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Holding a Mirror to Ourselves: Genevieve Gaignard in The Powder Room
“We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay – and rise!” ~Dr. Maya Angelou We are arguably our most vulnerable when we are alone with a mirror. It’s…
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New Definitions (and Questions) of Power Emerge in a Show Featuring Black Women Artists
For 3 years I have dedicated the month of February to daily posts that celebrate black artists. It was a personal writing challenge as much as it was an artistic one because I wanted to expand my knowledge of black contemporary artists that were underrepresented in traditional arts publications. The artists I featured have greatly influenced the work that…
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Octavia E. Butler: Telling My Stories
When artists leave us too soon we are reminded of their greatness in the items they left behind. Musicians have libraries of unreleased tracks or compositions, photographers leave behind negatives, contact sheets and undeveloped film, painters have hidden canvases or incomplete work and writers leave behind their words—ideas that weren’t fully developed, concepts that never came to…
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Kevin Beasley at the Hammer
Last month Daily Serving featured my shotgun review of Kevin Beasley’s current installation at the Hammer Museum. Check it out! The installation will be on view at the Hammer through April 23, 2017. Daily Serving: Hammer Projects: Kevin Beasley at the Hammer Museum For more on Kevin Beasley click here.
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Talking Heads: Jimmie Durham & Wangechi Mutu
I recently encountered two similar works of art, one in L.A. and the other online: the first is by an artist with a 40+ year career who has self selected out of the U.S. art scene for over 2 decades and the second is from a Kenyan born artist with a Brooklyn based practice…
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Artist a Day Challenge, 2017 Finale (28): Augusta Savage
As we close out Black History Month and usher in Women’s History Month, today’s post on Augusta Savage made sense for a number of reasons — the most important being that today is the artist’s birthday. Born on a leap year 125 years ago, Augusta Savage’s life story still resonates and her career exemplifies an unyielding determination to her art and a strong dedication to her…
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Artist a Day Challenge (27): Kerry James Marshall
As I near the end of my Artist a Day Challenge for Black History Month, I bring you to the very first name on my list of artists to feature this year, and that is Kerry James Marshall. Mastry, Marshall’s critically acclaimed and highly anticipated retrospective is finally coming to MOCA Los Angeles in March after its two successful runs…
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Artist of the Day Challenge (26): Henry Taylor
Upon graduating from Cal Arts in the mid 90’s, Los Angeles artist Henry Taylor has cultivated a career as a portrait artist who uses his medium to connect with his subjects. That familiarity shows through in his work as most of his portraits come from impromptu encounters with the people who find themselves in his orbit: family, friends andhomeless people in…
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Artist of the Day Challenge (25):Kevin Beasley
I’m currently writing a separate piece on Kevin Beasley’s current installation at the Hammer Museum, but I thought I would highlight him in my artist a day challenge as well. Artists that incorporate sound into their work interest me these days because they activate their environments in an entirely new way. Some of Beasley’s ghost like…
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Artist a Day Challenge (24): Mark Bradford’s Homage to the Roxy
I have this mythologized view of New York that I have created entirely from the city’s nightclub scene between 1973 and 1987. The Loft, the Gallery, the Paradise Garage and the Roxy sit at the center of this utopia, with the music in these venues acting as the heartbeat of the city. Notice I didn’t mention Studio 54, because in my…
Colony Little, Culture Shock Art 