the 2019 Distinguished Alumnus — Art Academy
Art Academy of Cincinnati , 04.04.2019

The Alumni Council of the Art Academy of Cincinnati is proud to confer upon Tony Tasset the 2019 Distinguished Alumnus Award. Tasset will also join at the Academy’s Commencement speaker. Tasset fuses unstinting candor, dizzying scale shifts,...

Close to Home: Devan Shimoyama on His Glimmering, Incisive Portraits at Kavi Gupta Gallery in Chicago — Claire Voon
ArtNews, 04.04.2019

ast summer, the artist Devan Shimoyama purchased a 1926 yellow-brick Craftsman house in the Pittsburgh suburb of Brentwood. For the 29-year-old artist, whose glittering, life-size portraits of queer black men have exhibited widely in recent...

Art Top 5: April 2019 — ELLIOT REICHERT
New City , 04.02.2019

1 Gregg Bordowitz (Art Institute of Chicago) The videos, poems and performances of Chicago-based artist and activist Gregg Bordowitz examine his queer, Jewish identity and his impact on AIDS activism in America. Opens April 4...

Boots Riley on the links between art, Surrealism and social justice — VICTORIA STAPLEY-BROWN
The Art News Paper , 04.02.2019

“All art is communication, so there are so many similarities between art forms, which is why I was able to do a film [Sorry to Bother You] after doing music for that many years,” says...

‘Your Body Itself Is Already a Place of Politics’: Contemporary Artists Respond to Eight Questions from AfriCOBRA Cofounder Jeff Donaldson — ArtNews
ArtNews, 04.01.2019

On the first Monday of each month, through June, in a partnership with the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art,ARTnews will be sharing a short film directed by Wes Miller from a series that the AAA produced...

See Proposals by Mickalene Thomas, Firelei Báez, and Others for a Monument to the First Black Woman to Serve in Congress — Sarah Cascone
Artnet News , 03.27.2019

New York City is one step closer to unveiling its monument to Shirley Chisholm, the first black Congresswoman. Today, the city revealed proposals by five artists: Firelei Báez, La Vaughn Belle, Tanda Francis, Mickalene Thomas, and Amanda Williams...

See the Five Artist Proposals for NYC’s Shirley Chisholm Monument — Zachary Small
Hyperallergic, 03.27.2019

Finalists for the She Built NYC initiative include Firelei Báez, La Vaughn Belle, Mickalene Thomas, Tanda Francis, and a joint project by Amanda Williams and Olalekan Jeyifous. The vision for gender parity in public art...

Artist Proposals for Shirley Chisholm Monument in New York Revealed — Claire Selvin
ArtNews, 03.27.2019

New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs revealed five preliminary proposals for a new monument in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park to honor of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to be elected to the United States...

Artist Devan Shimoyama Puts Glitter All Over Toxic Masculinity — RAQUEL WILLIS
Out Magazine, 03.18.2019

When Devan Shimoyama was creating Sit Still, a self-portrait in his game-changing Devan Shimoyama: Cry, Baby exhibition at The Andy Warhol Museum, he drew upon his first experiences as a young, queer Black kid in a barbershop. The...

Increasing Exposure for Native Artists — By Alex V. Cipolle
New York Times, 03.13.2019

PENDLETON, Ore. — In the foothills of the Blue Mountains in Eastern Oregon, a short drive from the rodeo town of Pendleton and about 200 miles east of Portland, is the only professional print house...

Artist Jeffrey Gibson mixes Indigenous heritage, pop culture and art therapy in SAM show — Lisa Edge
Real Change News , 03.13.2019

When rap group Public Enemy released the song “Fight the Power” in 1989 it spoke to discontent in the Black community and the need to rise up against an oppressive system. The tune was more...

The “Fundamentally Transgressive” Attitude of the Chicago Imagists — Elephant
Elephant , 03.13.2019

The band of misfits known as the Chicago Imagists in the 1960s have been brought together in a new exhibition at Goldsmiths CCA, exploring how their weird and wonderful work resonates with the political climate...

The Gibbes Museum of Art to Exhibit “Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem” — The Charleston Chronicle
The Charleston Chronicle, 03.12.2019

The Gibbes Museum of Art will present Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem, a major traveling exhibition organized by the American Federation of Arts (AFA) in collaboration with The Studio Museum in Harlem this spring....

A Conversation on Indigenous Craft and Design with Jeffrey Gibson — Deena ElGenaidi
Hyperallergic, 03.11.2019

At the New Museum this Saturday, curator and writer Glenn Adamson and art historian Julia Bryan-Wilson will sit down for a conversation linked to Jeffrey Gibson’s exhibition The Anthrophagic Effect. The two will discuss Gibson’s Indigenous craft techniques,...

The Broad Brings ‘Soul of a Nation’ Exhibition to West Coast — Enrique Menendez
Hypebeat, 03.09.2019

The Broad Museum in Los Angeles will present the West Coast debut of the acclaimed Soul of a Nation: Art In The Age of Black Power 1963-1983 exhibition. The show highlights the work of black artists created over two decades, beginning...

NEW SAM EXHIBITION EXPLORES INTERSECTIONALITY — Michaela Moore
Seattle Spectator, 03.07.2019

The Seattle Art Museum introduced Jeffrey Gibson’s contemporary Like a Hammer exhibition this past week. Like a Hammer features beautiful beadwork and paintings done by Gibson, all in hopes to convey the message of Gibson’s...

Paper City and Ghost Modernity: In Conversation with Ranjana Steinruecke — Art Fervour
Art Fervour, 03.06.2019

Contemporary Indian artist Manish Nai has a rather unique artistic style. He often works with found and discarded objects- recycling old clothes and newspapers, compressing books and various kinds of fabric- transforming them into sculptural...

Jeffrey Gibson’s art, on view at SAM, knocks down boundaries with gentle taps and potent blows — Gayle Clemans
The Seattle Times, 03.05.2019

Jeffrey Gibson’s art is like a beautiful hammer: a finely wrought tool capable of gentle taps or potent blows. In Gibson’s hands, indigenous craft methods, colorful abstraction and complex symbols fuse into iconic forms, knocking...

A Brooklyn Artist Finds Inspiration, and Refuge, in Puerto Rico — Osman Can Yerebakan
New York Times, 03.05.2019

Dressed in all black, in contrast to the radiant colors that surround him, the artist Angel Otero emanates warmth as he stands in his studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn, right off the high-spirited Avenue of Puerto Rico (also...

Jeffrey Gibson brings ‘Like a Hammer’ exhibit to SAM — Blake Peterson
The Daily, 03.04.2019

Multimedia artist Jeffrey Gibson’s “Like a Hammer,” an amalgamation of various works produced from 2011 on, opened to the public Thursday at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) and will remain there until May 12. The...

Jeffrey Gibson’s Like a Hammer Strikes Today — Jasmyne Keimig
The Stranger, 03.01.2019

In 2010, artist Jeffrey Gibson cut the canvas of his paintings off their stretchers, shoved them into a garbage bag, dragged them down to his local laundromat in Brooklyn, and threw them into the washing...

2019 WHITNEY BIENNIAL ANNOUNCES PARTICIPATING ARTISTS —
ARTFORUM , 02.25.2019

The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York announced today that seventy-five artists have been selected to present work in the Seventy-Ninth Whitney Biennial, which will be curated by Jane Panetta and Rujeko Hockley and will run from...

BRONX MUSEUM OF THE ARTS EXPANDS BOARD OF TRUSTEES —
ArtForum, 02.21.2019

The Bronx Museum of the Arts announced today that it has welcomed seven new members to its board of trustees. “They embody the tremendous resources our community has to offer, and will serve to help...

Ahmedabad has a new museum, and it’s dedicated to a shade of blue — SHAHNAZ SIGANPORIA
Vogue India, 02.11.2019

The museum space has long stood as an institution that preserves and parades those integral cultural, historical, scientific or artistic moments of significance. While it does chronicle, it also becomes a sort of social marker—and...

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT | ART Artist Mickalene Thomas and author Darnell Moore explore race, identity at ‘Entangled Spirits’ conversation — Columbia Spectator
Columbia Spectator , 02.08.2019

Visual and written works of art provide a unique platform for people to express their political, religious, and racial identities. Visual artist Mickalene Thomas and author Darnell Moore do not shy away from making the...

Next Up on the High Line in New York: Paintings — Annie Armstrong
Art News, 02.05.2019

Most of the High Line’s roughly 1.5-mile length along Manhattan’s West Side is open to the elements, making it a fine venue for durable sculpture but something less than an ideal one for some other...

Beyoncé’s Black History Month Collage Teaches Us A Powerful Lesson — Jolie A. Doggett
Huffington Post , 02.05.2019

Beyoncé remains the queen of poignant Black History Month moments. In 2016, she dropped her hit-single-turned-black-anthem “Formation.” In 2017, she revealed her pregnancy with Sir and Rumi Carter. And this year, she surprised us with a...

“She Persists”: An Unprecedented Show of Art by Women in “the People’s House” — Andrea K. Scott
The New Yorker, 02.05.2019

Last month, a record-breaking hundred and twenty-seven women were sworn in to the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. Now forty-four women have taken over the walls of Gracie Mansion, the official home of the...

Sports, Tommie Smith and racial injustice — Bo Emerson
AJC, 02.01.2019

Fifty years ago Olympic sprinter Tommie Smith raised a fist to the sky and shook the world. That iconic protest against racial injustice has never stopped reverberating. This week the issue of sports and protest...

THIS IS NO TIME TO CRY WITH DEVAN SHIMOYAMA — MARIA BRITO CO-PRODUCED AND CO-EDITED BY PETER KOLOFF AND MARIA BRITO.
CULTURED, 02.01.2019

How does the simple activity of getting a haircut become so charged with memories that are entangled with identity, personality and the assertion of one’s own agency? Philadelphia-born aritst Devan Shimoyama piques the spectator’s curiosity and invites...

Atlanta Stokes a Civil Rights Conversation for Some Super Bowl Players — Ken Belson
The New York Times , 02.01.2019

Players in the Super Bowl rarely get out to see the sights, but this group, with the issues they champion so embroidered in the dialogue of the N.F.L., said they were determined to make Atlanta’s...

JEFFREY GIBSON: THE ANTHROPOPHAGIC EFFECT — New Museum
New Musuem , 02.01.2019

Multimedia artist Jeffrey Gibson (b. 1972, Colorado Springs, CO) will be the artist-in-residence for the Department of Education and Public Engagement’s Winter/Spring R&D Season: INHERITANCE. Gibson’s exhibition will explore the material histories and futures of several...

Black Canadian women artists detangle the roots of Black beauty — Cheryl Thompson
The Conversation CA, 01.17.2019

Renowned visual artist Mickalene Thomas has taken over the fifth-floor gallery space of the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) with her show “Femmes Noires.” Working with curator Julie Crooks, it is the first time the...

Artist Devan Shimoyama Takes on Race and Sexuality With Glitter and Rhinestones — Noah Johnson
GQ Magazine , 01.15.2019

Philadelphia Native Shimoyama is now based in Pittsburgh, where he teaches at Carnegie Mellon University. A Yale M.F.A. graduate, his paintings borrow materials from drag culture—glitter, feathers, and rhinestones—and explore issues related to race, masculinity, and...

Culture Type: The Year in Black Art 2018 — Victoria L. Valentine
Culture Type, 01.15.2019

EXHIBITION | Feb. 15: “Figuring History: Robert Colescott, Kerry James Marshall, Mickalene Thomas” opens at the Seattle Art Museum. Spanning three generations, Robert Colescott, Kerry James Marshall, and Mickalene Thomas are recognized for their singular and assertive representations of black figures....

The Billionaire Who Is Trying to Make Dallas Trendy — Sheila Marikar
Fortune Magazine , 01.11.2019

When Tim Headington was 13 years old, his father proposed that he skip school and accompany him on a business trip to Dallas, a four-hour drive from their Oklahoma City home. Like many teenagers, Headington...

Pittsburgh Report: Five Places for Healing Through Art — Martha Schwendener
The New York Times , 01.02.2019

‘Devan Shimoyama: Cry, Baby’ Through March 17 at the Andy Warhol Museum; 412-237-8300, warhol.org. In the mid-1970s, Andy Warhol was commissioned by an Italian art dealer to create portraits of drag stars who treated gender —...

Best of 2018: Our Top 20 Exhibitions Across the United States (excerpt) — Hyperallergic
Hyperallergic, 12.19.2018

2. Jeffrey Gibson: This is the Day at the Wellin Museum As Tracy Adler, the curator of Jeffrey Gibson’s This Is the Dayexhibition at the Wellin Museum said to me, Gibson could go on continuing to...

“ANONYMOUS WAS A WOMAN” NAMES 2018 GRANT RECIPIENTS — Art Forum
Art Forum, 12.11.2018

The unrestricted grant program Anonymous Was A Woman announced today the ten recipients of its 2018 grants, which recognize women artists who are over forty years old and have made significant contributions to their fields.

Long-Running ‘Anonymous Was a Woman’ Grants Awarded for 2018, With Betty Tompkins and Deborah Roberts Among 10 Winners — Alex Greenberger
Art News, 12.11.2018

Started in 1996 as a response to the National Endowment for the Arts’s decision to stop funding individual artists, the grants had long been awarded by a donor who chose to remain anonymous.

JEFFREY GIBSON with Nick Bennett — Nick Bennett
Brooklyn Rail, 12.11.2018

On a recent fall day we spoke for a few hours about Gibson’s incredible and diverse body of work, and in the edited conversation that follows we touch on the deep and shifting influence of one’s identity, and for Gibson, what it means to reimagine the objects and rituals surrounding powwows within Native history, indulging in kitsch and camp

Here Are the 10 Female Artists Over 40 Who Have Won the $250,000 Anonymous Was a Woman Awards — Sarah Cascone
Art Net , 12.11.2018

Betty Tompkins and Kate Gilmore are among the ten artists who will receive unrestricted $25,000 grants from the Anonymous Was a Woman awards, dedicated to women artists over the age of 40. This year’s recipients range in age...

‘Anonymous Was a Woman’ Award Gives Major Boost to 10 Female Artists — COLLEEN CURRY
Galerie Magazine , 12.11.2018

The grant program Anonymous Was a Woman today awarded $250,000 to ten female artists for significant contributions in their fields. Women artists over the age of 40 qualify for the unrestricted $25,000 grant, and recipients...

Art Movements (excerpt) — Jasmine Weber
Hyperallergic, 12.11.2018

Anonymous Was a Woman announced the 10 recipients of its annual award recognizing women artists over 40 years of age. 2018’s winners include Dotty Attie, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Patty Chang, Beverly Fishman, Kate Gilmore, Heather Hart, Deborah...

The recipients of the 2018 Anonymous Was a Woman grants for female artists were announced — Artsy
Artsy, 12.11.2018

The latest recipients of the annual Anonymous Was a Woman grants, which since 1996 has bestowed unrestricted awards of $25,000 to hundreds of women artists over the age of 40, were revealed this week. And...

Why This Female-Led Organization Gives Art Grants to Women 40 and Over — Angela M.H. Schuster
Robb Report , 12.11.2018

It’s no secret that when it comes to a presence in art galleries and museums—and even as collectors—women are underrepresented. And artist/philanthropist Susan Unterberg is on a one-woman campaign to change that. For more than...

Two revelatory exhibitions upend our understanding of black models in art — Sebastian Smee
Two revelatory exhibitions upend our understanding of black models in art, 12.10.2018

Now, thanks to Denise Murrell, an art historian with a background in finance, Laure has emerged from the shadows. We find her in the company, what’s more, of dozens of other black models in modern...

The Emergence of a Brash Young Painter — David Carrier and Graham Shearing
Hyperallergic, 12.08.2018

PITTSBURGH — Cry, Baby at The Andy Warhol Museum is the first solo museum exhibition for Devan Shimoyama, a Pittsburgh artist, not yet 30. It includes 30 paintings, three sculptures, and four photographs. The survey covers a...

The art world often excludes Black women. Mickalene Thomas’s superpower is making them visible — Amanda Parris
CBC, 12.08.2018

Thomas also expresses a desire to explore the range and diversity of Blackness, which includes extending the conversation beyond the African American experience to include the larger African Diaspora.

5 Outstanding Discoveries at Miami Art Week’s Satellite Fairs — Andrew Goldstein
artnet, 12.07.2018

Devan Shimoyama at Untitled Who: A 29-year-old Philadelphia artist with a Yale MFA and a tremendous amount of buzz, Shimoyama paints mesmerizing portraits that often comment on his multifaceted concerns—from police-shooting victims to notions of masculinity—as a young...

Jeffrey Gibson’s Futurist Gaze — Seph Rodney
Jeffrey Gibson’s Futurist Gaze, 12.05.2018

CLINTON, NY — What if an artist made work for a people not yet born? A visitor to Jefferey Gibson’s exhibition This Is the Day at the Wellin Museum might recognize this invocation. There are hints and clues, and there...

The Baltimore Museum of Art – Mickalene Thomas selected as inaugural artist for new biennial public art commission — e-flux announcements
e-fulx, 12.02.2018

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announces a major new biennial commission made possible by an historic endowment gift from Baltimore philanthropists Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker. As the first named public art commission for a...

At Miami’s Art Fairs, a Somber Mood Sets In — Kelly Crow
The Wall Street Journal, 12.01.2018

Jeffrey Gibson, also living in New York, has developed an international reputation for beaded figures and paintings on rawhide that reference his Choctaw heritage. Yet over the past year, he said he felt a greater need to...

Deconstructing Race in Western Painting — David Carrier
Hyperallergic, 12.01.2018

Recently a number of female and male black artists, many American, some French, have radically deconstructed the traditional schema of the active male artist depicting a passive female model, questioning its assumptions about gender and race. And...

Still the Main Attraction, Art Basel Returns to Miami Beach — Paul Laster
Galerie, 11.30.2018

Likewise, the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami exhibition “AfriCOBRA: Messages to the People,” opening December 6, motivated gallerist Kavi Gupta to bring to the fair classic works by several of the artists in the museum show, including Gerald Williams’ colorful protest painting Take It (1971).

BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART LAUNCHES COMMISSION SERIES AND CURATORIAL FELLOWSHIP WITH FOCUS ON DIVERSITY —
Artforum, 11.30.2018

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) is launching a diversity-minded commission program for artists to create site-specific works in the museum’s lobby with funds from a gift by philanthropists Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker. The...

From a Judy Chicago Retrospective to a Celebration of AfriCOBRA, Here Are 11 Shows to See in Miami During Art Basel — Caroline Goldstein
artnet news, 11.27.2018

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Chicago-based art collective afriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists).

Museum Of Contemporary Art North Miami Shines New Light On AfriCOBRA — Chadd Scott
Forbes, 11.25.2018

You would need to be a serious student of modern American art to be familiar with AfriCOBRA. Fifty years after the black artist collective that defined the visual aesthetic of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s was founded; the Chicago-based artists are receiving fresh attention.

Beverly Fishman — David Rhodes
The Brooklyn Rail, 11.20.2018

Beverly Fishman’s high gloss surfaces have an inscrutable beauty. The shape and color of each work looks both estranging and familiar, and whilst the combinations of sometimes acidic or synthetic color entrance, they do not comfort.

Studio Visit: Firelei Báez — Isabel Custodio
MoMA, 11.14.2018

On November 17, Firelei Báez will unveil her work For Améthyste and Athénaire (Exiled Muses Beyond Jean Luc Nancy’s Canon), Anaconasas part of The Museum of Modern Art’s Modern Window series. In her art, Báez reclaims the...

The Best Art Exhibitions in Seoul — Yujin Min
Frieze , 11.13.2018

Angel Otero, ‘Piel de Luna’ Lehmann Maupin 1 November – 22 December It’s becoming clear that Lehmann Maupin is focusing its newly-opened Seoul outpost on bringing some of the finest artists from the New York...

POSING MODERNITY — LONG NGUYEN
Flaunt, 11.12.2018

Diversity and inclusiveness have been the latest buzzwords in the fashion industry. The industry is prone to making amends: over exclusion of racial representations in the creation of the images; over advertising campaigns that feature...

What it Means When Columbia Does a Show About the Black Model on Its West Harlem Expansion Campus — Tiana Reid
Vulture, 11.09.2018

Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today is the current exhibition at the new Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, part of Columbia University’s $6.3 billion expansion into West Harlem. (Columbia...

As If, Audemars Piguet Bring Stimulating Talk to Beautiful Setting — Sharon Edelson
WWD, 11.09.2018

As If magazine’s event on Wednesday offered guests some food for thought before dinner was served: the first installment of its speaker series, launched with Audemars Piguet. “It’s our duty to deliver real estate in the magazine...

50 Years Later, Chicago Artists Are Getting Their Due — Tariro Mzezewa
The New York Times , 11.08.2018

Chicago — “Stop the murder of brothers and sisters.” “Liberate our nation.” “Unite.” The exhortations, on the vibrantly colored canvas of Gerald Williams’s “Messages,” couldn’t be more timely. Yet it is nearly 50 years old,...

50 Years Later, Chicago Artists Are Getting Their Due — Tariro Mzezewa
The New York Times , 11.08.2018

Redrawing the History of Women of Color in Vibrant Hues — Julia Friedman
Hyperallergic , 11.07.2018

These women inspired Firelei Báez: Joy Out of Fire, a series of dynamic paintings now on view at the Schomburg Center’s Latimer/Edison Gallery. Blending bright colors and portraiture, the paintings serve as a mini history lesson, offering long overdue recognition for a number of activists, writers, artists, dancers, and politicians.

Jeffrey Gibson — Zack Hatfield
Art Forum, 11.06.2018

For nearly two decades, Jeffrey Gibson has sought to complicate ideas of identity and heritage through multiform work rooted in modernist abstraction, indigenous traditions, and queerness.

Beyond identity politics, the art of Jeffrey Gibson — Amy Zion
Art Basel, 11.01.2018

‘Like a Hammer’, which is touring to the Mississippi Museum of Art, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, highlights a fundamental turning point in Gibson’s work. Prior to 2011, the artist was producing more classic, albeit innovative, abstract painting.

Seven Artists on the Warhol Influence (excerpt) — Antwaun Sargent
The New York Times , 11.01.2018

Three decades after Andy Warhol’s death, he remains one of America’s most provocative artists. His influence on popular culture is so pervasive that each emerging art movement after him has had to grapple with Warhol’s focus on surface perfections and his singular celebrity.

FIRELEI BÁEZ with Hồng-Ân Trương — Hồng-Ân Trương
The Brooklyn Rail, 11.01.2018

I first encountered Firelei Báez’s work in 2012 in a group show called Cultural Transference at EFA Project Space, curated by Sara Reisman. Over the years, I watched in awe as Firelei’s work expanded and deepened in formal explorations...

Artist Jeffrey Gibson Merges His Queer and Native American Identities — Coco Romack
OUT Magazine, 10.30.2018

With massive garments and technicolor paintings, artist Jeffrey Gibson is here to inspire.

Raised fist: Tommie Smith and his “moment of truth” at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics — CBS News
CBS News, 10.28.2018

At the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, artist Glenn Kaino is offering a fresh take on one of the 20th century’s best-known images: Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the Olympic medal stand in...

High exhibit examines Smith’s iconic Olympic salute — Neighbor Staff
Neighbor Newspapers , 10.25.2018

More than a half century before former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee when the national anthem was played before his game to protest human rights abuse in the world, 1968 Olympic gold-medalist sprinter...

Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today —
Apollo Magazine, 10.24.2018

This exhibition reconsiders the history of modern painting, in terms of the evolving depiction of the black model. It begins with a focus on Laure, the often-overlooked maid in Edouard Manet’s Olympia (1863), in order to explore...

The Andy Warhol Museum wows with the glitter and grit of Devan Shimoyama: Cry, Baby — Amanda Waltz
Pittsburg City Paper, 10.24.2018

The first solo museum exhibition from Devan Shimoyama features paintings, sculptures, and photography.

Amid Rising Calls for Social Justice in America, the Clenched Fist is Appearing in Artwork and Museums — Victoria Valentine
Culture Type, 10.23.2018

A 100-foot-long sculpture composed of 150 suspended forearms with clenched fists is on view at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. “Bridge” (2014) is the first artwork Los Angeles-based Glenn Kaino made in collaboration with gold-medal sprinter Tommie Smith.

Amid Rising Calls for Social Justice in America, the Clenched Fist is Appearing in Artwork and Museums — Victoria L. Valentine
Culture Type, 10.23.2018

THE CLENCHED FIST, a symbol of Black Power and strength in the face of adversity, is showing up in museums. The historic gesture reflects the current moment in which many groups, frustrated with the political...

Matisse to modernity: the evolution of black female models in art — Nadja Sayej
The Guardian, 10.22.2018

There are paintings by female artists such as Mickalene Thomas, who recently captured Cardi B for the cover of W Magazine’s art issue. In Din, une très belle négresse, from 2012, is a portrait of a black woman painted colorfully in retro garb. “She takes 19th-century black women portrayals, but shows them in expressive ways, with rhinestones, afro wigs and a 1970s look,” said Murrell. “They’re women portrayed as sensual but in control of their sensuality, in a manner that shows a black woman who wants to be herself.

Devan Shimoyama with his 2018 work 11 ‘Cry, Baby’: Devan Shimoyama’s young career takes off with solo show at The Warhol — M. Thomas
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10.19.2018

Paintings by Devan Shimoyama at The Andy Warhol Museum mesmerize through electrifying color, bedazzling glitter and implicit mystery. But there’s more to the work of this young artist, a fast-rising star in the contemporary art scene.

Life-altering protests as relevant today as they were 50 years ago — Daniel Bates
The National, 10.17.2018

A new exhibition revisits and reimagines the ‘Black Power’ Olympic protests by Smith and Carlos

The Meaning of Metal: Richard Hunt Balances Natural and Industrial Through Sculpture — Jessica Smith
Flagpole Magazine, 10.17.2018

A true pioneer of public art in America, Chicago-born sculptor Richard Hunt has created over 130 large-scale commissions during his career, which has spanned the past six decades. While always maintaining a strong interest in linear forms, he incorporates seemingly disparate influences—biology, zoology, classical literature, music and history—into interesting works that pull the eye in and allow the mind to wander and make sense of their abstracted forms. Welding metal as his medium, his body of work explores the reconciliation between the organic and industrial.

Life-altering protests as relevant today as they were 50 years ago A new exhibition revisits and reimagines the ‘Black Power’ Olympic protests by Smith and Carlos — Daniel Bates
The National, 10.17.2018

Fifty years ago this month, Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood on the winner’s podium at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico and raised their black-gloved fists to the sky. Their Black Power protest about...

Arts review: In depicting women in her life, painter Mickalene Thomas prefers flash, depth — Nancy Gilson
The Columbus Dispatch, 10.14.2018

Thomas presents herself, her mother, her lovers and other women she admires in striking portraits that reveal intense communication between Thomas and her subjects — and social and cultural commentary to her audience. The intriguingly titled “I Can’t See You Without Me” consists of 30-plus works by the Brooklyn-based artist. The exhibit continues through Dec. 30 at Ohio State University’s Wexner Center for the Arts. Each of the center’s galleries is devoted to one of Thomas’ muses or Thomas herself.

The painter reimagining rarely seen Warhol work with black drag queens — Lexi Manatakis
Dazed Digital, 10.12.2018

Artist Devan Shimoyama uses rhinestones, glitter, sequins, and bright fabric to create poignant dialogues around the queer, black male experience

Mickalene Thomas Makes a Muse of Cardi B — Jasmine Weber
Hyperallergic, 10.10.2018

Mickalene Thomas’s bright-shining stardom in the art world has collided with that of rap superstar Cardi B in the most recent “Art Issue” of W Magazine. The collagist, painter, photographer, videographer, and occasional performance artist has made the...

High Art: Cardi B and Artist Mickalene Thomas Collab for W Magazine — Maiysha Kai
The Glow Up | The Root, 10.09.2018

Something incredible happens when black women join forces. We’ve become accustomed to considering our collaborations another iteration of “black girl magic,” but truthfully, it’s more like “black girl Voltron,” an amalgamation of forces so powerful that they are undeniable. All that to say, there’s something we can’t help but love about Cardi B being photographed by acclaimed artist Mickalene Thomas for W magazine’s Art Issue.

Cardi B Channels Hollywood’s Legendary Latina Glamour Queens in W’s Art Issue (excerpt) — Diane Solway
W Magazine, 10.09.2018

For her W cover shoot, Cardi B was photographed by the artist Mickalene Thomas, channeling Latina glamour queens of a bygone Hollywood era such as Maria Montez, Chelo Alonso, and Rita Moreno.

Warhol Museum Draws Parallels With Devan Shimoyama’s “Cry, Baby” — Amanda Reed
Pittsburg Current, 10.09.2018

“Cry, Baby” uses self-portraiture to challenge contemporary views of African American masculinity and boyhood, turning a typically hyper-masculine social space into a queer fantasy with floral capes, glittery hair and skin in shades of green, gold and fiery red. This creates two worlds, according to Beck: a queer reimagining of an African American barbershop and a fantastic utopia.

Artist Embraces Alternative Perspectives on Race — Andew Ptaschinski
Carnegie Mellon University, 10.09.2018

"What Devan is doing now is creating a space to embrace alternative perspectives on race," said Jessica Beck, the Milton Fine Curator of Art at The Warhol, visiting scholar at CMU's School of Art and curator of Shimoyama's show.

Props, Assists and Situations: Jessica Stockholder at The Contemporary Austin — Tatiana Ryckman
Glasstire, 10.06.2018

The promotional photographs for Relational Aesthetics, Jessica Stockholder’s show at The Contemporary Austin at the Jones Center, share some compelling features with the works themselves — they confuse the eye. It’s no accident. “I don’t think in...

Chicago Roundup (Excerpt) — Orit Gat
Art Agenda, 10.05.2018

Another Chicago-based group is shown at Kavi Gupta; “AFRICOBRA 50” (which stands for African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), curated by the co-founding member Gerald Williams, includes paintings, sculptures, and clothes by 12 artists largely...

The High Museum of Art celebrates Tommie Smith and the power of protest — Cassidy Sparks
RollingOut, 10.04.2018

Decades before Colin Kaepernick took a knee, Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a powerful protest in front of the world at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico. Smith had just won the gold medal and Carlos the...

‘90s Club-Kid Meets Modern Abstraction In Jeffrey Gibson’s Solo Show — Carol Kino
WSJ Magazine, 10.04.2018

WHEN Jeffrey Gibson’s first show at New York’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co. opens on October 18, it will be the culmination of a banner year. Since last fall, the artist, who’s 46, half Cherokee and a...

Monique Davis takes helm of Center for Art & Public Exchange (Excerpt) — MBJ Staff
Mississippi Business Staff, 10.04.2018

Julian Rankin has served at MMA since 2010 in communications, community engagement, and leadership capacities. His departure from MMA for WAMA comes at the conclusion of a dynamic year for CAPE, which included newly engineered...

Miami’s MOCA Presents Chicago-Based AfriCOBRA Collective During Art Basel Miami Beach 2018 —
ARTFIXdaily, 10.04.2018

In celebration of Art Basel Miami Beach 2018, the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami (MOCA) will present a groundbreaking exhibition celebrating the Chicago-based AfriCOBRA collective, in conjunction with the group’s 50th anniversary. AfriCOBRA will be on display at...

Artist Mickalene Thomas Opens Up About the Importance of Diverse Bodies In Her Work — Kimberly Drew
Harpar's Bazaar, 10.03.2018

Fashion magazines give us an opportunity to imagine a life more glamorous than our own. But the reality is that the fantasy on offer has been largely monolithic: usually white, often thin, and nearly always...

5 Lessons in Feminist Art (Excerpt) — Jenna Adrian-Diaz
The Cut, 10.03.2018

Mickalene Thomas reinterprets 18th- and 19th-century Romantic paintings, placing black women front-and-center in carefully staged portraits. Morris: “The image is of her mother, who was a very important inspiration and muse for her. In this case,...

Even as Brexit Looms, Galleries Notch Sales on Frieze London’s Opening Day (Excerpt) — Judd Tully
ARTNews, 10.03.2018

There were discoveries to be had at Chicago’s Kavi Gupta, which was showing rare works by AfriCOBRA artists, who are making big waves in the traveling show “Soul of A Nation: Art in the Age...

Review: Political protest the focus of High Museum’s ‘With Drawn Arms’ — Felicia Feaster
Atlanta Journal Constitution , 10.02.2018

An art exhibition centered on a gesture, “With Drawn Arms: Glenn Kaino and Tommie Smith” at the High Museum of Art focuses on a formative moment of American political protest.

The High’s Latest Exhibit Reinterprets The 1968 Olympic Protest — Patrice Worthy
WABE 90.1 FM, 10.02.2018

The latest exhibition at the High Museum of Art titled “With Drawn Arms: Glenn Kaino and Tommie Smith” expands the dialogue around the meaning behind that 90-second protest by opening it up for reinterpretation to a new generation. The exhibit opened Saturday, and it’s the first time Smith, a resident of Stone Mountain, has told his side of the story.

Native American Tradition Meets Modern Aesthetics in Jeffrey Gibson’s ‘DON’T MAKE ME OVER’ — Suna Cha
The Hoya, 10.01.2018

‘As cold rain drowned the streets outside with somber, gray tones, Jeffrey Gibson’s “DON’T MAKE ME OVER” infused Georgetown University’s newly built exhibition space with vibrant colors and sound. The Maria & Alberto De La...

High Museum’s latest exhibition, “With Drawn Arms,” speaks to #TakeAKnee and #BlackLivesMatter — Kelundra Smith
Atlanta Magazine, 10.01.2018

Stepping off of the elevator onto the second floor of the High Museum of Art’s Ann Cox Chamber Wing, nearly 150 gold-painted arms raised with the Black Power fist are suspended in the air. Connected by cables, they form a shape that looks like a mix of Newton’s Cradle and a helix of DNA. The piece by Los Angeles-based conceptual artist Glenn Kaino is called “Bridge,” and was the artist’s first collaboration with Olympic gold medalist Tommie Smith.

Exhibit explores themes of race, stereotypes, community and love — Tara Thomas
WJTV, 09.29.2018

JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – The Mississippi Museum of Art is now showcasing works by artist Jeffrey Gibson and his use of 1960s and 70s language and singer-songwriters from the eras. According to a press release,...

Exhibition reflects on 1968 Olympic protest and its legacy — Kate Brumback
Midland Reporter-Telegram, 09.29.2018

ATLANTA (AP) — Nearly five decades before NFL players took a knee to protest police brutality and social injustice, African-American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos defiantly raised black-gloved fists during an Olympic medal ceremony...

Exhibition reflects on 1968 Olympic protest and its legacy — Kate Brumback
The Harold-News, 09.29.2018

ATLANTA – About five decades before NFL players took a knee to protest police brutality and social injustice, African-American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos defiantly raised black-gloved fists during an Olympic medal ceremony to...

Chicago Expo Highlights Art, Design, and Architecture Throughout the Windy City (Excerpt) — Book Mason
Architectural Digest, 09.28.2018

Just inside, Firelei Báez’s compelling tapestry-like installation stands out on a white wall. “Firelei’s work has taken a new sculptural, architectural direction that is really exciting,” says her dealer, Wendi Norris, who has her own...

What Not to Miss at Frieze London (excerpt) — Adam Heardman
MutualArt, 09.26.2018

From the 4-7 October, the art world descends on London's Regent's Park for Frieze Art Fair, one of the biggest events in the cultural calendar. With countless booths, exhibitions, talks and live events, even a seasoned fair-goer can feel overwhelmed. To help, here's the MutualArt pick of just a few highlights on offer, for collectors and spectators alike.

Black Girl Magic, Mickalene Thomas, and Being My Own Muse — Jasmyne Keimig
The Stranger, 09.21.2018

In MUSE: Mickalene Thomas Photographs and tête-à-tête at the Henry Art Gallery, the New York-based artist, who is best known for her huge multi-textured paintings, focuses on her photographs and video artworks that include her friends, lovers, and even her mother.

In Conversation: John Edmonds and Mickalene Thomas — Michael Love Michael
Paper Magazine, 09.19.2018

The duo candidly discusses everything from taking the time to illuminate the varying facets of blackness through art, to how Edmonds finds his subjects and his use of light to capture their inner glow, to curation of the self in the digital age.

ART REVIEW ‘3-D Doings: The Imagist Object in Chicago Art, 1964-1980’ Review: A Celebration of the Weird (excerpt) — Peter Plagens
The Wall Street Journal, 09.18.2018

Better still is Brown’s 1974 “Autobiography in the Shape of Alabama (Mammy’s Door).” It’s an oil painting, with one of Brown’s patented simplified landscapes of rolling hills and silhouetted trees, on a format that’s reductively...

‘Art Worlds of Chicago’s South Side’ sheds light on overlooked art, design — Kyle MacMillan
Chicago Sun Times, 09.14.2018

This eye-opening exhibition focuses on a bustling mix of about 50 artists, many of whom were influenced by and responded to the racial tensions and socio-political tumult that coursed through these two transformative decades of the late 20th century.

How Firelei Báez Uses Yoruba Icons and Her Afro-Caribbean Heritage in Her Profound ‘Joy Out of Fire’ Murals — Jasmin Hernandez
Artnet News , 09.14.2018

The themes from all of these works continue to come together in Báez’s upcoming fall show, her first with Chicago gallerist Kavi Gupta, which opens September 15. “We’re very excited for how the show will be contributing to a larger dialogue in her practice that’s also been engaged by her other recent projects, such as her showing at the Berlin Biennale, or her Studio Museum project at the Schomburg Center,” Gupta explained by email.

RETROSPECTIVE From the Archives: Mickalene Thomas on Why Her Work Goes ‘Beyond a Black Esthetic,’ in 2011 — ARTnews
ARTnews, 09.14.2018

Currently on view at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, is a survey of Mickalene Thomas featuring more than 50 of her paintings, sculptures, and installations. Titled “I Can’t See You Without Me,” the show includes many of Thomas’s portraits, which often depict black women in settings that appear to be collaged. With this show in mind, republished below is Barbara Pollack’s profile of the artist from the January 2011 issue of ARTnews. “I am interested in the sense of perseverance in women’s lives, the feeling of winning in one’s own life,” Thomas tells Pollack. “That kind of strength in a woman is something I gravitate toward.” Pollack’s profile follows below. —Alex Greenberger

Radiant and Radical: 20 Years of Defining the Soul of Black Art — Holland Cotter
The New York Times , 09.13.2018

In the Los Angeles work, hard distinctions between representation and abstraction are moot, as they are in a lot of art made in Chicago by members of AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), who specialized in pattern-intensive dazzle. One of the show’s inspired sights is a pairing of hand-painted revolution-themed dresses by the AfriCOBRA artist Jae Jarrell with pointillist portraits of Angela Davis and Malcolm X by her husband, Wadsworth A. Jarrell.

An Artist Pays Homage to Her Glamorous, Dying Mother — Emily Pothast
The Stranger , 09.12.2018

In MUSE, on view at Henry Art Gallery through September 30, Thomas's photographs are exhibited as artworks in their own right. They are both visually striking and astonishingly intimate, revealing the kinds of details that can only be captured by the camera. I

The Man Who Raised a Fist, 50 Years Later — Tik Root
The Atlantic, 09.11.2018

The arms are not just any arms, but fiberglass casts of Smith’s actual right arm, made from a silicone mold that Kaino took a few years back. Dozens of replicas are now strewn across the studio, in various states of preparation.

Wexner Center art exhibition to empower women, challenge art history norms — Michael Lee
The Lantern, 09.10.2018

Femininity, race, sexuality, art history, identity and power. These are the themes explored in New York-based artist Mickalene Thomas’ new exhibition at the Wexner Center for the Arts.

A Good Year for Younger Artists, Immigrant Citizens and Outrage Image — Holland Cotter
The New York Times , 09.06.2018

I plan to catch up with the Chocktaw-Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson in his traveling survey at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, or in a smaller solo at the Wellin Museum in Clinton, N.Y. (both open Sept. 8).

Chicago and the Age of Black Power: An Interview with AfriCOBRA Founding Member Gerald Williams — Vasia Rigou
New City , 09.06.2018

One of the AfriCOBRA principles of design, along with unabashed use of color, lost and found line, frontality of the images, was “mimesis at midpoint,” which has been the least talked or written about. When one hears attempts to answer the question what that means, answers vary. I’ve been seeking ways to clarify that principle which I feel does not have to have the predictable subject matter based on political, social and biological references commonly associated with work by African-Americans.

Previewing the Wellin Museum’s new exhibit: Jeffery Gibson’s “This Is The Day” — Karina Bayrakdarian ’21, A&E Contributor
The Spectator , 09.06.2018

This Is The Day combines pop and queer culture along with historical and contemporary references to his Native American heritage, including the 19th century Ghost Dance and the effects of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Through painting, sculpture, embroidery, beaded works, stained glass, and video, the works in the exhibit explore his continued interest in the act of self-adornment as a historical and contemporary occurrence.

How to Succeed as an Artist While Living outside of Art-World Capitals (excerpt) — Tess Thackara
Artsy, 09.06.2018

What follows are some points of advice on how to navigate a pathway to career stability while living away from the whirlwind of the art world’s capitals—culled from conversations with artists who have done just that.

Stockard Channing, Mickalene Thomas and More on Fulfillment (excerpt) — The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal , 09.05.2018

Art fuels inspiration; it can be impactful and transformative. It transcends the viewer and generates a safe space for people to have a discourse or a shift in understanding without having to worry about being politically correct.

From Mark Bradford in Baltimore to Victor Hugo in LA: 33 Museum Shows Around the US Worth Traveling For (excerpt) — Caroline Goldstein & Sarah Cascone
Artnet News, 09.05.2018

We've looked beyond the Big Apple to find the most exciting museum shows opening in September and October around the country. Here are some of artnet News’s highlights of museum shows opening across the United States as we kick off a new season:

Artist Mickalene Thomas: ‘It was always a political statement’ — Julie L Belcove
Financial Times, 08.31.2018

In October, an exhibition at Columbia University’s Wallach Art Gallery, Posing Modernity: The Black Model From Manet and Matisse to Today, featuring Thomas’s work, will attempt to resuscitate that history.

Art 50 2018: Chicago’s Artists’ Artists (excerpt) — Kerry Cardoza, Lindsay Hutchens, Ciera McKissick, Lee Ann Norman, Jameson Paige, Elliot Reichert and B. David Zarley
Newcity Art, 08.30.2018

Fortunately, as our art historical legacies prove, Chicago has always been a place for artists to thrive amongst communal support, undertaking creative experimentation with a collective drive whether or not institutions are paying or paying attention. If the histories of Chicago’s artistic movements can teach us anything, it is that Chicago is a home for artists who take risks and make their own ways. This year’s Art 50—our pick of Chicago’s artists’ artists—is dedicated to them all, past, present, and future.

A look at painter Mickalene Thomas’ lesser-known photography at Henry Art Gallery — Gayle Clemans
The Seattle Times, 08.28.2018

The visual and thematic exchanges between their work and Thomas’ are intuitive and self-evident. Shared motifs include foregrounded portraits, people who take on personas or pose with mementos, formally dramatic compositions and intimate, domestic moments

Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians member showcases art at Mississippi Museum of Art — Meridian Star
Meridian Star , 08.25.2018

Chronicling a pivotal moment in the artist’s career, when his contemporary artistic practice converged with his Native American heritage, “Jeffrey Gibson: Like A Hammer” explores the universal themes of race, power, control, stereotypes, and colonialism, as well as love, community, strength, vulnerability, and survival.

Andy Warhol’s Trans Subjects Finally Get Named (excerpt) — Elizabeth Hoover
Paper Magazine, 08.24.2018

Currently, Shimoyama is painting his own series of drag queens of color, one of which will be inserted into the Ladies and Gentlemen installation. "Drag queens have superheroic tendencies," he says. "They wear spandex, have alter egos, do their duty out of necessity for the greater good (giving the gays a space and secret coded language).

Adrift in Abstraction, Young-Il Ahn at Kavi Gupta — Chris Miller
NewCity Art, 08.22.2018

In Young’s paintings, the water just sits there in a strict orthogonal grid: quivering, infinite, undifferentiated and quietly alarming. There is no escape. Your life is insignificant.

The art of sustainability: This Mumbai-based artist makes art out of waste — Chinki Sinha
India Today, 08.16.2018

Manish Nai, the Mumbai-based artist, who works with recyclable material in a compressed city is looking for freedom. In many ways, the ephemeral patterns formed on the net, which is part of his latest work, is a commentary on the state of temporariness in a city like Mumbai, it's poor and it's waste, it's construction sites and it's transport trucks.

Jeffrey Gibson: Violent Histories, Brighter Horizons — Christopher Green
Frieze , 08.03.2018

The Cherokee/Choctaw artist explores the contemporary possibilities of Indigenous art at Denver Art Museum.

From the Archives: Jeffrey Gibson on His ‘Visceral Materials,’ in 2013 — Elisabeth Kley
Art News, 07.27.2018

Currently on view at the Denver Art Museum is Jeffrey Gibson’s first mid-career survey, “Like a Hammer,” which brings together 57 of the artist’s wall hangings and sculptures, many of which combine elements of punk and his Choctaw and Cherokee heritage. With that show in mind, republished below is a profile of Jeffrey Gibson that originally ran in ARTnews’s December 2013 issue.

Hans Ulrich Obrist’s First U.S. Marathon Announces Participant List — Broadway World
Broadway World, 07.26.2018

"Creative Chicago will feature many of the dynamic individuals who make our city a powerhouse for creative ventures," says Chicago Humanities Festival Marilynn Thoma Artistic Director Alison Cuddy. "Foundational artists such as Art Green of the Hairy Who and Gerald Williams of AfriCOBRA,

India’s First Sculpture Park Is Set in an 18th-Century Fortress — ELIZABETH FAZZARE
Architectural Digest, 07.24.2018

Stroll through the extensive grounds of the 18th-century Nahargarh Fort in Jaipur, India, and you may spot objects much more contemporary. At the heart of the fortress is the 1892 Madhavendra Palace, a former seasonal retreat for King Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh and his nine wives, where nearly every structural surface seems to be covered in intricately painted decorative murals.

Mother as muse in a powerful show of Black beauty — Michael Upchurch
Crosscut, 07.23.2018

Every artist who ever lived has had a mother. But not many have had a mother like Mickalene Thomas’s. Sandra Bush was a six-foot-one runway model who, in her later years, became her daughter’s muse. Bush isn’t the only woman portrayed in MUSE: Mickalene Thomas Photographs and tête-a-tête. But she has pride of place.

Lighting of eternal flame highlights Special Olympics 50th anniversary celebration — Meghan Dwyer & Bill Kissinger
WGN 9 Chicago, 07.20.2018

CHICAGO — The celebration of the Special Olympics’ 50th anniversary continued Friday in the city where it all began.

Jeffrey Gibson Challenges the Parameters of Native American Art — Kealey Boyd
Hyperallergic, 07.19.2018

Like a Hammer is the first exhibition that exclusively focuses on Gibson’s work produced after 2011, a turning point in the artist’s career according to the show’s curator, John Lukavic. Gibson previously made paintings that were intense in color and somewhat narrative.

‘Eternal Flame of Hope’ sculpture erected to honor Special Olympics’ 50th anniversary in Chicago — Evelyn Holmes
ABC 7 Chicago, 07.18.2018

“A 30-foot steel monument was erected Wednesday outside Soldier Field to honor the 50th anniversary of the Special Olympics, which was first held in Chicago at the stadium.”

A Canadian Museum Promotes Indigenous Art. But Don’t Call It ‘Indian.’ — Ted Loos
New York Times, 07.13.2018

A current show at the Denver Art Museum, “Jeffrey Gibson: Like a Hammer,” through Aug. 12, was organized by Mr. Lukavic. He noted that the museum, which was founded in 1893 and established a Native arts department in the 1920s, was one of the first that treated Native American works as art and not as ethnographic material.

New Triennial Offers Artists the Canvas of Cleveland — Hillarie M. Sheets
The New York Times, 07.11.2018

“The art world loves to flock to exotic locales for shows and fairs. Will it come to Cleveland?” “Fred Bidwell, a collector and philanthropist here, is betting it will, to the tune of $5 million...

Cleveland Hopes to Become the Next Venice — Kelly Crow
The Wall Street Journal, 07.11.2018

“Cleveland wants to be known for more than its craft beers and Cavaliers—especially now that LeBron James is leaving town. This weekend, the Ohio city on the southern banks of Lake Erie will launch a...

“Jeffrey Gibson: Like a Hammer” at the Denver Art Museum Through August 12 (excerpt) — Sarah Cascone & Caroline Goldstein
Artnet News , 07.10.2018

Choctaw-Cherokee painter and sculptor Jeffrey Gibson destroyed much of his early work before recommitting to his artistic practice in 2011. That date marks the starting point for this exhibition at the Denver Art Museum, which is known for its commitment to showing Native American art.

Two new shows at Contemporary Arts Center look at identity from different angles — LEYLA SHOKOOHE
CityBeat, 07.09.2018

“Can I Pass?” melds two tests of racial “passing” into a larger contemplation on self-identity. The first test is whether or not a person’s skin is lighter or darker than a paper bag, which translates to passing or not passing for being white and all its attendant implications. A similar Caribbean-born test uses hair blowing in a fan’s breeze, with denser hair resisting the wind and thinner hair moving easily.

Judy’s Hand Pavilion arrives at Toby’s Plaza as part of citywide contemporary-art exhibition — The Daily
The Daily, 07.05.2018

Tasset created the piece in honor of his wife, Judy Ledgerwood, a contemporary abstract painter. FRONT and the Putnam Collection of Case Western Reserve University jointly developed the project.

Fiberglass Beasts of the Wisconsin Wild — Phillip Barcio
Hyperallergic, 07.01.2018

Dismembered Paul Bunyan was tossed asunder in this field more than a decade ago. It is the mold for “Paul” (2006), a public sculpture FAST fabricated for the artist Tony Tasset. Installed in the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park south of Chicago, “Paul” slouches forlornly, dragging his axe in the dirt, his wrinkled face worn from the burden of manifest destiny.

Henry Art Gallery: MUSE: Mickalene Thomas Photographs and tête-à-tête open at the Henry on July 14 — Xavier Lopez
Seattle Pi, 06.27.2018

While working across multiple series, much of her photographic work functions as a personal act of staging and reappropriation. With each series, she grapples with and asserts new definitions of beauty and inspiration. Thomas’ portraits draw equally from 1970s black-is-beautiful images of women such as supermodel Beverly Johnson and actress Vonetta McGee; Édouard Manet’s odalisque figures; and the mise-en-scène studio portraiture of James Van Der Zee and Malick Sidibé, to mention a few.

Sculpting a Chicago Artist Richard Hunt and his Teachers: Nelli Bar and Egon Weiner —
Art Design Chicago, 06.26.2018

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago cultivated artist Richard Hunt in the 1950s by the guidance of two dynamic teachers. Nelli Bar taught Richard Hunt during his adolescence, and Egon Weiner was his...