Category: Contemporary Art
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Artist a Day Challenge No. 17: The Kara Walker Challenge
Kara Walker’s art disturbs me. The first time I experienced her work, I was in Arcana Books in Culver City and I found a catalog from one of her cut out shows (I think it was at the Walker Art Center). I was drawn by the nostalgic look of the cutouts which on some cellular level tapped into fond memories. Then…
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Artist a Day Challenge No. 14 “Art Is” by Lorraine O’Grady
One day I was sitting in my hair stylist’s studio where she has a small table with a dish of candy on it. A man in the studio, displeased by the offerings in the dish lamented, “Why don’t you have any black candy?”. “Black Candy?” A playful argument ensued, but I found the question absurdly random. Why must…
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Artist a Day Challenge No. 13: Performance Art
Admittedly, one area of conceptual contemporary art that I infrequently explore and struggle to comment on is Performance Art. In 2014 the Walker Art Center curated a performance art exhibition that showcases black artists and their contributions to this unique creative medium. Radical Performance was the first large-scale retrospective of its kind. Curator Valerie Cassel Oliver…
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Artist a Day Challenge No. 10 Basquiat & Golden Boys
In 1983 Basquiat took an extended leave from NYC to live in Los Angeles. Accompanying him was the reclusive, eclectic musician and artist Rammellezee and painter Torrick Ablack (aka Toxic). Basquiat was at the apex of his career at this time and during this trip to Los Angeles he tried to leverage his fame to encourage art world powerhouses to…
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Artist a Day Challenge No. 9: Lorna Simpson
This series of collages by Lorna Simpson of embellished photographs and cutouts from Ebony magazine just beg for a story to be told. These traditional photos with their bold swaths of color that form these beautiful plumes of smoldering smoke look like some type of artistic Rorshach test. Simpson purposefully wants us to draw our own conclusions from her…
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Artist a Day Challenge No. 8 Terry Adkins
Terry Adkins passed away one year ago today. It was clear that during his diverse career he was a creative catalyst for many as a professor and multi-disciplinary artist. I like the way he turns his subjects and concepts on their end by highlighting a little known or under-appreciated aspect of them. In this way he…
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Artist a Day Challenge No.3: Alison Saar
“Spiral Betty” by Alison Saar is such a great piece because I think it cuts to the essence of black women and our relationship with our hair; it is a never-ending journey. For some it is a struggle, for others a mask, and with the renaissance of the natural hair movement, many celebrate it. Our hair journey is…
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Keith Haring & The Political Line: Timeless Observations on Politics and Power
I was in San Francisco during the holidays and was able to experience The Political Line at the De Young Museum. This retrospective of Keith Haring took a curatorial deep dive into the artist’s creative psyche. The show highlights his portfolio of work that addresses race, power, sex, political conflict, the environment and technology. This is…
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Zeros and Ones- Existentialism, Innovation and the ZERO Network
“I AM NOT A NUMBER!” ~The Prisoner, 1967 It’s funny where your mind goes when you see a piece of art. The Guggenheim featured some incredible images of “White Balloon” by the late Otto Piene. The piece is installed in the Guggenheim’s rotunda as part of “Zero: Countdown to Tomorrow”, the museum’s latest exhibition exploring the Zero movement. When I saw White…
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The Subversive Trickster: Kara Walker on Creating a Pretty Curse
In anticipation of the Broad Museum’s opening in 2015, the museum is hosting a lecture series called the Un-Private Collection. The sessions are designed to introduce the public to the Broad’s collection and the corresponding artists behind the works. The latest installment in the successful series featured a discussion with Kara Walker hosted by Director Ava…
Colony Little, Culture Shock Art 