-
Seeing Double at MOCA
Kahlil Joseph: Double Conscience It’s a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.” ~ W.E.B Du Bois For me, a great litmus test for a good piece of…
-
Museum Week 2015
If you are on Twitter or Instagram follow #MuseumWeek to hear from your favorite cultural institutions. I love this global community and it’s great to see this digital campaign that brings together thought leaders in the curatorial and cultural institution sectors with their all-important patrons and visitors. https://vine.co/v/OY2ElHvpmVU/embed/simple
-
Artist a Day Challenge: Hank Willis Thomas x James Baldwin
For the past week I’ve been thinking about James Baldwin; so much so that I was searching for an original copy of “The Price of the Ticket”. In the meantime, it’s Armory Week in NY and all I am hearing about is Hank Willis Thomas and his art.sy collaboration. While looking at Thomas’ work on-line…
-
Artist a Day Challenge No. 26: Mickalene Thomas
Mickalene Thomas has a unique style that is nothing short of bodacious. Her colorful, glitter infused portraiture work is commands your attention and invites you delve into a deeper understanding of the person that is being portrayed. Her use of interiors and recent pivot to abstract portraits were a mystery to me because I couldn’t connect the…
-
Artist a Day Challenge No. 25: Patrick Kelly
Saturday’s and Elsa Klensch were about as regular as watching Soul Train for me in the 80’s, and when I first saw Patrick Kelly on Klensch’s CNN weekly style rewind, I was inspired. He was one of the first black designers I ever saw and he was one of the first designers that made an…
-
Artist a Day Challenge No. 24: Beauford Delaney x Ella Fitzgerald
This painting by Beauford Delaney out of all his portraits of fellow artists really stuck out to me, not just because it is a beautiful piece, but I wonder why he chose to obscure the Queen of Jazz, Ella Fitzgerald amongst this colorful palate of brushstrokes. Delaney’s work transitioned from figurative to abstract upon his…
-
Artist a Day Challenge No. 22: Carrie Mae Weems
There are photographers that make me wish I was in an MFA program for creative writing. Their work begs for a story to be told. This is how I feel about Carrie Mae Weems’ Kitchen Table Series. Using a simple setting Weems was able to create a rich albeit fleeting glimpse at complex relationship dynamics in this series of photographs. This…
-
Artist a Day Challenge No. 21: Charles Gaines
There is something so oddly compelling about Charles Gaines work. The first time I saw one of his pieces, it was a beautiful piece seen from a distance. When I looked up close I was hit with a puzzle I still cannot figure out. Up close was a pixellated mass consisting of uniform squares containing numbers. I…
-
Artist a Day Challenge No. 20: Kehinde Wiley
Los Angeles born artist Kehinde Wiley has developed his career in New York as a portrait artist whose work is being celebrated in an exhibition that recently opened at the Brooklyn Museum. In “A New Republic” his work depicts men and women placed in traditional forms of portraiture fusing that history with a present day aesthetic. It is…
Colony Little, Culture Shock Art 