“Shuffle Mode” the title track off his latest album.

“Fabulousity (Keeping It Cute)” from the forthcoming album titled Sampled and LeftOva
“Chewing Gum (Remix)” from the limited edition If it Don’t Fit extended EP

Hurvin Anderson, ‘Peter’s Series: Back’, 2008, Courtesy the artist and Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, Photo: Ira Schrank

British painter Hurvin Anderson (b. 1965, Birmingham, United Kingdom) takes private and public gathering spaces as his primary subjects. People do not figure as prominently in these paintings as do the spaces they inhabit: cafés, country clubs, public parks, childhood homes and private residences converted into barber shops—small businesses that were central meeting places for Caribbean immigrants to London in the 1950s and 60s. Born in Birmingham of Jamaican parents, Anderson informally catalogues the history of that community in Britain through the spaces they inhabit. The Studio Museum in Harlem is thrilled to exhibit works from Anderson’s “Barbershop” series and other paintings in his first solo museum show in New York.

Whether capturing landscapes in a late-Impressionist manner or reducing scenes of interior architecture to their basic patterns and designs, Anderson’s paintings are a fresh synthesis of abstraction and figuration. He presents places saturated with history, meaning and memory—much like Harlem. This offering of his paintings continues the Studio Museum’s commitment to the presentation of international exhibitions such as Chris Ofili: Afromuses (2005) and Flow (2008).

Hurvin Anderson is currently on view until April 19, 2009, at Tate Britain in London.

Adam Pendleton’s studio, Dawit Petros’s studio, Khalif Kelly’s studio

An artist’s studio. Not your usual studio, as there are in evidence no brushes, no color, no canvases. Instead is the clutter of found objects…

The above description of David Hammons’s Harlem studio in the early 1990s could also be applied, in fact and spirit, to the Artist-in-Residence studios now occupied by Khalif Kelly, Adam Pendleton and Dawit Petros. Traditionally, the artist’s studio is understood as a place where the artist focuses intently on creating and fabricating art objects. The “studio” for these three artists is more expansive, one of many sites—both physical and virtual—where art can be made.

Painter Khalif Kelly is the closest to a traditional studio artist among this year’s residents, though his process looks to pop culture more than high art. His fauvist canvases, which feature children in various scenarios of play and recreation, take their inspiration from 1980s fashion trends and video games, 1930s animation and cinematic storytelling devices. With dexterity in digital image production, Kelly often “sketches” his scenes on a computer before translating them to canvas.

Frequency (2005) alum Adam Pendleton silkscreens on canvas and, at times, works with ceramics or other sculptural objects. Regardless of his choice of materials, Pendleton considers language his medium, working in the tradition of the avant-garde language poetry movement that demonstrated how the meanings of words shift with every new context. Pendleton superimposes and deletes letters over images or arranges objects like an alphabet in space to create new and multiple ways of “reading”.

Dawit Petros recently participated in Flow (2008) with a photography and installation project that showed the remarkable similarities between east African, Canadian and southwestern American landscapes. While a resident, Petros has decided to take the Harlem landscape as his subject and base, walking these historic streets to create a visual archive, as well as a series of postal exchanges with Eritrean immigrants across the world.

Different conceptions of the studio space—how it used, represented and shared—converge with this year’s residents. A shift in emphasis, from making artwork to doing the work of making art, takes their work beyond media and outside the walls of the studio.

John Farris, “Is It Reel or Is It Memorex: Out of His Window,” Parkett 31 (1992): 40–42.

Photo: Russell Watson

Each January, The Studio Museum in Harlem pulls together a group of insightful and highly motivated teens from all over New York to explore the themes of the work of celebrated Harlem Renaissance photographer James VanDerZee. Over seven months, participants in this program, called Expanding the Walls, work closely with members of the Museum’s educational and curatorial staff to investigate the cultural landscapes immortalized in VanDerZee’s historic images. Through this exploration, the young artists are encouraged to examine, in photographs, their notions of community, identity, history and culture. Their conclusions and questions are then presented in an exhibition that juxtaposes their images and selections from the Museum’s VanDerZee archive. Curated by the program participants in collaboration with Museum staff, this highly anticipated annual exhibition is part of the Museum’s summer offerings.

Also, keep an eye out in July for specially designed tours for seniors led by Expanding the Walls participants. These tours provide an invaluable opportunity for the public, the participants and the Museum to engage in a historically informed intergenerational dialogue about VanDerZee’s timeless work and the urgency of the work of these young artists.

The 2009 Expanding the Walls participants are Aishah Abdullah, Jordana Churchman, Adriana Frazier, Marley Gonzalez, Courtney Howell, Avalon Jackson, Loodjie Louisca, Kelsey Mills, Tiana Mincey, Ashley Moore, Rakeisha Mulligan, Sasha Smith, Tatiana Toribio and Brandon Venable.

Romare Bearden, Prelude to Farewell, 1981, The Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of Altria Group, Inc. 08.13.2

Collected. Propositions on the Permanent Collection presents fourteen takes on the permanent collection of The Studio Museum in Harlem. This set of exhibitions, which includes over two hundred works in a wide range of media, is intended to give multiple perspectives and views on the art of which this Museum is so proud to be the guardian. While a chronological approach allows us to understand how art develops over time and a thematic one helps us to see the relationships between artists, this set of exhibitions takes, in some cases, idiosyncratic approaches to investigating, presenting and analyzing the works of art that the Museum has collected over the last forty years.

Founded in 1968, the Studio Museum began with a mission to present the work of African-American artists and artifacts of the African diaspora. In the Museum’s early history the mandate to collect was strong, with the idea that for the Studio Museum to have a place in the museum world it had to establish a permanent collection. The Museum was very fortunate to have the vision of the founding directors and curators, as well as the generosity of many artists and donors, with which to begin a collection that documents the achievements of artists of African descent.

Over the years there has also been a strategic focus on acquiring works by artists in our exhibitions and from our Artist-in-Residence program. Collected is significant because it charts this history of the Museum. It is an important record of our mission, from New Additions: Recently Acquired Works on Paper, which takes a sweeping look at prints, photographs, collages and drawings new to our collection; to A Family Affair, which looks at the conscious and coincidental relationships between artists who share not only love of art, but also family bonds; to the Highlight sections, each of which focuses on a singular artist or work of art, allowing an in-depth investigation of its subject and how the work relates to the collection.

Organized by the curatorial team, Collected gives us an opportunity for reflection on the great treasures that we steward, and we hope it will prompt a wonderful discussion about art made now and history as seen through the works. Also, it is always wonderful to present works that are not permanently on view. We hope that long-time friends of the Museum will see some old favorites. And we hope that those new to the Museum will see works that will make you want to continue to visit in the years to come. Throughout the Museum’s history we have proudly shown the collection and have been honored to loan works around the country and the world. We are thrilled that at this moment we can highlight our collection and prompt a new era of exploration and presentation.

Photo: Grant Delin

Kalup Linzy: If it Don’t Fit is the first museum survey of the artist’s work, and includes over twenty videos made over the last seven years, a drawing suite and a one-night acoustic performance. From his original take on the soap opera and sketch comedy genres to his music videos and filmic shorts, this compilation tracks the artist’s clever and complex approach to questions or race, gender, class, sexuality and national identity. The title, If it Don’t Fit, is appropriated from a song Linzy used in a recent video. With innuendo and double entendre, this blues lyric speaks to both the disappointments and hopes of attempting to belong to aesthetic genres, social categories and intimate relationships.

Linzy first presented his cast of comedic and dramatic characters at the Studio Museum in African Queen (2005), and then again in Frequency (2005), a group exhibition of emerging artists. Since then, he has continued to work as a writer-director-actor and singer-songwriter. His work draws on a variety of American pop- and counter-culture genres, including early video and performance art, gay drag performance, reality television competitions and YouTube videos.

The video component of If it Don’t Fit is organized into three hour-long programs, on view throughout the duration of the exhibition. Each highlights a recurring theme in Linzy’s work. Taking its point of departure from the artist’s ongoing negotiation of love, longing and loss, The Pursuit of Happyness features both narrative and music videos. Da Churen brings together works from the artist’s iconic “Churen” (2003-05) series, which traces a set of family archetypes, narrated over a series of phone calls. Finally, Ride to Da (Art) Club juxtaposes videos that self-reflexively take on issues of ambition and belonging in the contemporary art world as well as the pop music and club scene.

Visit studiomuseum.org/kaluplinzy to download free new music by Kalup Linzy!

Click here for the video program and screening times.
Click here to download the exhibition brochure.

Shinique Smith: Like it Like that, Installation view, Photo: Adam Reich

Multimedia artist, Shinique Smith, has activated the Studio Museum Project Space with Like it Like that, an installation designed specially for the gallery. A Frequency alum known for her practice spanning sculptures made of clothing, collage on walls and paper, painting and drawing, Smith creates colorful works that tread the lines between accumulation and loss, containment and scatter, legibility and scribble.

Created by Smith like an improvisational dance, Like it Like that joins the explosive energy of graffiti writing with the spontaneity of Abstract Expressionist painting. Though evoking an urban street scene from afar, upon closer inspection one realizes the mural is saturated with personal effects, especially from the artist’s youth. Thus the gallery reflects less a public space and more an intimate retreat from authority and a shrine to all things “cool” that obsess modern youth. Accessible through the Main Gallery and adjacent to the new auditorium, the Project Space is a dynamic gallery dedicated to site-specific works and other projects and installations.

Lorna Simpson, Tree, 2009, Courtesy the artist

The Studio Museum’s ongoing series, Harlem Postcards, invites contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds to reflect on Harlem as a site for artistic contemplation and production. Represented, revered and recognized by people around the world, Harlem is a continually expanding nexus of black culture, history and iconography. Venerable landmarks such as the Abyssinian Baptist Church, Apollo Theater, Hotel Theresa, Audubon Ballroom and 125th Street remain popular emblems of important historic moments and moods. Installed in the Museum lobby and available to visitors, Harlem Postcards presents intimate views and fresh perspectives on this famous neighborhood. This season we feature images by Nicole Cherubini, Arnold J. Kemp, Lorna Simpson and Lan Tuazon.

Photo: Joshua Okrent

StudioSound invites musicians, producers and musical innovators to create original compositions inspired by the works on view. For this season’s installment of StudioSound, Guillermo E. Brown has created crack unicorns, an original piece in direct dialogue with the Museum-wide exhibition Collected. Mimicking the exhibition’s organization and collective curatorial vision, Brown’s piece is divided into twelve sections, each addressing a different era or aspect of the presented works. Interested in both illuminating and tapping into the works themselves, he is also engaged in assisting viewers in making the (literal and figurative) switch from street to gallery. Sonically filling the museum’s lobby, crack unicorns ushers viewers into the Museum and prepares them for the diversity and breadth of the permanent collection. Adding another layer to his “wild sounds that activate pictures inside other humans,” crack unicorns is a unique and distinctive aural experience.

Hear free new music by Guillermo E. Brown!

Visit studiomuseum.org/studiosound-guillermo-e-brown to download “Shuffle Mode”, the title track off his latest album.