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Thelma Golden on the AIDS Memorial Park
Thelma Golden from AIDS Memorial Park on Vimeo.
Ishmael Houston-Jones: PLATFORM 2012: Parallels
The following is an excerpt from Ishmael Houston-Jones’s curatorial statement, which appears in the catalogue for PLATFORM 2012: Parallels. Join us on February 2 for our public program The Artist's Voice: Ishmael Houston-Jones in Conversation with Wangechi Mutu and Thomas J. Lax, where you can purchase a copy of the catalogue. More info about Parallels programming, here.
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The Winter/Spring 2012 Issue of Studio Magazine Is Here!
The latest issue of Studio magazine has arrived and we couldn't be more thrilled! In honor of the Bearden Centennial, this issue has four different covers featuring artworks by Leonardo Drew, Glenn Ligon, Julie Mehretu and Brenna Youngblood that are currently on view in The Bearden Project.
Art Basel Conversation
The Evolution of Museum Missions
“How do we keep museums relevant and essential to our cultural landscape and life?” This was the fundamental question driving the Art Basel Conversation “The Evolution of Museum Mission” between four contemporary art museum directors on Friday December 2nd in Miami. Author and Arts Consultant András Szántó moderated the four female directors (including Studio Museum Director Thelma Golden), stating that there has been more change in the art world and museum institutions in the past 10 years than in the past 100 years. This notion is especially applicable for contemporary art museums: given their topical focus, they encompass perhaps the most sizable and accelerated evolutions in terms of not only art representation, but also mission.
Isaac Julien
Against the Tides of Globalization
Acclaimed British filmmaker and installation artist Isaac Julien turns primarily to visually elaborate and technologically sophisticated installations of the moving image to express his urgent fascination with global human movement. Columbia University’s recent World Leaders Forum teamed up with the Mellon Visiting Artist & Thinkers Program to host a talk by Isaac Julien with Carol Becker, Dean of Faculty of the School of the Arts. Dean Becker highlighted this unique choice of featuring an artist for the World Leaders Forum – proclaiming that geopolitically-minded and creative innovators, such as Julien, are particularly significant cultural leaders today.
Three Trips Around the Block
Thelma Golden in Conversation with Rico Gatson at Exit Art
Rico Gatson sees the potential for art in everything: he allows his everyday experiences to inspire his work. Recently at Exit Art, Gatson and Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem, treated an audience to an engaging conversation about Gatson, his artwork, and his influences. Three Trips Around the Block, now on view at Exit Art, is a survey of 15 years of Gatson’s work.
Who, What, Wear
Where Style Meets Substance
Who, What, Wear: Selections from the Permanent Collection, opening this Thursday at the Studio Museum in Harlem, frames style as substance. This exhibition aims to question how what one wears ultimately fashions the body as a symbolic vessel of meaning. Whether this meaning be social, cultural, or political, the clothing we put on our bodies speaks loudly – and if desired, proudly.
Aesthetic of the Cool
Dr. Robert Farris Thompson in conversation with Dr. Lowery Stokes Sims
“If you don’t know by now, don’t mess with it,” Dr. Robert Farris Thompson stated at the start of his program at the Studio Museum two weeks ago –followed quickly by a spirited promise that he was, indeed, going to “mess with it.”
“It” being, of course, the topic of the evening: Afro-Atlantic art. Last Thursday the Studio Museum galleries were filled to the brim with guests, eager to hear from two of the most prestigious art historians of our time. On the occasion of the release of Dr. Thompson's Aesthetic of the Cool: Afro-Atlantic Art and Music, the author sat down with Dr. Lowery Stokes Sims, Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, and former Studio Museum President, to discuss his concept of the “cool” in Afro-Atlantic culture.
Thank You Target Free Sunday's Families and Friends!
As October comes to a close and we say goodbye to the wonderful works in our summer exhibition season, we at the Studio Museum would like to say THANK YOU to all the wonderful friends and families who joined us for Target Free Sunday this season!
Whether making insightful comments about the works on view or sharing your creativity with us by donating your beautiful masterpieces to the Museum, we sincerely thank you for sharing your Sundays with us. For our fall/winter exhibition season, we will continue to have activities for all ages to enjoy including tours of our new exhibitions, hands-on activities such as greeting card making for the holidays, and a few other surprises!
30 Americans at the Corcoran Gallery
Every once in a while, we are gifted with an exhibition that reminds us just how spectacular black art can be—30 Americans is that exhibition. Now on display at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C., 30 Americans features 76 works from the Rubell Family Collection by 31 black artists—many of whom sparked my interest in art.
Imagine three decades of artwork created by some of America’s most influential artists; the show was grand to say the least. It’s hard to pick highlights from a show with so many fantastic works, but visitors flocked to works by Kehinde Wiley, Nick Cave, Jean Michel Basquiat and Mickalene Thomas.