Elsewhere
RSSYinka Shonibare’s Message in a Bottle
Hybrid Citizen-Ship
Entering Trafalgar Square in London, it was nearly impossible to miss the curious installation of an impressive ship in a bottle. Placed atop the Fourth Plinth in front of the National Gallery from May 24th 2010 to last week, was the whimsically oversized model Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle (2010) by British Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare, MBE. Shonibare, celebrated for his potent, yet playful, post-colonial perspective and symbolic use of West African textiles, last exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem in a 2002 solo show. His recent site-specific sculpture across the pond was commissioned by the Mayor of London and Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group as part of a contemporary public art initiative.
Absorb/Diffuse
Jennie C. Jones at The Kitchen
Fans of the Studio Museum's Studio Sound series will love Absorb/Diffuse, Jennie C. Jones's solo exhibition at The Kitchen that explores the mechanics of sound and how it is experienced. Curated by Matthew Lyons, the exhibition's focus is From the Low, an original score commissed by The Kitchen that Jones meticulously composed using samples culled from appropriated sources. Absorb/Diffuse also features Jones's Acoustic Paintings, mixed media works that combine soundproofing foam and other materials. The exhibition is currently on view but it ends October 29th so make sure to catch it before it closes!
A New Yorker Heads West
An Art-Filled L.A. Weekend
It was with great excitement that I traveled to Los Angeles two weekends ago to participate in the kick-start of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, a six-month initiative highlighting the rich and evolving art scene of this vibrant city. Having been born and raised in New York City, I have come to cherish its unique cultural history—claiming “Museum Mile” as my own backyard and its prestigious museums as my playground. Yet while inherently proud of New York-centric cultural movements such as the Harlem Renaissance and abstract expressionist painting, arts of the West Coast have always held a strong element of intrigue for me as well: pop, performance, conceptual art, collaboration! It was thus with keen anticipation that I embarked upon finally experiencing this Western cultural locus in person.
Performa 09: Back to Futurism
RoseLee Goldberg in conversation with Shirin Neshat and Wangechi Mutu
Celebrating the newest publication by Performa Founding Director and Curator RoseLee Goldberg, Performa 09: Back To Futurism surveys the New York visual art performance landscape as it was during the last Performa biennial in 2009. Though it might seem a bit belated for the release of such a book, Goldberg’s intent is not just for the present, but for the “art historians of the future,” thirty years from now, who will use documents like this and the two previously published volumes to get a snapshot of what was going on with live performance art in 2009.
Live from Pacific Standard Time
A healthy contingency of Studio Museum representatives flew to Los Angeles this weekend to check out Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, a region-wide initiative to celebrate the birth of the L.A. art scene. Funded by The J. Paul Getty Trust, 60+ cultural institutions in Southern California are simultaneously showcasing exhibitions that highlight major L.A. art movements from 1945-1980.
Rico Gatson
Three Trips Around the Block
Rico Gatson opens his mid-career retrospective entitled Three Trips Around the Block tonight at Exit Art. A frequent exhibitor at The Studio Museum in Harlem, Gatson participated in the groundbreaking group show Freestyle (2001), curated by Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem. Gatson's work - videos, performances, sculptures and paintings oftentimes dominated by kaleidoscopic imagery and high-contrast patterns - conceptually mines the process of mourning and liberating tragic African American histories.
Sanford Biggers: Sweet Funk - An Introspective
Congratulations to former Studio Museum artist in residence Sanford Biggers on his first solo museum exhibition in New York, opening today at the Brooklyn Museum. Sweet Funk - An Introspective is a focused selection of thirteen pieces that includes Blossom (2007): a large gnarled tree bisecting a jauntily placed piano, whose keys move to an eerie carnival tune from some unseen actor. Meant as a glimpse of his past work, this show touches on themes that pervade Biggers’ oeuvre: pianos, performance art, trees, painted quilts, whiteface, Buddhism and the circus. Organized by Eugenie Tsai, John and Barbara Vogelstein Curator of Contemporary Art. Open to the public Septempber 23, 2011–January 8, 2012.
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Curated by Yona Backer and Göran Hugo Olsson, The Black Power Mixtape includes film stills, never-before-seen footage and ephemera from the documentary of the same name which is screening at select theaters in New York.
On view at Third Streaming through October 15, 2011.
"Becoming" at the Nasher Museum of Art
Drawing from scholar Stuart Hall’s notion of cultural identity as both a state of "becoming" and "being," the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and Toronto collector Kenneth Montague present Becoming: Photographs from the Wedge Collection, a collaboration pulling together a collection of over 100 works from artists of African descent within the last century. The show is on view at the Nasher Museum through January 8th, 2012. Featuring the works of such noted artists as Dawoud Bey, Malick Sidibé, Hank Willis Thomas, and Mickalene Thomas the exhibition presents over 60 artists throughout the African Diaspora.
Check It Out
Converging Voices, Transforming Dialogue: Selections from the Elliot and Kimberly Perry Collection
Converging Voices, Transforming Dialogue: Selections from the Elliot and Kimberly Perry Collection
Converging Voices, Transforming Dialogue truly seeks to highlight the extraordinary contributions by artists of the Diaspora including Ernest Crichlow, Charles Sebree, iona rozeal brown and Kehinde Wiley among others. The former NBA player and his wife began collecting in 1996 and since then have amassed an amazing collection of modern and contemporary works by artists of African descent.
Presented by the Texas Southern University at the University Museum, the exhibition will be on view through August 21, 2011.