The Studio Museum in Harlem

Transcription

/ Fall • Winter 2005–06
The Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine / Fall • Winter 2005–06
COLLECTOR’S
ISSUE
From the Director
SMH Board of
Trustees
wide variety of media. However,
I do believe that Frequency is a
snapshot of the current moment
we live in, and just as Freestyle
ushered in a new generation of
artists, I believe we are about to
become acquainted with some
of the most exciting new voices
in contemporary art.
When it comes to art, never say
never. After the tremendous
success of Freestyle in 2001, I
had both privately and publicly
acknowledged that there might
no longer be a need for me to
organize group shows featuring
the works of emerging black
artists. At the time, I argued
that what the Studio Museum
needed most was original ideas
that differ from everything we
had done before. While I still
feel the need to express our
museum’s mission in as many
innovative ways as possible,
I continued to see so much
incredible artwork that I couldn’t
resist the opportunity to present
a group show that highlighted
the best new artists I could find.
Along with Christine Y. Kim,
the Studio Museum’s Associate Curator, I am happy that I
changed my mind as we present
Frequency, a new show that
continues the Studio Museum’s
support of young talent.
I want to thank all of the supporters of the Frequency exhibition
for their unwavering support and
their considerable generosity:
The Andy Warhol Foundation
for the Visual Arts, The Peter
Norton Family Foundation,
The Horace W. Goldsmith
Foundation and David Teiger.
This has been a momentous
year for our Artists-in-Residence, both past and present.
Kehinde Wiley (2001-2002)
recently produced all of the
artwork for the VH1 Hip-Hop
Honors, a ceremony honoring
the great talents of the hip-hop
Frequency should not be
misconstrued as Freestyle
II; it is not a reprise, nor is it a
continuation of the themes that
the Freestyle artists explored in
2001. These are different artists
exploring a range of ideas in a
community, including LL Cool J,
Salt-n-Pepa and Grandmaster
Flash and the Furious Five. If
you have seen reproductions of
these paintings on billboards
and in subway stations around
New York City, you can attest to
their breathtaking beauty and
originality. Kehinde’s work is
always thought-provoking and
I truly look forward to what he
comes up with next.
Operation of the Studio Museum in Harlem
is supported with public funds provided by
The New York City Department of Cultural
Affairs and the New York State Council on the
Arts, a state agency. Major funding is also
provided by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation
and The Carnegie Corporation of New York,
with additional support from The New York
Times Company Foundation, The Horace W.
Goldsmith Foundation, JP Morgan Chase, LEF
Foundation, The Scherman Foundation, Inc.,
gifts in memory of Joyce Wein, estate of Irene
Wheeler; Goldman, Sachs & Co., American
Express Company; Clifford L. Alexander, Altria
Group Inc.,Bank of America, The Cowles
Charitable Trust, Credit Suisse First Boston,
New York Stock Exchange Foundation, Pfizer,
Inc., The Norman and Rosita Winston Foundation, Inc., Lord & Taylor, Pierre and MariaGaetana Matisse Foundation, The Moody’s
Foundation, Morgan Stanley Foundation and
The Young & Rubicam Foundation.
It is with great pride that I also
congratulate artist Julie Mehretu
on her being awarded a
MacArthur “genius” grant this
past September. Julie has a
long, rich history with the Studio
Museum as an Artist-in-Residence (2000-2001) and as a
part of 2001’s Freestyle. I am
thrilled that the MacArthur Foundation recognized the talents of
an important artist such as Julie
Mehretu.
The 2005-2006 Artists-in-Residence have a lot to live up to, but
I’m sure that their work will exceed
our greatest expectations. I am
thrilled to introduce Rashawn
Griffin, Clifford Owens and Karyn
Olivier to our program and supporters. Please keep an eye out
for these great talents around the
museum.
And finally, I would like to take a
moment to remember the wonderful legacy of Joyce Wein, a
member of the Studio Museum’s
Board of Trustees for the past 11
years. (See page 40 for a beautiful
remembrance of a truly wonderful
woman.) She will be sorely missed
here at the Studio Museum.
See you around and definitely
uptown ...
The Studio Museum in Harlem is proud to
be a cultural arts partner of WNYC, New York
Public Radio.
Raymond J. McGuire
Chairman
Carol Sutton Lewis
Vice-Chair
Reginald Van Lee
Treasurer
Gayle Perkins Atkins
Kathryn C. Chenault
Paula R. Collins
Gordon J. Davis
Anne B. Ehrenkranz
Susan Fales-Hill
Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Sandra Grymes
Joyce Haupt
Arthur J. Humphrey,Jr.
George L. Knox
Nancy L. Lane
Dr. Michael L. Lomax
Tracy Maitland
Rodney M. Miller
Eileen Harris Norton
Corine Pettey
David A. Ross
Charles A. Shorter, Jr.
Ann Tenenbaum
John T. Thompson
Michael Winston
Karen A. Phillips
ex-officio
Hon. Kate D. Levin
ex-officio
Studio
Ali Evans
Editor-in-chief
Samir S. Patel
Copy editor
Rujeko Hockley
Jared Rowell
Editorial Assistants
Original Design Concept
2x4, New York
Art Direction and Design
Map, New York
Printing
Cosmos
Communications, Inc.
Studio is published three times
a year by The Studio Museum
in Harlem, 144 West 125th St.,
New York, NY 10027. Copyright © 2005 Studio Magazine.
All material is compiled from
sources believed to be reliable,
but published without responsibility for errors or omissions.
Studio assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or
photographs. All rights, including translation into other languages, reserved by the publisher. Nothing in this publication
may be reproduced without the
permission of the publisher.
Please email comments to
[email protected].
Thelma’s photo: Timothy
Greenfield-Sanders
Julie Mehretu: Jerry L. Thompson
Kehinde Wiley: Biggie Smalls / 2005
courtesy of Deitch Projects and Kehinde Wiley
Studios
Cover image: Jeff Sonhouse / Inauguration
of the Solicitor / 2005 / Collection of David
Beitzel, New York
Hank Willis Thomas
Liberation of T.O.: Ain’t no way I’m go’n in back ta’work fa’massa in dat darn field
2004
Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY
02 / what’s up Frequency / Harlem Postcards 14 / upcoming exhibitions Energy
/ Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964 – 1980 / Africa Comics
16 / artists-in-residence 19 / elsewhere Sam Gilliam / Yinka Shonibare / Snap
Judgements / Edgar Arceneaux / Thornton Dial / Faith Ringgold / Slavery in
NY / Malcom X / Margaret Garner 22 / feature A Portrait of the Artist 34 / The
Frequency of Black Art Shows 36 / catalogue excerpt 37 / feature Joyce Wein
38 / artist commission Mark Bradford Willard Brown 40 / icon Gordon Parks
42 / feature wePod 47 / profile More in Store 48 / 3 questions Robin Rhode 49 /
collection on loan 50 / profile Kadir Nelson 51 / coloring page 52 / education
53 / public programs 54 / artist abroad Camille Norment 55 / harlem where
we’re at 60 / museum store 62 / ask a security officer
Xiomara De Oliver Allegory of Some Bombshell Girls-only in flamingo grass, (detail), 2005 courtesy of the artist and Angles Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
02 /
what’s up
Studio / Fall • Winter 2005–06
03 /
Frequency:
November 9, 2005–
March12, 2006
02
03
01
Frequency is a survey of new work by 35 emerging artists. Living and working in the United States and
ranging in age from 25 to 46, these artists work in all media. Their influences vary from folktales to hiphop, from non-western aesthetics to abstract painting, and from tattoo design to album covers. With
more than 85 works in painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, video, digital animation and mixed
media, Frequency exemplifies the non-thematic, non-linear climate of contemporary art today.
The Studio Museum’s groundbreaking exhibition Freestyle (2001) identified a group of young artists who emerged as the next generation of indicators and pacesetters. Freestyle had an immense impact on the understanding of contemporary black art and this Museum’s
relationship to it. It brought into the public consciousness the concept of “post-black,” a term coined by Studio Museum Director and
Chief Curator Thelma Golden. This curatorial concept identified a generation of black artists who felt free to abandon or confront the
label of “black artist,” preferring to be understood as individuals with complex investigations of blackness in their work. Post-black art
became a stance in the quest to define ongoing changes in African-American art, and ultimately became part of the perpetual redefinition of blackness in contemporary culture. This widely debated idea took on a life of its own in the public realm, not only in art, but also in
popular culture and cultural studies.
Nearly five years later, Frequency (commonly mistaken as Freestyle II) continues this tradition with a new group of artists. Co-curated by
Thelma Golden and Christine Y. Kim, Associate Curator, there are no prevailing themes in this exhibition, except perhaps an overwhelming
sense of individuality. As its title suggests, Frequency pinpoints and assimilates divergent sounds, situations and phenomena. The uses
of imagery and materials in this exhibition are wide-ranging and experimental: rhinestones, sand, matches, cowrie shells, handmade
set designs, appropriated sports footage, family snapshots, found objects from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and black contemporary and
historical icons such as Harriet Tubman, Paul Robeson, John Coltrane and Terrell Owens. In each work, aspects of American culture are
re-imagined and refined for new purposes.
01 / Demetrius
Oliver
Till
Courtesy of Inman
Gallery,
Houston, TX
2003/2005
Since opening in 1968, the Museum has played a catalytic role in its support and presentation of diverse works by established
and emerging black artists. Frequency continues the Studio Museum’s role as a site for the dynamic exchange of ideas about art
and society.
02 / Rodney
McMillian
Frequency is funded in part by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Peter Norton Family Foundation, The Horace W.
Goldsmith Foundation and David Teiger.
chair
Collection of
Gaby and Wilhelm
Schuermann,
Aachen, Germany
2003
04
03 / Zoë Charlton
Blow (Undercover
Series)
2005
04 / Wardell
Milan
Burning Giraffe:
Love pt. 4
Courtesy of the
artist and Taxter &
Spengemann, New
York, NY
2005
04 /
what’s up
05 /
what’s up
01
04
05
05
03
01 / Xiomara de
Oliver
Love Nuggets
Courtesy of the
artist and Angles
Gallery, Santa
Monica, CA
2004
02 / Robert A.
Pruitt
02
CEO Portrait
(Talented 10th
Series)
Collection of David
Alan Grier, Los
Angeles, CA
2004
03 / Leslie Hewitt
riffs on real time
(2 of 10)
2002-05
04 / Wayne Hodge
Doppelganger
(video still)
2004
05 / Roberto
Visani
Corner Cutters
2005
06 / Hank Willis
Thomas
Branded Head
Collection of The
Studio Museum in
Harlem.
Museum purchase
made possible by
a Gift from Anne
Ehrenkranz, New
York.
2003-05
07 / Jeff Sonhouse
Inauguration of the
Solicitor
Collection of David
Beitzel, New York
2005
06
07
06 /
what’s up
01
07 /
what’s up
05
06
07
08
09
10
03
01
02
01 / Kwabena
Slaughter
Span
2004
02 / Sedrick E.
Simmons
High Seasoned
Brown
2004
Huckaby
07 / Jefferson
03 / Rashawn
Invisible Man
(video still)
2005
A Love Supreme
2003
Griffin
Untitled (portrait)
2002-03
04 / Nick Cave
Sound Suit
Courtesy of Jack
Shainman Gallery,
New York, NY
2004
05 / Jonathan
Calm
Scratching
Chance (video still)
Courtesy of Caren
Golden Fine Art,
New York, NY
2005
03
06 / Xaviera
Pinder
08 / Kalup Linzy
Conversations wit
de Churen III: da
Young and da Mess
(video still)
2005
09 / Shinique
Amie Smith
Bale Variant No.
0006
2005
10 / Lester Julian
Merriweather
Meredith
2005
04
08 /
what’s up
01
01 / William Vil-
05 / Michael Paul
lalongo
Britto
The Centaur’s Kiss
2005
02 / Mickalene
Thomas
Instant Gratification
(Brawling Spitfire
Series)
2005
03 / Jina Valentine
Appetite for
Destruction: Top
40 Best Selling
Albums Ever
2005
04 / Marc André
Robinson
Untitled (Crusade
Fragments) (1 of 9)
2005
Dirrrty Harriet
Tubman (video still)
2005
09 /
04
05
06
07
06 / Isaac Diggs
Bling #2
2002
07 / Nyame O.
Brown
Battle for the break
of dawn...it goes
on, an on, an on,
an on...
2005
08 / Karyn Olivier
Doubles
Courtesy of the
artist and Dunn &
Brown Contemporary
Dallas, TX
2005
02
08
03
what’s up
10 /
what’s up
11 /
what’s up
01
04
03
01 / Nzuji de
Magalhães
Eta: A Proverb by
my Mother (detail)
2005
02 / Paula Wilson
Turf (detail)
2005
02
03 / Mike Cloud
Untitled 2 (African
Ceremonies:
Volume I and II)
Courtesy of the
artist and Max
Protetch Gallery,
New York, NY
2005
04 / Kianga Ford
Urban Revival
2005
05 / Michael
Queenland
Flight of Shelves
2005
06 / Adam
Pendleton
History
2005
Courtesy of the
artist and Yvon
Lambert, New York
and Paris
05
06
12 /
what’s up
Harlem Postcards
13 /
what’s up
Fall•Winter 2005–06
01
02
03
04
Louis Cameron
Rashid Johnson
Adia Millett
Nadine Robinson
Born 1973, Columbus, O.H.
Lives and works in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Born 1977, Chicago, I.L.
Lives and works in New York, N.Y.
Born 1975, Los Angeles, C.A.
Lives and works in New York, N.Y.
Born 1968, London, England
Lives and works in Bronx, N.Y.
One of the qualities of photography I like most is its ability
to depict a specific moment in time, frozen, available for
future generations to witness and explore. This is a quality that I cherish in the photographs of James VanDerZee.
His pictures of Harlem give us a window into the past and
let us see the people and places that have shaped what
Harlem is today. As a result, my Harlem Postcard project
is a response to the photographs of VanDerZee. I have set
out to rephotograph places in Harlem that VanDerZee had
photographed in the past. Many of the places do not exist
anymore. However, there are a few that do and have not
changed much, such as The Abyssinian Baptist Church
and VanDerZee’s old studio on Lenox Avenue, around
the corner from The Studio Museum in Harlem. Yet the
photograph that I chose for the postcard is a restaging of
VanDerZee’s The Hotel Theresa, 1933.
As a young artist, I was first introduced to the streets of
Harlem through the lens of the photographer Roy DeCarava. His influence, without question, helped mold the conceptual strategy that I employ today. When I made this
image, I felt it was a chance to document my first Harlem
image-making experience. There is nothing more genuine
than proving that you are actually in a space. I think of this
photograph as an homage, a chance to visit the home of
one of my heroes.
As artists we often have a tendency to allow every moment,
sound, image and even taste to become metaphors for the
experiences and people in our lives. This familiar scene
of a pigeon eating fried chicken on 132nd Street, in its
absurdly simple way, captured more than words can say.
National Geographic magazine, a prominent journal of
photographic essays, has done many projects documenting the cultural and physical changes in Harlem from its
Renaissance to its recent neo-renaissance, and for the
last couple of years there’s been interest in its cache as
a land and property. I hope they haven’t forgotten about
its people.
I am primarily interested in the hotel as a link between the
past and present. I am also interested in the difference
in the structure between the two periods. In the original
photograph the focus is “Theresa Bar & Grill and Theresa
Tap Room” on the ground floor of the hotel, an elegantlooking establishment that appears to have catered to the
guest. In the same spot today, there are Church’s Chicken
and White Castle, fast food restaurants that cater to the
thriving pedestrian traffic of 125th Street. The difference
in these photographs illustrates the shift in business interest in the Harlem community. In the end, my photograph
becomes yet another moment in the history of this building and the Harlem community.
01 / Louis
02 / Rashid
Cameron
Johnson
The Hotel Theresa
(after James
VanDerZee)
2005
the coolest nigga
you never did see
2005
You used to be my lover.
The eastern American coastal pigeon will never hesitate
to get up in your face; will eat out of the palm of your hand,
but only for a little while; and will devour his distant cousin
... if deep fried.
03 / Adia Millett
You used to be my
lover
2005
04 / Nadine
Robinson
Gold Crush (Barry
in West Harlem)
2005
Before I met Barry on the corner of 126th Street and
Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, I had been placing my
large fake gold nuggets all over Harlem for a few days.
My goal was to go fishing—the “nuggets” would function as shiny bait for people to interact with and touch,
and as luck would have it, Barry was the only one who
actually picked them up and offered his person for my
photographic project. He was interested in the idea of
oversized gold nuggets and delighted when I said that
gold prospecting and mining still go on in parts of Alaska,
Australia and even North Carolina. Barry wanted to buy
more gold jewelry and thought of all the new pieces he
could add to his meager collection of a gold cross, ring
and “chapereta” watch ... all obviously fake ...
Barry held on to his new collection of “gold” and I gave
my find of large nuggets to him for sharing his time and
body with me ...
Barry, the human “gold” detector ...
14 /
upcoming exhibitions
Energy / Experimentation: Black Artists and
Abstraction, 1964-1980
April 5–July 2, 2006
15 /
Africa Comics
November 8, 2006 – March 18, 2007
01
02
01 / William T.
Williams
Trane
1969
Collection of The
Studio Museum in
Harlem
Gift of Charles
Cowles
02 / Melvin
Edwards
Cotton Hangup
1966
Collection of The
Studio Museum in
Harlem
Gift of Mr. and Mrs.
Hans Burkhardt
In the Spring of 2006, The Studio Museum in Harlem will present Energy/Experimentation:
Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964-1980, a group exhibition guest-curated by
Dr. Kellie Jones.
Energy/Experimentation explores the strong voice of abstract art-making that developed during the second half of
the 20th century. Working in both painting and sculpture, this group of artists committed themselves to innovation
in structure and materials. While the figuration of the 1960s and 1970s is well known through the works of Romare
Bearden, Betye Saar or artists connected with the Black Arts Movement (the focus of the groundbreaking SMH show
Tradition and Conflict in 1985), less explored abstractionists, such as Sam Gilliam, William T. Williams, Al Loving,
Joe Overstreet and Howardena Pindell, were steadfast in their use of non-objective visual language. Energy/Experimentation will present the painting and sculpture of 15 artists whose work challenged artistic, technical and social
boundaries and assumptions during this period.
Asimba Bathy
(Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Kinshasa non completa
The Studio Museum in Harlem, in conjunction with Africa e Mediterraneo (Bologna, Italy),
will present the first exhibition of African comic art in the United States.
Africa e Mediterraneo, a non-profit cooperative, was created in 1997 to foster intercultural education between Italy
and Africa, and developed the first serious contemporary investigation of comic art in Africa today. With narrative,
engaging humor, social awareness, history and myth, African comic art has achieved a wide range of recognition as
both an art form and a valuable medium for cross-cultural communication. The Studio Museum in Harlem will present
a selection of recent work in support of this vital art form, which is omnipresent on the African continent.
16 /
artists-in-residence
Meet the
Studio Museum
Artists-in-Residence
2005–2006
17 /
Karyn Olivier
Born
1968, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Education
1989, BA, Psychology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.
2001, MFA, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield
Hills, M.I.
“I engage objects and spaces by means of architectural
alterations and interventions. The spectator is asked to
cross the threshold between the exterior and interior of
the installation, foregrounding a physical and psychological response to the space. My interest is in collapsing
the distinctions between architecture and sculptural
objects, emphasizing instead their interdependence and
coalescence. This exploration into domestic spaces converges with my interest in nostalgia. Nostalgia functions
in my work through cultural references (memory-based
and imagined) and through art historical references,
notably minimalism.”
03
Rashawn Griffin
Born
1980, Los Angeles, C.A.
Education
2002, BFA, Painting, Maryland Institute College of Art,
Baltimore, M.D.
2005, MFA, Yale University, New Haven, C.T.
04
Clifford Owens
“In certain ways, my artistic practice is somehow comparable to finding ways to stake a claim in territories that
are not necessarily my own. With this in mind, my materials become things at hand, if not referencing my own
actions. The food I eat, clothes I wear, stuff I have, these
elements becoming grounding for re-interpretation of the
world around.”
Born
1971, Baltimore, M.D.
Education
1991–1992, University of Maryland, Baltimore
County, M.D.
1998, BFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I.L.
2002, MFA, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.
2000 – 2001, Whitney Museum Independent Study
Program, N.Y.
01
01 / Rashawn
Griffin
Fig Land
2005
02 / Rashawn
Griffin
Self Portrait
2005
03 / Karyn Oliver
Ridgewood Line
(BQT Ghost No.
6064)
2004
“If my statement read: ‘Everything I have to say about my
work can be read in the work itself,’ would that be an
adequate artist statement? If my statement read: ‘Everything I have to say about my work can be read in the
work itself, and if the meaning of the work is still unclear,
please refer to the work of another artist any artist, from
anonymous cave painters to William Cordova and Karyn
Olivier,’ would that be acceptable? After all, artist statements are less about art and more about art history, and
art history is not about art, it’s about art history.”
04 / Karyn Oliver
Untitled
2000/2005
05 / Clifford Owens
Skowhegan: Studio
Visit with Alix
Pearlstein
2004
06 / Clifford Owens
Tell Me What To Do
With Myself
2005
02
05
06
19 /
elsewhere: art beyond SMH
20 /
Completely Biased,
Entirely Opinionated Hot Picks
By Thelma Golden
04
01
02
Sam Gilliam: A Retrospective @
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
/ October 15, 2005-January 22, 2006 /
www.corcoran.org
Yinka Shonibare Selects Works from
the Permanent Collection @ The Nancy
and Edwin Marks Gallery, Cooper-Hewitt,
National Design Museum, New York /
October 7, 2005-May 7, 2006 /
www.ndm.si.edu
This exhibition is the first full-career retrospective of painter
Sam Gilliam and is the most extensive presentation of his
work to date, offering an opportunity to reassess his innovative ideas. Gilliam first achieved widespread acclaim When artists are asked to take on museum collections, the
in the late 1960s with his groundbreaking draped paint- results are often provocative and unexpected. This installings, which blur distinctions between painting, sculpture ation by Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare is no exception and
provides an interesting window on the collection of the Coop-
and architecture. In the past, critics have tended either to
explain Gilliam’s achievements as the work of a Washington Color School artist or situate his work within the confines of an African-American art tradition. To concentrate
too much on either account is to miss the brilliance and
scope of his remarkable career and his significant contributions to abstraction. Gilliam will also be featured this
spring in the Studio Museum’s Energy/Experimentation:
Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964 – 1980.
er-Hewitt . Shonibare is the third guest curator in a series
in the Nancy and Edwin Marks Gallery in which outside
artists, writers and critics are invited to draw from CooperHewitt’s permanent collection to create themed exhibitions. Shonibare has focused on modes of transportation,
as exemplified by objects he has chosen relating to motion
and travel and acquired by the museum’s founders, the
Hewitt sisters.
Here’s some must-see
exhibitions that I’m not
going to miss!
Also on view is a presentation on vernacular photography
from the ICP collection. Little is known about the private
lives of African Americans in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. Their social transactions took place, for the
most part, outside of public view and often away from the
camera’s lens. This exhibition offers a glimpse into the
rarely seen everyday lives of African Americans through
variety of photographic genres and poses: formal studio
a
03
portraits, casual snapshots, images of children, images
Snap Judgments: New Positions in
of uniformed soldiers, wedding portraits and “SouthContemporary African Photography ern-views” made for tourist consumption. While some
of the sitters were celebrities of their days, the majority
and African American Vernacular
are unnamed Americans posing for portraits. The images
Photography: Selections from the
attest to photography’s ability both to record personal history for private uses and to be seen as a document of social
Daniel Cowin Collection @ The International Center of Photography, New York / history. This exhibition and its catalogue explore the ICP’s
Daniel Cowin Collection of African American History, a
December 9, 2005-February 26, 2006 /
trove of over 2,000 postcards, stereographs, cartes-deviste, tintypes, albumen prints and gelatin silver prints.
www.icp.org
Taken together, these ephemeral images provide an imporFew curators or scholars have done more to enlarge our tant window into African-American cultural life from 1860
sense of art from the African continent than my friend Okwui to about 1930.
Enwezor. Each of his exhibitions have expanded my view
and my sense of the world immeasurably. Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography will be the first major U.S. presentation to focus
on photo-based artwork from the African continent since
1996. Over 200 works by 35 artists from across the African continent, the majority of whom will be exhibiting in
the United States for the first time, will be presented. The
exhibition will seek to define the nature of contemporary
African art, which has emerged against a background of
05 / Unidentified
03 / Cindy and
/ Carol Harrison 02 / Yinka
historical change. The four sections comprising Snap 01
Man on a MotorNkuli
Shonibare
Sam Gilliam in his
cycle
Lolo Veleko
Figure of Eleanor
Judgments—landscape, urban formations, the body and studio, photo C
Unidentified
2003
Hewitt
2005
identity, and history and representation—reflect important
Courtesy Goodman Photographer
2005
ca.1936
Gallery,
themes being addressed by African artists today.
Johannesburg.
Copyright Lolo
Veleko
20 /
21 /
legacy produced by enslaved people and honors New Yorkers—black and white—who fought to erase the “peculiar
institution” from the city and state. Material from the Soci-
’t
Don !
s
Mis
ety’s collection—ledger books of slaving voyages, ads
for runaway slaves, manuscript records of New York’s
first abolition society, the first paintings of black New
Yorkers — is supplemented by treasures from the British
Library, the New York State Archives, Colonial Williamsburg and other great repositories.
the person known variously as Malcolm Little, Detroit Red,
Malcolm X and El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. More significantly, the exhibition poses questions about the nature of
the developmental journey that Malcolm Little pursued to
become El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. The subtitle, A Search
for Truth, focuses the interpretive dimensions of the exhibition on the process and products of his driving intellectual quest for truth about himself, his family, his people, his
country and his world.
Margaret Garner @ The Opera
Company of Philadelphia /
February 10-26, 2006 /
www.operaphilly.com
01
Edgar Arceneaux: The Alchemy of
03
Comedy, Stupid @ Gallery 400, Univer- Faith Ringgold: Mama can sing, Papa
sity of Illinois, Chicago / March-May 2006 / can blow @ The Art Gallery at the Univerwww.ulc.edu
sity of Maryland, College Park / October 5,
The Alchemy of Comedy, Stupid breaks down comedy rout- 2005-December 10, 2005 /
ines into non-sequential segments in order to examine how www.avtgallery.umd.edu
As a writer, Toni Morrison’s words have illuminated
aspects of my life and had a profound affect on me.
Margaret Garner is a theatrical adaptation of her seminal novel, Beloved. Beyond the historical significance
a joke is structured, how a distinct mental process underlies
what we routinely experience as an involuntary response.
and issues of law, Margaret Garner, as conceived by
Richard Danielpour and Toni Morrison, will speak to
audiences on a purely human level. It is an opera that
confronts the remembered horrors of enslavement
and Civil War-era America, while also conveying
the enduring resonance and irrepressible power of
the human spirit. Also, I am curious and intrigued by
another musical adaptation now on Broadway—The
Color Purple. I am truly looking forward to seeing how
such deeply moving words on paper can be translated to the musical stage.
The exhibition highlights the renowned artist’s newest story
Arceneaux’s video, which stars actor / comedian David quilts, paintings, drawings and prints depicting jazz musicAlan Grier, who worked with his own material in front of a ians and singers. The exhibition is organized in conjunction
live audience, will be presented in a gallery space trans- with ACA Galleries, New York.
formed with echoes of the video shoot sites, as well as
related works in sculpture and drawing.
Check
It
Out !
05
Malcom X: A Search for Truth @
The Schomburg Center for Research in
Black Culture, New York / May 19, 2005December 31, 2005 /
www.nypl.org/research/sc/
02
Thornton Dial in the 21st Century
@ Museum of Fine Arts, Houston / Through
January 8, 2006 / www.mfah.org
In a work by Thornton Dial, one witnesses the intense struggle of the artist to master the demanding materials he has
deliberately acquired to make art . It is the visible tension
I hope you all have seen the amazing exhibition on view at
the Schomburg, Malcom X: A Search for Truth. If you haven’t,
04
that characterizes Dial’s three-dimensional works. Equally Slavery in New York @ The New-York
adept in the media of painting, assemblage, sculpture Historical Society, New York / October 7,
and works on paper, Dial creates art that is arresting for 2005-March 5, 2006 / www.nyhistory.org
its power and insight, and for its visual flights of freedom. Dial’s work can be, by turns, humorous, reflective The New-York Historical Society presents the story of slavand challenging.
ery in this great city, a story that reveals the rich cultural
it continues to be on view until December 31, 2005.
The exhibition is based in part on the collection of personal and professional papers and memorabilia of Malcolm X that was rescued from auction in 2002 and placed
on deposit at the Schomburg Center by the Shabazz family. Malcolm X: A Search for Truth uses the materials from
this extraordinary collection and other collections from
the center. These never-before-exhibited materials present a provocative and informative perspective on the life of
01 / Edgar
04 / Mrs. Pierre
Arceneaux:
The Alchemy of
Comedy, Stupid
Toussant
photographed by
Grant Therkildsen
2005
02 / Ground Zero:
Nighttime All Over
the World
Thornton Dial Sr.
2002
03 / Mama Can Sing
Faith Ringgold
2004
Anthony Meucci
1920
05 / Malcolm X On
University Tour
Photography
by Robert L.
Haggins,Malcolm
X Collection,
Photographs and
Prints Division,
Schomburg Center
for Research
in Black Culture,
The New York
Public Library
22 /
feature
23 /
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST
It’s easy to become overwhelmed when faced with an entity as vast as Frequency, an exhibition containing more
than 70 works of art by 35 different artists. Though united by the fact that these 35 emerging black artists are
each creating some of the most exciting and compelling
work of 2005, there is little else to unify them. Beyond
the wide range of media represented and the diversity
of age and geography, there is an even vaster range of
inspirations and ideologies informing their practices and
production. Each artist’s work stems from a different
source; each is moved to create by a different impulse.
To showcase this diversity of thought and practice, we
asked each artist one question: What word or sentence
best describes your work or art practice? Their considered individual responses and self-selected visuals follow below. Enjoy this window into the mind of the artist.
Demetrius Oliver Stacked , 2004, Courtesy of Inman Gallery, Houston, TX
Rujeko Hockley, Curatorial Assistant
24 /
feature
25 /
feature
ZOË
CHARLTON
MICHAEL
BRITTO
“Drawing is my primary studio activity. The drawings have
a sketched quality that signifies a subconscious
process of thinking ... I am intrigued by racist and sexist
jokes because, like racist imagery, they pinpoint stereotypes
that affect the perceived identities of individuals ...
I am dealing with visual prejudices and the relationships
that we have with each other.”
“I like to think of my work as familiar and new.”
NYAME
BROWN
“I am trying to make African-American
Allegorical Paintings, making
connections to the African Diaspora
to create new ways of seeing the
African than through history’s two
dimensional stereotypes.”
JONATHAN
CALM
“My work combines and loops images that reflect and
explore the layered memories of my many
neighborhoods and the multiple meanings they
accumulate through time.”
“Shamanism.”
NICK
CAVE
MIKE
CLOUD
“I make art the way I do
because of the relationship
I want to have with my
audience.”
ISAAC
DIGGS
“Synecdoche.”
KIANGA
FORD
“Today I think the work is about feeling. It’s true that it’s after Said’s Other
and after Fanon’s arrested gaze and after Butler’s fluid performativity
that I set these little stages/stage these little sets; but, as a viewer, you’re
not supposed to be researching, or realizing, or coming to some
great understanding, you’re just supposed to be feeling the space and
feeling yourself and feeling other people and feeling other people
feeling you and maybe, only maybe, wondering what that is all about.”
26 /
feature
27 /
feature
RASHAWN
GRIFFIN
SEDRICK
HUCKABY
“Intuition / Intellectual
Improvisation / Control
Spontaneity / Order.”
“Salty.”
KALUP
LINZY
LESLIE
HEWITT
“Organized chaos.”
“Grounded in everyday situations.”
WAYNE
HODGE
“A fragmented history that sits upon
the throne of desire.”
NZUJI
DE MAGALHÃES
“My work is a mingled documentary,
a strong storyteller, and a visionary that shows what could only be seen
in thought.”
RODNEY
McMILLIAN
“I guess I’m interested in the spaces
around the corner which are sometimes right in front.”
28 /
feature
LESTER
MERRIWEATHER
“Grind.”
29 /
feature
KARYN
OLIVIER
“Holding pattern.”
WARDELL
MILAN
ADAM
PENDLETON
“Phantasmagoric.”
“LAB.”
DEMETRIUS
OLIVER
“‘The most valuable thing is intuition.’
–Albert Einstein”
JEFFERSON
PINDER
“Stark.”
XIOMARA
DE OLIVER
“A queer relationship
between perception & actuality.”
ROBERT
PRUITT
“Proving that we use to exist.”
30 /
feature
31 /
feature
SHINIQUE
SMITH
MICHAEL
QUEENLAND
“Ecstatic.”
“Last night I went to a Sonic Youth concert,
and there in the front row was
Stanley Kubrick! With a digital camera held
high over his head, making high
quality boot-leg videos ... I was really
shocked, but immediately wanted to see
what he had done with the footage ...
Somehow I knew they would be hard to find
and expensive, even for a bootlegs.
The Marvin Gaye bootleg Live at The
Kennedy Center ’73 was at least a couple
of hundred dollars on the streets.”
MARC ANDRÉ
ROBINSON
“Rad.”
JEFF
SONHOUSE
“Tenebrific.”
XAVIERA
SIMMONS
“A soul deep feeling for the black
vernacular in the landscape.”
KWABENA
SLAUGHTER
“‘What could a mime create if they ever
stopped making that damn box.”
MICKALENE
THOMAS
“A representation of the beauty that is BLACK
WOMAN ... she works hard for the money!”
32 /
feature
HANK WILLIS
THOMAS
33 /
feature
ROBERTO
VISANI
“Mulatto in the middle.”
“Songha: The conundrum of
eclectic blackness.”
JINA
VALENTINE
PAULA
WILSON
“I excise the most idiosyncratic bits
from my modern language & remix
all the exquisite minutiae that is
the glue between us.”
“Representation, ***lost love,
opposition, and ownership
disputes (why not reparations!?!).”
WILLIAM
VILLALONGO
“Re-vision.”
34 /
feature: from the president
The Frequency
of Black Art Shows:
Ruminations on a
Phenomenon
By Lowery Stokes Sims, President, The Studio Museum in Harlem
35 /
In the Spirit of Resistance: African-American Modernist
and the Mexican Muralist School, organized by the American Federation of Arts, which examined long-standing relationships and common themes among Mexican and black
American artists in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. We can also look
at Afro-American Abstraction, organized at P. S. 1 in 1981
by April Kingsley, which examined abstract tendencies in
the work of black artists through the lens of African art
and culture. This past year, Valerie Cassel’s Double Consciousness: Black Conceptual Art since 1970 at the Contemporary Art Museum in Houston examined this overlooked
phenomenon among black artists, and The Studio Museum in
Harlem takes up the cause of abstraction again in spring 2006 in
Energy/Experimentation: African American Artists and
Abstraction, 1964-1980, curated by Kellie Jones. This exhibition can be seen as the companion to Black Romantic, which
Thelma Golden organized at The Studio Museum in Harlem
in 2002 to examine elements of desire and romance around
black images that are particular to figuration and the
black experience.
01 / Lowery
02–03 / Freestyle
Stokes at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art
installation views
April 28 – June 24,
Photo: Photograph
studies,
The Metropolitan
Museum of Art
1972
All of these projects demonstrate how cogent concepts can
legitimize all-black exhibitions. The viability of Frequency
may then be determined in this context. If Freestyle is any
indication, its reception will not be predicated on the fact of
it being an all-black exhibition, but the fact that an institution committed to the work of black artists is presenting
some of the most dynamic new art being created today.
[1] Sam Gilliam, interview with Joseph Jacobs, Since the Harlem Renaissance: 50
years of Afro-American Art, exhib. cat. (Lewisburg, PA: The Center Gallery of Bucknell
University, 1984)
Photo: Adam
Reich
2001
03
01
It’s fall and it’s 2005. Four years after Freestyle, its survey
of the new generation of emerging black artists, The Studio
Museum in Harlem is presenting Frequency, the follow-up
to that ground-breaking exhibition, curated by Director
and Chief Curator Thelma Golden and Associate Curator
Christine Y. Kim. Four years later, we once again raise the
issue of the viability—nay, the validity—of all-black exhibitions. That premise is questioned as those of us who are
“senior” members of the black art community remember a
time when group exhibitions of black artists were anathema
and curators who dared such ventures were roundly accused
of “essentializing” the work of black artists. So why are we
doing this all over again?
There are, of course, nuances to the current situation that
distinguish it from the past. Back in the 1970s, as mainstream institutions yielded to the demands of black artists
for inclusiveness and diversity, black shows tended to be
hodgepodges of styles and political inclinations. Figurative
and abstract artists were included in the same projects, and
the roster of participants was often predicated as much on
02
an individual’s willingness to be part of any given project as
by any curatorial fiat. There could be a myriad of reasons
why an individual artist would participate one time and not
another. As Sam Gilliam once noted, he and Mel Edwards
would consider “the quality of the exhibition, the quality
of the catalogue and various things like that.”[1] Other artists worried about being ghettoized as black artists and not
seen in the context of their white contemporaries who were
of similar stylistic or philosophical leanings. This situation
remained largely unchanged during the ensuing decades.
There were, however, glimmers of a new approach to
this issue. In line with its core mission to promote black
artists globally, The Studio Museum in Harlem organized
all-black shows, but its directors and curators resisted
the “hodgepodge” approach with such projects as Tradition and Conflict: Images of a Turbulent Decade: 1963-1973
(1985), Harlem Renaissance: Art of Black America (1988),
and Explorations in the City of Light: African American
Artists in Paris, 1845-1965 (1996). That same year, 1996,
The Studio Museum in Harlem was also the first venue for
Freestyle Artists:
Top row : Mark S. Bradford, Susan Smith-Pinelo, Julie Mehretu, Rico Gatson, Clifford Owens, Eric Wesley, Tana Hargest, Rashid Johnson, Jennie C. Jones, Laylah Ali,
Kori Newkirk, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Camille Norment, Kira Lynn Harris, Arnold J. Kemp, Sanford Biggers, Senam Okudzoto, Kojo Griffin, Jennifer Zackman, Vincent Johnson.
Bottom row : John Bankston, Deborah Grant, Adia Millett, Nadine Robinson, Jerald Ieans, Louis Cameron, Dave McKenzie, Adler Guerrier.
Not pictured : David Huffman.
36 /
catalgoue excerpt
An Excerpt From: “A Frequency?
Other Criteria, Or, Something in the Way”
37 /
profile
In Remembrance of Joyce Wein
By Franklin Sirmans
I. A Frequency
In his 1925 manifesto, “Negro Youth Speaks,”1 the modernist critic Alain Locke said, “The Younger Generation comes, bringing its gifts.
Here we have Negro youth, with arresting visions and vibrant prophecies; forecasting in the mirror of art what we must see and recognize in the streets of reality tomorrow, foretelling in new notes and accents the maturing speech of full racial utterance.” He continues
his address to the visual arts with a thesis of defiant optimism (this being 1925 in America and Locke being a black man). “So, in a day
when art has run to classes, cliques and coteries, and life lacks more and more a vital common background, the Negro artist, out of the
depths of his group and personal experience, has to his hand almost the conditions of a classical art.”
That we may find sustenance in Locke’s words 80 years later is remarkable and a testament to his prose. Picture a time when America
knew little about modernism and played second fiddle to Paris, even though Duchamp and his readymades—everyday objects designated as art and placed in the appropriate context—lived in New York by 1915. And the Mexican muralists went full scale in the United
States by 1925. But Clement Greenberg, America’s modernist art critic of record, missed Duchamp in his little circle of taste and art
for art’s sake, and I forgive him for the short shrift he gave the Mexicans, whose highly political murals influenced countless others with
their own “racial utterances.” The space where Duchamp’s art of concepts and ideas intertwines with Mexican political murals finds
resonance to varying degrees in all American art since World War II. And, as Leo Steinberg wrote in 1968, American art after this period
“is unthinkable without this liberating impulse towards something other than art.”2
Locke’s words might have been taken as highly original then, but are even more prescient in the context of today. Substitute the word
“classical” for the more theoretical present-ness of, say, “paradigm-shifting” and delete “Negro,” and the sentence could be an adequate
rallying cry for the artists in this exhibition. Speaking of today’s contemporary art and the occasion of this exhibition, Locke’s thesisconcluding sentence—written after the first World War and before the Great Depression—bears strongly on the world of art and culture
today. While the 2001 annihilation of the World Trade Center is the first bookend to this essay, the other might be the “credible” threat of
terror since then—tipped off to our rich friends and museum directors (please hit me that e-mail next time) who know what’s going down
next week or next month on the terror front. (This excerpt is from the Frequency exhibition catalogue)
[1] Alain Locke, “The Negro Youth Speaks,” The Black Aesthetic, ed. Addison Gayle, Jr. (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1971) 16. (Originally published in 1925 in his
anthology The New Negro.)
[2] Leo Steinberg, “Other Criteria,” Other Criteria: Confrontations with 20th Century Art (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972) 62.
Photo by Ray Llanos
The better I came to know the inner fire of this
woman, the more I loved her, her spirit, her
gusty laugh, the more I understood her concerns
and joys.
The Studio Museum Harlem trustee Joyce Wein passed away in
August 2005. She served on the board since 1994. ... Together
with her husband George Wein, she was a tireless supporter of
the museum and an important collector of modern and contemporary art with an exemplary representation of the work of AfricanAmerican artists. The Weins also helped to support the museum’s
long-standing program Vital Expressions in American Art, by designating the museum as one of the city-wide sites for the annual
JVC Jazz Festival. The following reminiscence was provided by
long-time friends and associates Hugh and Jewel Fierce. Mr. Fierce
is the CEO of Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Jefferson Pinder and Jeff Stein , Carwash Meditations (video still), 2005
Joyce Wein possessed a set of values to which she quietly but tenaciously adhered and which unerringly guided and defined who she
was: truth, knowledge, honesty, hard work, giving spirit, kindness
and compassion. Out of this deep well sprang a subtle but demonstrative generosity for those she loved, especially George, as well
as those who needed her. She had no need of great recognition for
her acts. She gave because she cared. This was the best portion
of this good woman’s life. But, without doubt, Joyce had little tolerance for nonsense. She had only to reach out and grab your arm
tightly, hold up her hand or simply give that wide-eyed look for the
recipient to know that it was time to keep quiet and listen. She was
the teacher and her wisdom demanded respect.
Our friendship was not immediate, for Joyce was thoughtful, cautious, watchful. It evolved over the years, through many conversations, some late at night over our favorite cocktail in the quiet of her
lovely home in France. The better I came to know the inner fire of this
woman, the more I loved her, her spirit, her gusty laugh, the more
I understood her concerns and joys. Preparing meals under her
direct, and not-to-be-messed-with, supervision was a treat. Everyone knew how much she loved tennis, but I wonder how many knew
that she was the best Scrabble player or that she enjoyed puzzles
with a “kazillion” pieces. All fond memories.
I was with my friend the morning she received the news about her
health. She took it with dignity and strength and somehow managed over the next years to renew her courage to face life bravely.
We continued to have our talks, share laughter and have hope, but
eventually it was tinged with sadness because we both understood.
She is gone but we still smile at each other daily, for her picture
graces the counter where I have breakfast and serves as a reminder
of how precious she was and will always be. “Many people will
walk in and out of our lives, but only true friends leave footprints in
your heart.”
Commissioned / Mark Bradford in collaboration with Willard Brown
40 / icon
Icon
Gordon
Parks
Being a native New Yorker, I pride myself on not being
shaken at the sight of a famous person on the street. We
are surrounded by so many great minds, amazing actors
and inspired musicians that encountering “celebrity”
can become a regular experience. But I confess that if
I ever met Gordon Parks anywhere, ever, you would think
that Michael Jackson (of 1983) had just asked me to
replace Ola Ray as his girlfriend in the Thriller video.
The true definition of Renaissance Man, Gordon Parks
is an icon. He is a world-renowned photographer,
writer, composer, director and filmmaker who, at the
age of 93, continues to be a creative force. Born in Fort
Scott, Kan., in 1912, Parks was one of 15 children.
Taught to value honesty, education and hard work, he
was shaken by the death of this mother in 1927. Sent
to live with his sister in St. Paul, Minn., so he could
finish high school, he found himself homeless following
a dispute with his brother-in-law.
As a result, his amazing artistic career began in his teens
in the most honest and utilitarian of ways—he began
playing the piano and singing his own songs to make a
living. “I barely survived playing the piano in a brothel
and washing dishes at a dingy restaurant. But an urge
to create had taken hold, though the little art I had been
exposed to was that found in the funny papers. The closest thing to classical music I’d heard was the humming of
june bugs in Poppa’s cornfield.” [1] Invited to join a band
that later fell apart, Parks found himself stuck in Harlem.
It was there that he met his first wife in 1933. A year later
he returned to St. Paul and worked as a dining car waiter
and porter on the North Coast Limited.
ments—documenting the gang crime scene in Harlem
and covering upcoming Parisian fashions – exhibited
a duality which has spanned his entire career.
While working for the railroad, Parks discovered that
his love for creating led him to photography. He came
across a magazine that included images taken by
Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans and Ben Shahn for the
Farms Security Administration (FSA), an agency set
up by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of
the Works Progress Administration. Inspired by their
work, he took his first pictures in Seattle, Wash., during
a train run from St. Paul. He was given his first show by
Eastman Kodak shortly thereafter. Determined to make
a career in photography, Parks was awarded a fellowship in 1941 to work with photographer Roy Stryker at
the FSA in Washington, D.C. It was there that Parks met
Ella Watson and created an image that speaks about
the black experience in this country—American Gothic
(1942).
My first intimate experience with his photographs was
during the 1998 New York installation of his retrospective exhibition, Half Past Autumn (1997), curated by the
Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C. I will never forget
being drawn into the splendor, motion and emotion of
his images. I spent hours poring over his work, amazed
at his ability to give the poorest of the poor the same
sense of worth and beauty as the women in his fashion
photographs. I stood for hours, developing my own
relationship with Flavio da Silva and his family, and found In addition to The Learning Tree (1963), Parks has
elements of my own life in images of Harlem, Fort Scott
written several books including: A Choice of Weapons
and Paris.
(1966), To Smile in Autumn (1979), Voices in the Mirror (1990), Arias of Silence (1994) and the catalogue
But most of all, I was and am still amazed by the degree
accompanying his retrospective exhibition, Half Past
of access that this one man has. He has photographed
Autumn, in 1997. And on the eve of his newest autobiogroyalty, celebrities and common folk—capturing moments raphy, A Hungry Heart, A Memoir, and book of poetry
that I never knew existed or would be afraid to witness.
and images, Eyes with Winged Thoughts, The Studio
Museum and his self-proclaimed greatest fan pause to
Parks was a trailblazer not only for black artist, but for
recognize the amazing work, life and creative spirit of Mr.
American photography as well. He was awarded
Gordon Parks.
the National Medal of Arts in 1988 and has received
[1] Gordon Parks, Half Past Autumn (Boston: Bulfinch Press, 1998).
over 50 honorary doctorate degrees. In 2002, at the
active age of 90, he was inducted into the International
Jonell Jaime
Photo-graphy Hall of Fame and Museum and received
Manager of School , Family and Youth Programs
the Jackie Robinson Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award.
Photo by Johanna Fiore
Parks’ work at FSA laid a foundation for his future. He
became a photographer for the Office of War Information and photographed World War II black fighter pilots.
His eye later landed him a job as the first black fashion
photographer for Vogue. The idea of documentary
photography, however, the driving force behind his love
of photography, still was important to Parks. So, in 1948
he approached Life magazine to ask for a job. Impressed
by his work, they hired him the same day. His assign-
The long list of kudos and awards do not honor his
photography career alone. Parks touched our hearts and
minds in The Learning Tree (1969), a film adaptation of
his autobiographical novel of the same title. Capturing
his life in Fort Scott, this amazing movie, which Parks
directed himself, was placed on the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1989. And he will forever
be honored in the hallowed halls of black popular culture
as the director of the original Shaft (1971). This mark of
distinction was recognized by director John Singleton,
who included Parks in a cameo in the 2000 re-invention
of the film (remember the scene at the Lenox Lounge?).
42 /
feature
43 /
feature
wePod. Harlem. Shuffle.
By Kira Lynn Harris and Brian Keith Jackson >
SHUFFLE >
We’re pleased to introduce this new feature, which pairs
contemporary visual artists with writers. For this debut
edition, contemporary photographer Kira Lynn Harris
provided 10 of her images of Harlem to novelist Brian Keith
Jackson, who responded with his words.
Here’s what they both had to say.
FORWARD >
Outside my window, five floors down yet rising to
MENU/PLAY >
greet me, a horn blows. It’s not Ellington and Coltrane.
I put my iPod on a timeout. Every time I took it out for a
Rather, Dizzy. Cheeks and all. This is how I choose to
walk it was too demanding, refusing to share my ears.
interpret the sound, how I salve annoyance. I needn’t
I was missing something, needed more. But how can
get up from my desk to inquire why this horn is blowing.
we resist the sexiness of orchestrating the soundtracks I know the story well. Alternate Side Parking. Somefor our own movies, our names forever above the titles. one has double-parked on the dirty side of the street,
Forget the extras. A cat on its eighth life has no time
leaving another motionless. There is a time to be silent,
for curiosity. Hip Hop. Blues. Rap. Rock. Jazz. Folk.
but for the player of the horn, this is not it. We are not
They are all around me, providing life’s playlist, forever
always the only obstacles in our way. Eventually someon shuffle. But try as I may, I can’t truly hear them with
one comes. Riffs are exchanged. The blowing stops.
plugged ears.
The spit is disposed. Freedom.
The African women measuring heads along 125th
Street no longer call out to me. My hair is too short even
for their expert fingers. No “tweets” or “cahnrows” will
they sing. My hair, at this length, provides no cowrie
shells. They will give me time, hoping I will find my way
back. Perhaps I will. I’m an inch away. Cornrows. I’ll
tell her, “Not too tight.” She will say, “Okay.” I will still
feel the pull. Even the ghetto facelift needs healing
time. I will know the instant my head is worthy again. In
harmony, a mass choir of women will appear as I make
my way around the neighborhood. They won’t miss a
SHUFFLE >
beat.
An old song new. “Tweets. Cahnrows.” Harlem
“Come back to the Lord. Get your latest gospel CDs,”
has a history of measuring heads. While a student at
says the curbside prophet in front of the historic Hotel
Barnard, Zora Neale Hurston was sent to measure
Theresa. His suitcase is loaded with music keen to
them on this very street. One of her professors believed
spread the Word. When the word on the street is still
C-R-E-A-M. Cash rules everything around me. “Gospel Negroes were less intelligent due to head size. Absurd,
yes, but she measured with aplomb. She had tuition to
CDs. Three for five. Get ‘em while they’re hot.” Suddpay. Zora, like the African women, paid attention, never
enly the prophet zips up his suitcase. It is not the spirit
wasting an opportunity to move– ahead.
that moves him. It’s the approaching policeman.
44 /
feature
45 /
feature
SHUFFLE>
We now have almost as many drugstores in the neighborhood as churches. A young woman, in the latest
designer attire, has been detained for “allegedly” shoplifting in Duane Reade. “Allegedly,” is a musical word; it
skips off the tongue. Its definition: we have permission
to embarrass and fuck you up, without liability. Okay,
those aren’t the exact words that Mr. Webster used,
but some Liberties must be taken. Security stands with
the woman. She is not having it. She calls someone on
her cell phone, telling them to come. I envision a huge
SUV rolling up on the sidewalk, rims spinning, speakers pumping Kanye West’s “Gold Digger.” It’s about to
be on. Up in heah, up in heah. She closes her phone.
I wait in line as I watch. I hate scenes like this. I have
SHUFFLE >
been falsely accused before. According to statistics,
I go into a local café. Classical music plays. A fugue.
many just like me have been detained. I give her the
Two women are sitting a table away, Citarella bags at
benefit of the doubt. They want to look in her bag. She
their feet. While some people in the neighborhood pass
refuses. “Credit or Debit?” asks the cashier ringing me the day on a park bench, swapping tales and gossip,
up. “Debit,” I say. I’m buying floss. On closer inspecthese ladies do so over lunch. “Like the women before
tion – let’s go to the video – they find no stolen goods.
her and the women before her, she’s a white wine drunk.
She is let go. We walk out at the same time. “Are you
But since she only drinks white wine she doesn’t conokay?” I ask. “Oh, I’m fine. But they ‘bout to catcha
sider herself a drunk. It is true. She can hold her wine.
case.” My ears are now tuned enough to know that she But just like the women before her, it’s her pills that fuck
does not mean the bird flu.
her up.” Oh Lawd, your blues ain’t like mine?
SHUFFLE >
I walk through Mount Morris, Marcus Garvey, Mount
Morris Park. This park’s name has been changed so
much it would make P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, Sean Combs,
envious. Change does happen. I’ve always been fond
of this park. I’ve watched it turn from dirt to grass. It’s
a windy fall day and the leaves sing and dance. Wind
chimes. There is a rhythm in the drift of a falling leaf.
While growing up in Louisiana I’d heard that if you
catch a falling leaf, it’s good luck. I also learned that
luck stems from perseverance. Your number will hit. A
woman and man are walking toward me. I can’t tell how
old they are. Time has not been their keeper. That’s
Rock & Roll, Baby. “Why you always talkin’ down to me,
like I don’t know shit,” says the man to the woman. “Just
cuz you get up’n look in tha toilet, dat don’t make you
no expert on shit,” says the woman to the man. They
scurry past me, scanning the ground like squirrels
seeking their harvest. I crack a smile, pleased I was
there to catch their repartee. I will steal, er, appropriate,
er, sample, their words, and use them at some point. In
Harlem, everything seems up for grabs.
SHUFFLE >
The sun is setting. Night, soon come. The clouds and
the color of the sky merge. It’s a picture God created
and pollution intensified. Children are playing on the
street, cherishing the last days of warmth. Soon it will
be too cold to just chill. From a window, one of the
children has been called home. It seems kids are older
now. They move as they please. So the child tarries, not
heeding his mother’s summons. It is not long before
she appears, but not at the window this time. He’s not
as grown as he’d like it believed. I watch the scene. I
listen. The mother and son make their way into their
building. “Ah, man,” says one of the boy’s cronies.
“Ain’t nothin’ worse’n havin’ yo mama beat yo ass’n tha
street’n front of ever’body.” Another rings in as their
jeers rise, “Wit rollas’n huh hair.” They all laugh, as kids
should, when given the opportunity to be kids.
I laugh too.
46 /
feature
47 /
profile
Cheryl Riley
Artist
True beauty is in the details. Although there exist several
variations of this common phrase, one recent experience
I had with it was reading the September 2005 issue of
Essence magazine in which one of Cheryl Riley’s “one of a
kind furnishings” was featured. Numerous renderings of this
piece have been fashioned, and many more will be fabricated, but this particular design breathed new life into the
piece we know as the functional coffee table.
Committed to creating work that not only meets the needs
of the buyer but also speaks to her artistic objectives, Cheryl
Riley is an artist who goes the distance. Implementing her
unparalleled attention to detail, Riley is interested in the
“things people don’t see,” which is articulated in how she finishes the bottoms of her furniture designs.
This 22nd-century renaissance woman, who effortlessly
shifts between artist, designer, academic, consultant and
back to artist, credits her mother with encouraging artistic
exploration by allowing her to draw on a wall in their Houston, Texas home. As a result of this encouragement, Riley
has exhibited her work in over 25 museums and 50 galleries around the world, including the Smithsonian’s CooperHewitt, National Design Museum, where Coin Encrusted
Tudor Tables III (Elizabeth I) and IV (Henry VIII) (1982) were
not only museum purchases, but the sole furniture pieces
included in the Smithsonian’s traveling show. In addition to
making functional sculptures, Riley continues to push the
envelope of her artistic practice by creating wooden bracelets based on patterns from her furniture designs.
The products of this manipulated flow of deliberate spontaneity will be on view in the Museum Store for its third
installment of More-In-Store. There, Cheryl Riley’s Appropriation Bags, Because You’re Worth It mirrors, Baldwin Totems,
Hot Flash fans and unique wallpapers will be for sale.
These heirlooms-in-the-making range in subject matter from
the various readings and constructions of one’s self worth
to an homage celebrating the life and work of one of the
world’s greatest thinkers and controversial writers. Riley’s
musings can be found in many realms—art history, literature
and popular culture, to name a few—but one thing is clear:
you will definitely want one of her creations in your home.
SHUFFLE >
I sit back at my desk. The sun has set. I still hear
sounds. Cars, with no sense of urgency, continue
to move below. This time it is more Ellington and
Coltrane than Gillespie. I am in a sentimental mood.
I don’t always want to hear or listen. Often it is easier
to block everything out. If music is truly the universal
language, closing our ears to the sounds weaken
the exchange, the quest for understanding. I’m glad I
put my iPod on a timeout. I will take it out again, but
I needed to be reminded that my playlist isn’t the only
one worth hearing. Talk.
PAUSE/HOLD/CHARGING.
For more information:
www.cherylriley.com
[email protected]
Makeba Dixon-Hill
Education and Public Programs Coordinator
48 /
3Qs
Robin Rhode
ode
in Rh
b
o
R
n/
isitio
Acqu
w
e
N
49 /
collection
Collection:
On Loan
The Studio Museum in Harlem has over 1,600 pieces in
the permanent collection. Some of these works are on
view in venues around the world. Here are some works
to look out for:
02
Q: In the 51st Venice Biennale catalogue,
Thomas Botoux writes “Rhode’s modus
operandi is to depart from performances
that he stages either in the public space
or within the perimeter of museums and
galleries, in front of an audience, or in
private. Using chalk or charcoal, Rhode
executes elementary drawings of every-
A: I have taken on a disguise in my work
in order to create an entity anonymous to
my practice. The disguise is a simple gesture of wearing hats and common clothing
items, which has somehow allowed me to
develop into another character, an alter
ego. I also wish to shift away from hier-archical structures where the artist is sole
controller over the nature and process of
the work into a more relational and open
process. The artist body could therefore
identify itself with existing social bodies
and clandestine forms.
Q: You and Jun Yang (China/Austria) are
the youngest artists included in the Biennale. How old are you and how does
it feel to be exhibited alongside Francis
Bacon, Philip Guston and artists who are
two or more generations before you?
A: I turned 29 years old this year. It was a
revelation to exhibit alongside past masters and to focus around the importance
of a co-existence between art and a dialogue between generations, since we are
not only making art but constructing a
new history that should be engaging for
future generations.
FP
01 / Sam Gilliam
Lion’s Rock Arc
(Detail)
1981
Q: Critics have said that you “refuse
to conform to the standards that have
emerged in South African art.” What
does that mean to you?
02 / Betye Saar
Indigo Mercy
1975
A: This point extends beyond the geography of South Africa and could relate to
many other contexts. In certain instances,
many artists have chosen to use political
themes as a syntax for the realization of
art. I do not reject this notion of making
political art, but I have instead embarked
on a practice where forms could become
engaging to an extent that allows art to
become political.
Interview by
Christine Y. Kim, Associate Curator
01 / Robin Rhode
Stacked Drawing
(Detail)
2004
Collection of The Studio
Museum in Harlem
02
Shari Zolla
Registrar and Collections Manager
O
day life objects directly on the surface of
streets, floors and walls, and then by interacting with them like a mime, wiping
and redrawing.” In your live performances, stop-action animations, videos and
photographs, your body is rarely present. Why is this? Albeit from the back
and somewhat disguised, is this you in
Stacked Drawing? What is the relationship between your body or presence and
the work?
FP
01
Indigo Mercy (1975) by Betye Saar, a Gift of the Nzingha
Society, Inc., will be on loan to the Musee National d’Art
Moderne at the Centre Pompidou for the exhibition Los
Angeles–Paris, on view from March 8, 2006, to June 26,
2006. This exhibition is devoted to art of Los Angeles
from 1955 to 1985, and will include a number of significant and historical works by Betye Saar among many
others.
O
The Corcoran Gallery of Art has organized a multiplevenue tour, Sam Gilliam: A Retrospective, which will include a prominent piece from our collection, Lion’s Rock
Arc (1981), a Gift of Dr. Morton J. Roberts, Washington,
D.C. The tour originates at The Corcoran in Washington,
D.C., and proceeds to the Speed Art Museum, Louisville,
Ky.; the Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, Ga.; and the
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas, where the
exhibition will close in May 2007.
01
050
50 //profi
whats
le
up
Kadir Nelson
Illustrator
Studio
Studio// Fall
Fall •• Winter
Winter2005–06
2005–06
You never need to see a
children’s book illustrated
by San Diego-born Kadir
Nelson to be familiar with
his work. Many of us have
seen his dynamic images of
basketball players, Negro
League baseball figures
and scenes that celebrate
African-American history
and culture in paintings and
posters for sale all around
the country. But what you
may not know is that he was
the conceptual artist behind
the Oscar-nominated animated film Spirit: Stallion of
the Cimarron and the man
whose vision of the Middle
Passage brought Amistad
to life for director Steven
Spielberg.
and Major League Baseball. And for Playstation 2
fans, the amazing cover for
NFL Street II, featuring the
New York Giants’ Jeremy
Shockey, is his artwork as
well. Not into video games
or sports? No problem.
Movie goers and television
enthusiasts may recognize
Nelson’s unique paintings
from the sets of The Fresh
Prince of Bel Air, The Jamie
Foxx Show, Ice Cube’s
movie Friday and Beauty
Shop, starring Queen
Latifah.
51 /
coloring page
become an architect,” he
said. “Use my drawing ability for that.” But his heart
wasn’t in it. After changing
his major to illustration, he
never looked back.
Nelson is dedicated to
creating artwork that, “gives
people a sense of hope and
nobility ... I want to show the
strength and integrity of the
human being and the human
spirit.” In line with that mission, illustrating positive,
inspiring children’s books
is an important part of his
artistic career. Believing that
His success as an artist is no children’s books are a young
surprise. Citing his artistic
person’s introduction to the
ability at the age of three,
arts, Kadir has collaborated
Nelson acknowledges, “I
with notable authors and
have always been an artist
entertainers to bring incredHis large-scale oil paint... It’s a part of my DNA.”
ible stories to life. He won
ings have been commisSupported by his family, he
the 2005 Coretta Scott King
sioned by Sports Illustrated, was apprenticed at 11 to
Award for his work in Jerdine
Coca-Cola, Dreamyard
his uncle, artist and arts
Nolen’s Thunder Rose, a
instructor Michael Morris. It wonderful story about a
was then that he developed
young black cowgirl. He has
his foundation in art, a base worked with Debbie Allen
that won him an architecture on Dancing in the Wings, and
scholarship to the Pratt
he illustrated the bestseller
Institute in Brooklyn. “Some Please, Baby, Please, writpeople said that I should
ten by Spike and Tonya Lee.
Nelson was also awarded an
NAACP Image Award for his
images in Just the Two of Us,
written by Will Smith.
In addition to his commercial success, Nelson has
also exhibited internationally at many museums and
galleries. His work has been
shown at the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences in Los Angeles,
The Studio Museum in
Harlem, the Bristol Museum
in England and The Citizens
Gallery of Yokohama, Japan,
among other venues. His
work is in the private collections of Denzel Washington,
Debbie Allen, and Will Smith
and Jada Pinkett Smith.
Jonell Jaime
Manager of School ,
Family and Youth Programs
© 2005 Kadir Nelson
Cookieman created exclusively for
52 /
education and public programs
EMERGEncy:
Replenishing the Field
there is a void in almost every
professional arena and the art
world is no exception.
“how authentic is the talent?”
and, “why have these particular
people been selected?” come
rushing forward.
tion is given to understanding
legacies or nurturing critical
thinking professionals, I think
the transition made by these
Behind the scenes at many
two women speaks volumes
FPO
arts organizations across the
In some cases, for the art world, about the manner in which the
PULL FROM
country, there are circular
answers to these questions
Studio Museum fosters the
conversations that take place
and the issue of vacancy are
emergence of leaders in the
LAST ISSUE
in meeting rooms year after
manifested in institutional
field. Do their landmark deciyear. The discussion is usually
programming, making museums sions exclude us from worrying
about replenishing the field or
and cultural spaces sites for
about who or what is next on the
preempting a looming void from professional development.
horizon? Absolutely not! At the
landing in your area. These
end of the day, replenishing the
discussions force the uncomThe subject of replenishing
field means fostering emergSandra D. Jackson-Dumont
fortable conversation about
the field is obviously a hot
ing thought and practice and
Director of Education and Public Programs
electing who will be next in line
topic at The Studio Museum in
diversifying the field in order
to take up the torch or break
Harlem, as we are continuously to avoid cultural bankruptcy
new ground. In speaking with
engaging emerging artists and
or, for lack of a better word, an
The new millennium has given
colleagues, this subject seems
arts professionals. The Studio “emergency.”
birth to an unprecedented
to be as ripe as ever. It actually
Museum’s youth programs,
number of reality television
seems as urgent as an emerARTlooks: A Day in the Life of
Photo by Robert Hale
shows, ranging from The Surgency—an emergency to supan Artist and Expanding the
real Life and America’s Next
port the emerging. While the
Walls: Making Connections
Top Model to Starting Over and “American public” is humiliating
Between Photography, History
Big Brother. And let’s not forget the candidates for its next “idol,” and Community, along with
the ever-present yet reinvented
the art and culture fields might
the adult program The Artist’s
and pioneering Real World.
want to take note of that show’s Voice are designed to challenge
While some of these voyeuristi- fallout and consider nurturing
artists to think about their work
cally entertaining swatches of
the potential of its next generain the context of art history and
personal pitfalls and triumphs
tion. Considering replenishing
the world, in an effort to foster
have enjoyed greater success
the field.
new thinking.
than others, I think there is
some
value thatin can
be gleaned
Yes,
I too indulge in the guilty
While these standout programs
Vital Expressions
American
Art: Performance
at SMH
Craig
Harrisof
and
friendsexplorations,
performing Souls pleasure of watching some of
from
most
these
illustrate my point, I must admit
within the Veil, June 10, 2005
whether it be the identification
these popular reality shows
that when I think about the
of “bad television” or the basic
and often think that there is
Studio Museum’s most recent
understanding that on a public
something amiss when popular efforts to restock, President
and private level people are in
culture needs to create the
Lowery Stokes Sims and Direcsearch of fill in the blank or are
illusion of building the next
tor and Chief Curator Thelma
trying to escape fill in the blank. generation of icons before
Golden instantly come to mind.
Whatever “fills in the blank,”
our eyes. Questions such as,
In an era in which little atten-
53 /
Public Programs
Public Programs
The Studio Museum in
Harlem has a long tradition
of presenting programs that
address prevalent issues in
contemporary art by artists
of African descent. Through
the Department of Education
and Public Programs, we
offer a range of activities
and programs that engage a
diverse cross-section of artists
of various disciplines, writers,
scholars and critics who share
diverse perspectives with our
audiences.
Pre-registration is required. Call 212 8644500 x264 with questions or to register
Activating Archives
The Archives of American Art
as a resource for research on
African-American art
Wedneday, November 16, 7pm
Sunday Salon
Sunday, December 4, 3–5pm
Tours for Seniors!
Saturday, December 3, 2pm
Saturday, January 7, 2pm
Saturday, February 4, 2pm
Saturday, March 4, 2pm
Hoofers’ House
Friday, December 16, 7pm
Friday, January 20, 7pm
Friday, February 17, 7pm
Friday, March 10, 7pm
for any of the following programs.
Artists-In-Residence Open
Studio
Sunday, November 13, 2–6pm
Books + Authors: Evenings
with Writers and Others
Friday, November 18, 7pm
Featuring Gordon Parks
Titles: Eyes With Winged
Thoughts: Poetry & Images and
A Hungry Heart: A Memoir both
by Gordon Parks.
World Aids Day
Thursday, December 1,
time to be determined
Family Programs
acknowledges the need for
families to spend time together.
Nurturing bonds between
parents and their children
through art, the museum offers
programs and activities that
allow families to share in the
creative process. Bring the
family and explore our exciting
exhibition. Become an artist in a
hands-on workshop and create
works of art with your kids!
Family programs are designed for families
with children 4-10 years old. These
programs are free. Pre-registration is
required. Call 212.864.4500 X264 to
Family fun @ the Studio!
Cool quilting for kids!
Saturday, December 3
10am–12noon
Kuumba = Creativity!
Kwanzaa celebration at the
Studio Museum
Saturday, December 17
11am–2pm
Make Your Mark!
Saturday, January 7
10am–12noon
Dress Up, Dress Down!
Saturday, February 4
10am–12noon
Books + Authors Kids!
Saturday, March 4
10am–12noon
Youth Programs
Artlooks: A Day in the Life of
an Artist The 2004-2006
Jacob and Gwendolyn
Lawrence Gift
Portfolio Review Day for High
School Students!
Saturday, January 21,
11am–1pm
Hands-on:
Video Two-Weekend
Intensive Workshops for HS
Students
Saturday, January 21,
2–4pm
Sunday, January 22,
10am–3pm
Saturday + Sunday
January 28 + 29,
10am–3pm
Words-In-Motion: One-Day
Cipher
Saturday, March 11,
10am–3pm
is dedicated to creating a
safe environment for youth
to express themselves
creatively. The museum hosts
free programs for high school
students outside of the school
environment. These programs
offer students the opportunity
to meet and converse with
prominent visual artists, express
their ideas through discussion,
facilitate tours and hands-on
workshops and develop
important communication and
critical thinking skills.
register.
Pre-registration is required. Call 212 8644500 x264 with questions or to register
for any of the following programs.
Wayne Hodge, Doppelganger II (Body and Soul) (video still), 2005
Education and Public Programs are funded in part, by: The New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, Nimoy Foundation, The
Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, Wachovia Foundation, Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence, Elaine Dannheisser Foundation, MetLife Foundation,
Time Warner Inc., Citigroup Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, The Center for Arts Education, Barker Welfare Foundation, Helena
Rubinstein Foundation, Jerome Foundation, ARTS Intern, Dedalus Foundation, The Renate, Hans & Maria Hofmann Trust, May and
Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, public funds from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation
& Historic Preservation made available by the office of Assemblyman Keith L. Wright and Corcoran Group Real Estate.
54 /
artists abroad
Artists Abroad:
Camille Norment & Glenn Ligon in Olso, Norway
Artist Glenn Ligon recently went to visit artist Camille Norment who was featured in our 2001 exhibition Freestyle in
Oslo, Norway. We asked him to let us know what she’s up to.
Camille Norment is an artist whose practice embraces visual and
sonic complexity. In her work, images slide in and out of focus,
sound permeates the body on a subaural level and vibrations and
tones subtly alter the space around the viewer. To experience her
work is to be more aware of one’s body in relation to the microcosm
of the exhibition space as well as the larger world outside.
Photos by Glenn Ligon
with its emphasis on the politics of perception, is in a fruitful diaI visited Camille this summer at a fantastic loft space in Oslo that logue with the local scene.
she shares with her partner, the artist Knut Asdam, and their young
daughter Rav’n. Among the many things she was working on was Besides hanging out with Camille and the other artists I met, the
a new body of photographs focused on issues of photography and other thing I liked about Oslo is that they like to par-tay, as I discovperception. A series of beautiful photographic portraits use a type of ered when I went to bed at five o’clock in the morning for the third
glass that renders the images illegible from certain angles, thereby night in a row after hanging out in a punk bar and a hip-hop club.
focusing our attention on seeing as an act of framing. She is also Love me some Oslo!
developing a number of large-scale installation pieces.
The Oslo art scene is quite international, with contemporary and
alternative spaces that show work from all over the world. What
struck me about Oslo was that the artists I met there were intensely
focused on politics: questions of social justice, nationalism, the
global economy, etc. They saw themselves not as Scandinavian artists, but as artists who were in dialogues across genres, borders
and histories. In that context, Camille’s conceptually based work,
55 /
harlem: where we’re at
56 /
harlem: where we’re at
57 /
StudioSound: Freeness, Presented
by Chris Ofili’s Icebox Organization,
CDR and Blacktronica
Creativity often lives and dies without ever having an
audience. The Freeness initiative, organized by artist Chris
Ofili’s Icebox organization in collaboration with CDR’s
Gavin Alexander and Tony Mwarchukwu and Blacktronica,
put out a call for new music by artists of African, Asian,
Carribean and Chinese descent. To do this, CDR organized
a three-month tour across the United Kingdom, and invited
producers and musical innovators to bring their ideas,
tracks, remixes and edits on CD and be aired in an intimate
space among peers and likeminded individuals. Sessions
were held in 10 cities throughout the United Kingdom
including London, Manchester, Bristol, Newcastle and
Leeds from January to March 2005.
For too long, the musical traditions of jazz, blues and reggae
have been relegated to the sidelines of the current musical
zeitgeist. Musicians who choose to forego the traditional
routes of soul-crushing record contracts, long-winded
studio sessions and international headlining tours are often
marginalized as well. In an attempt to rectify the sad state
of today’s music industry, the Freeness organizers have
compiled a dazzling collection of songs that reflect the current influences of the United Kingdom’s diverse population.
This compilation, Freeness Volume I, seeks to explore alternative musical sounds outside of the confines of mainstream
popular music.
Staff Picks
Ronny Quevdeo
Expanding the Walls Program
Coordinator / Museum Educator
Photo by Jovan Speller
When public art is mentioned, monuments of heroes
or minimalist sculptures
come to mind. Often they
seem out of place or
out of date. But around
Harlem, public art is more
engaging in both shape
and content. So if you’re
tired of white walls, check
out the city streets.
But there’s a place to see
the best in its appropriate
environment. We all know
106 and Park as a television
show, but few know it’s the
location of the Graffiti Wall
of Fame. Artists from all
over the country update this
evolving monument annually. The rest of the year,
it’s a city playground.
Today graffiti is idealized
in magazines, on t-shirts
and occasionally in galleries.
To the east, at 104th Street
and Lexington Avenue
stands The Spirit of East
The CDs 29 tracks are filled with a variety of musical influences, including R&B, hip hop, Zimbabwean folk, Ugandan soul, Cuban percussion, African gospel and Indian classical mixed with indigenous sounds native to Brazil, Nigeria,
Asia and the Middle East. During the tour, an astonishing
2000 tracks were submitted by local artists, reflecting the
incredible musical talent currently residing in the United
Kingdom. This prolific outpouring inspired CDR to partner
with Icebox and Blacktronica to compile a sampling of songs
in a two-disc album. This compilation is a snapshot of the
current musical tastes and moods of a young, culturallydiverse British generation.
Freeness Volume I is a fiercely diverse and sprawling
album– the common link between artists is their independent spirits. Many of these musicians are unsigned artists
who proudly produce and distribute their own tracks, shoot
their own videos and use homemade promotional tools to
sell their albums. For example, the Leeds-based nu-soul
band Bootis, whose music is infused with elements of funk,
soul and jazz, has no member above the age of 26. Then
there are the songs of Josephine Oniyama, whose musical
influences range from Bob Dylan to Ella Fitzgerald and
even Oasis. For these artists, music is not just a pastime
or a means to a lucrative career but is their way of life and
the platform to deliver their deepest thoughts and emo-
Harlem. This mural,
which takes up a building’s
entire façade, is a landmark of El Barrio. From
giant-size domino players
to residents climbing a building, this mural is a portrait
tions. These ideas can best be expressed by a Freeness artist,
Hondo Netsayi, a former refugee of the Zimbabwean war of
liberation, who declares with utter honesty, “Most of us are
brought up on lies ... I like to get to the root of things and I
will write about anything as long as there’s a question to be
answered.”
Above all, Freeness is not just an album, but a not-for-profit
music initiative that aims to celebrate new young artists.
The wide-ranging ethnic influences that the Freeness artists contribute to the album are a celebration of a vibrant
community taking root in the United Kingdom. According
to artist Chris Ofili, Volume I is just a taste of the range
of talent, ideas and creativity that came our way. We’re
delighted to be working alongside these artists. There is
definitely more to come.”
Freeness is available for free at www.freeness.co.uk. Music
from the album will be played in the Studio Museum lobby
as the third installation of Studio Sound. This aural experience can be heard throughout the exhibition season.
Jared Rowell, Executive Assitant to the Director
of the vibrancy of Spanish
Harlem.
Across the street is a more
recent addition to El
Barrio’s public gallery. The
Helio-Chronometer, completed by my friend Marina
Gutierrez and Oscar Cornejo
in 2004, resides in the yard
of P.S. 72. This piece is
intended to interact with the
movement of the sun to create the visual record of time
on a building. Using symbols
from graffiti, Puerto Rican
folklore and pre-Columbian
iconography, the Inti-Huatana, its Andean Qechua
name, serves as a marker
of time through cultural
development.
Up on 136th Street are hidden treasures. While working on a collaboration with
Harlem Hospital, I came
across some WPA murals in
the Old Nurse’s Resident
Building. Of all the paintings, I was most intrigued by
the one that tells of the role
of nurses in medicine—it
was reminiscent of Mexican
murals by offering a story
of important social progress
through stunning visuals.
58 /
harlem where we’re at
59 /
Madame Walker Didn’t Live Here,
Harlem Architecture After the
Renaissance
By John Reddick
The architecture of modern Harlem, post-renaissance, from the late 1930s through the post-war years, has been defined as
much by what it eradicated as by what it produced. The architecture of the Moderne, International Style and Post-Modernism represents for many Harlemites more a symbol of government intervention and urban renewal than any kindred or
homegrown inspiration. An exception could be made for Harlem clubs built from the late 1930s through the 1950s. Images
of Small’s Paradise, “newly renovated and air-conditioned” Sugar Ray’s or the sole surviving Lenox Lounge reveal that
Harlem club owners were supportive of the modern, commissioning distinctive contemporary spaces to the apparent delight
of their clientele. Looking for a similar architectural exuberance in residential and institutional architecture, I went searching about Harlem for examples.
01
One rewarding find is the Ivey Delph Apartments (1951) at 19 Hamilton Terrace. This modest yet elegant Moderne-styled
apartment building is unique for its restraint and compatibility of scale with neighboring brownstones. Designed in 1948 by
Vertner W. Tandy, the first licensed African-American architect in New York, the building was developed by Dr. Walter Ivey
Delph, a prominent Harlem doctor and real estate investor who saw the apartments as an opportunity to provide a better
and healthier living environment for African Americans. The Ivey Delph Apartments were the first large-scale housing project by and for African Americans in New York backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage commitment. The six-story beige brick building retains its historic architectural details, including a series of curved projecting
balconies that rise above the building’s recessed entrance.
For International-Style high-rise apartment living, my sentimental favorite is Lenox Terrace (1957) by S.J. Kessler & Sons,
located on 135th Street between Lenox and Fifth Avenues. Long before television’s George and Louise Jefferson gave definition to an urban, African-American version of “moving on up” high-rise style, most Americans glimpsed fantasies of it in
movies of the 1950s and early 1960s. Urbane “advertising executives” like Rock Hudson and Doris Day had sleek, modern
“pads,” complete with balconies, automobile drop-off and doormen at the ready. For the middle-class Harlem resident desiring a similar high-rise setting, Lenox Terrace was it! One can still feel a rush of 1960s Ebony glamour as you’re whisked off
135th Street and onto the cloistered circular driveway that deposits you under a cantilevered entrance of polished granite
that connects to the building’s lobby.
02
03
05
Other residential complexes noteworthy for their high-rise architecture and unique siting are Morningside Gardens (1959)
by Harrison & Abramovitz, which is set off the city’s street grid in the rocky outcrops of Morningside Heights, and Schomburg Plaza (1975) by Gruzen & Partners, with twin towers positioned like giant octagonal pillars at Harlem’s gateway, the
juncture of Fifth Avenue and Central Park North (110th Street) on Duke Ellington Circle.
For post-modernists, I have two out and out favorites. Dance Theatre of Harlem (1971 and 1994) by Hardy Holzman
Pfeiffer Associates at 466 West 152nd Street was originally a garage. The building went through a series of renovations
and additions, culminating with the Everett Center, and offers a streetfront exuberance rivaled only by the company’s
talented dancers. Banded in alternating rows of black and white glazed blocks, the building’s exterior mimics an un-built
1928 house design by architect Adolf Loos for another famed African-American dancer, Josephine Baker. By contrast, other
walls are composed of a multi-toned pattern that replicates African Kuba cloth. At the corner is an image, in leaping profile,
of the company’s director, Arthur Mitchell, riding the pinnacle like a dancing weathervane. Though currently lacking the
“weathervane”-like crescent and star that once crowned its peak, the Malcolm Shabazz Mosque (1965) by Sabbath Brown,
located at Lenox Avenue and 116th Street, is no less exuberant. Working with basic commercial materials and traditional
Islamic forms, Brown’s conversion of the former Lenox Casino is by turns both simple and radical. The brash façade captures, in a complex and contradictory manner, the mosque’s desire to promote a physical and spiritual presence in Harlem
that would rival neighboring Christian edifices for the souls of black folks following the death of Malcolm X.
John T. Reddick works on architectural preservation, planning and public art in New York City. He serves on Community
Board #9 in Manhattan and is the Director of the Central Park Conservancy’s Landscape Program.
04
01 / Malcolm
Shabazz Mosque
No.7, 1965
Architect: Sabbath
Brown
04 / Lenox Terrace, 1957
Architect: S. J.
Kessler & Sons
02 / Schomberg
Plaza, 1975
Architect: Gruzen
& Partners
05 / Ivey Delph
Apartments, 1951
Architect: Vertner
W. Tandy
03 / Morningside
Gardens, 1959
Architect: Harrison & Abramovitz
06 / Dance Theatre
of Harlem, 1971
& 1994
Architect: Hardy
Holzman Pfeiffer
Associates
All photos by John T. Reddick
06
60 /
shop!
Museum Store
61 /
The titles on your bookshelves say more about you than just what books
you’ve read. In some ways, they describe who you are–what is most important and relevant to you in this world. While each person’s book collection is
distinct and personal, we’ve assembled here a diverse, beautiful and handy
mix of books available in the Studio Museum Store that you can either add
to your bookshelf or use to start one.
Contemporary Artists
Perserve
By: Ellen Gallagher and Jeff
Fleming
Item# 1535
Price: $39.95 Member: $33.95
Fred Wilson: Black Like Me (Coming Soon)
By: Richard Klein
Item# 305
Price: $19.95 Member: $16.95
Kara Walker: Pictures From
Another Time
By: Kara Elizabeth Walker
Item# 3001
Price: $29.95 Member: $25.45
Lorna Simpson
By: Kellie Jones
Item# 2504
Price: $39.95 Member: $33.96
Jean-Michel Basquiat
(Coming Soon)
By: Rudy Chiapinni
Item# 1335
Price: $45.00 Member: $38.25
African American Art Masters
African American Masters
By: Gwen Everett
Item# 3154
Price: $24.95 Member:
$21.20
Archibald Motley Jr.
By: Amy M. Mooney
Item# 2964
Price: $35.00 Member: $29.75
Collecting African American Art
By: Halima Taha
Item# 131
Price:$50.00 Member: $42.50
Romare Bearden
By: David C. Driskell, Ruth Fine,
Frank Stewart
Item#2970
Price: $39.95 Member: $33.95
Over The Line: The Life and
Work of Jacob Lawrence
By: Peter T. Nesbett (Editor)
and Michelle Dubois (Editor)
Item# 890
Price: $50.00 Member: $42.50
2005 Wall Calendars
Special Edition Holiday Card
James VanDerZee (1886-1983)
Christmas Morning, 1933
Collection of The Studio Museum in Harlem,
Gift of the Sandor Family Collection, Chicago
Courtesy of Donna Mussenden VanDerZee
Box Set: 10 cards (same) / 11 Envelopes
Price $18.00 Member $15.30
African American Art Wall
Calendar
Item#3229
Price:$13.99 Member: $11.89
Black Ball
Item # 2180
Price: $13.99 Member: $11.89
Betye Saar
Item# 2181
Price: $13.99 Member: $11.89
Romare Bearden
Item# 2182
Price: $13.99 Member: $11.89
Basquiat
Item# 172
Price: $13.99 Member: $11.89
62 /
news
Development News
What’s New In Membership
Hallie S. Hobson, associate development director
for membership and donor relations and Robert
K. Brown, membership associate/database administrator have just joined the membership department at
the Studio Museum. Always ready to meet your
membership needs, Hallie oversees membership
programs at the museum, including the Contemporary
Friends, Director’s Circle, and Curator’s Circle groups,
among other duties. And Robert is ready to make
sure that you have your membership card and that your
records–and dues! –are up-to-date. Hallie and
Robert are happy to speak with you about the museum,
answer your questions–and, of course, sign you up
for a membership level that’s right for you. They can be
reached at (212) 864-4500 x221, hhobson@studio
museum.org, or [email protected].
Arceneaux exhibition at The Kitchen, a private tour of
the Frequency exhibition, and a special viewing of El
Museo de Barrio’s biennial The S Files. Of course, all of
these donor groups can look forward to a variety of tours,
receptions, and special perks throughout the year. To
become a member, please contact Hallie S. Hobson at
(212) 864-4500 x244 or [email protected].
Special Year-end Savings
Mark your calendars: members-only shopping days
will be held on Monday, December 5 and Tuesday,
December 13 from 3PM to 8PM. Enjoy exclusive
access to the museum shop and receive special discounts, just in time to stock up on holiday gifts.
Becoming a member of the Director’s Circle, the
Curator’s Circle, or the Contemporary Friends opens up
a world of special events and benefits designed
to increase access to artists and the art world. In
October, the Director’s and Curator’s Circles enjoyed
a private reception with artist Yinka Shonibare on the
occasion of his new exhibition Mobility at the James
Cohan Gallery, and members can also look forward to
their annual dinner with the Director coming up this spring.
The Contemporary Friends kicked off the 2005/2006
season with a cocktail party and tour of the home of
contemporary art collector Peter Norton. Other planned
events this season include a preview event of the Edgar
Ask a Security Officer
Nola Grant
1. Do you believe life imitates art, or does art
imitate life? How? Why?
world and the fashion world collaborate to make
beautiful music for your eyes.
Being an artist, I believe my art imitates my life. I
use a lot of my life’s events in my art. I believe life
is the greatest source for art.
3. What single work of art has made the
greatest impression on you?
If I had my own show, it would be called Art Eye
Candy Fashions. All of the artists would be
unknown fashion designers. It’s time that the art
Special Thanks
thanks the following donors for
their generous support during
the last quarter (Gifts of $1,000
and above only).
$500,000 and above
New York City Department
of Cultural Affairs
$499,999 to $100,000
Carnegie Corporation
of New York
New York State Council
of the Arts
$99,999 to $50,000
Horace W.Goldsmith
Foundation
New York Community Trust
Peter Norton Family Foundation
The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation
The Andy Warhol Foundation
for the Visual Arts
$49,999 to $25,000
Kathryn C. Chenault
MetLife Foundation
Membership Has Its...
2. If you could curate your own show, what
would the title be? Why?
Fall • Winter 2005–06 Donors
Bill Traylor’s Exciting Events Exhibit has made
the greatest impression on me. This single work
has given me the motivation to become an artist
in my own right. Traylor’s artwork takes me to
another place and time—his life on Monroe Street
in Montgomery, A.L.
Photo by Ronny Quevedo
Time Warner Inc.
$24,999 to $10,000
Clifford L. Alexander
Bank of America
The Barker Welfare Foundation
The Cowles Charitable Trust
Goldman Sachs & Co.
The Greenwall Foundation
Renate, Hans and
Maria Hofmann Trust
New York Stock Exchange
Foundation, Inc.
In Memory of Joyce A. Wein
(as of 9/15/05)
$9,999 to $5,000
Arts Intern
Jennifer McSweeney and
Peter Reuss
The Moody’s Foundation
Morgan Stanley Foundation
Denise Murrell
$4,999 to $1,000
Corey Baylor
Kathyrn C. Chenault
Corcoran Group Real Estate
Gordon J. Davis
Herman Goldman Foundation
David Alan Grier
Gail Knox
Midtown Payson Galleries
Walter R. Morris-Hale
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Yes! I want to be a member of
The Studio Museum in Harlem.
1 year
renewal
gift
NAME OF MEMBERSHIP HOLDER
N A M E O F A D D I T I O N A L M E M B E R ( FA M I LY/ PA R T N E R L E V E L M E M B E R S A N D A B OV E )
ADDRESS
CITY
S TAT E
ZIP
WO R K P H O N E
HOME PHONE
EMAIL ADDRESS
Please do not make my name, address and other information
available to third party providers.
Special Membership Groups
Director’s Circle $2,500
Curator’s Circle $1,500
Contemporary Friends
Couple $300
Individual $200
General Membership Groups
Benefactor $1,000
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Individual $50
Student $20
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Please bill my:
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NAME OF CARDHOLDER
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S TAT E
WO R K P H O N E
HOME PHONE
CARD NUMBER
E X P. DAT E
ZIP
S I G N AT U R E
Thank you for your support and welcome to The Studio
Museum in Harlem! The Studio Museum in Harlem offers the best
way to explore Black culture and the latest trends in contemporary art!
(Fully tax-deductible)
All the preceding benefits, plus:
• Free admission for two adults at
the same address and children
under 18 years of age.
Supporter $100
($70 tax-deductible)
• One complimentary ticket to an
education or public program.
•
•
•
•
•
Associate $250
• Special gift.
• Free admission for one guest when
accompanied by a member.
Donor $500
• One complimentary copy of an
SMH catalogue.
• Four guest passes for friends
and families.
• Annual invitation to a behind-thescenes tour of an SMH exhibition
led by a museum curator.
•
•
•
•
•
Individual $200
A
C
B
D
2
3
4
5
6
to 125 Street.
th
bus:
M-2, M-7, M-10, M-100, M-102 or BX-15.
Parking is available at the Municipal Garage at 126th Street
between Malcolm X and Adam C. Powell Jr. Boulevards.
126 ST
A
2
C
3
125 ST
B
D
e
•
•
Contemporary Friends
(ages 21–40) Contemporary
Friends is a dynamic membership
group of young professionals who
contribute to many new and exciting
initiatives at SMH. The Contemporary Friends represent the future in
charitable giving at the museum.
Members host an annual spring
benefit to raise funds to support
education and public programs. In
return for their support, Contemporary Friends receive Individual
members benefits, plus:
Discount tickets to Contemporary
Friends Spring Benefit.
Guided galleries tours.
An exclusive program of activities
and special events.
Behind-the-scenes tours of SMH
exhibitions.
subway:
Av
•
•
Student $20
A copy of valid student ID must
be submitted with membership
application of renewal.
Free admission for one.
15% discount on all museum store
purchases.
Members-only discount
shopping days.
Members discount on select
education and public programs.
Invitations to opening reception
of exhibitions.
•
•
Directions
las
•
•
212.864.4500 x264
ho
•
•
($1,285 tax-deductible)
A visit to a private collector’s home
and/or tour.
Behind-the-scenes tours and talks
with art connoisseurs and curators.
Annual dinner with Chief Curator.
Advanced announcement of
special travel programs organized
by SMH.
Public Programs Info
Nic
•
Curator’s Circle $1,500
www.studiomuseum.org
Media Contact
212.864.4500 x213
[email protected]
St
•
Benefactor $1,000
Special invitations to Benefactors
behind-the-scenes tour of SMH
exhibitions led by the show’s curator.
One complimentary catalogue
from a major SMH exhibition.
Two complimentary tickets to an
education or public program.
Free admission for two guests
when accompanied by a member.
Director’s Circle $2,500
($2,135 tax-deductible)
Visits to private collectors’ homes
and/or viewings of their collections.
Behind-the-scenes tours and talks
with art connoisseurs and curators.
Annual dinner with Director.
Advanced announcement of
special travel programs organized
by SMH.
Invitations to unique events for
Director’s Circle only.
4
5
Park Ave
Family/Partner $75
General Info
phone: 212.864.4500
fax: 212.864.4800
Admission
Suggested donation:
$7 (adults), $3 (seniors and
students). Free for members
and children (12 and under).
First Saturdays are FREE!
Madison Ave
•
The Museum is closed on Monday,
Tuesday and major holidays.
5 Ave
•
Address
144 West 125th Street
New York, New York
10027(between Malcolm
X and Adam C. Powell Jr.
Blvds.)
Malcolm X Blvd
•
Members of the Director’s Circle
and Curator’s Circle are the highest level of individual membership
and the starting point for people
with increased interest in access
to artists and the art world. These
exclusive membership groups have
been instrumental in contributing
to the success of SMH and provide vital support for the museum’s
exhibitions and programs.
Studio /Hours
Fall • Winter 2005–06
Museum
Wednesday–Friday, 12–6pm
Saturday, 10am–6pm
Sunday, 12–6pm
Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd
•
Individual $50
Free admission for one.
5% discount on all museum store
purchases.
Members-only discount shopping
days.
Members discount on select
education and public programs.
Invitations to opening reception
of exhibitions.
New! Discounts at select Harlem
restaurants.
Visitor
Information
Frederick Douglass Blvd
•
•
Special
Membership
Groups
Convent Ave
General
Membership
6
120 ST
CORRECTIONS
Couple/Partner $300
(For two people at the same
address)
Matching Gifts
Do you work for a company that
has a matching gift program? If
so, you can increase your gift to
The Studio Museum in Harlem by
simply requesting a matching gift
program form from your employer.
For gifts of stock or other contributions, please call the Development
Office at 212.864.4500 x 223.
Studio is published three times a year by The Studio Museum in Harlem, 144
West 125th St., New York, NY 10027. Copyright © 2005 Studio Magazine. All
material is compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but published without
responsibility for errors or omissions. Studio assumes no responsibility for
unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. All rights, including translation into
other languages, are reserved by the publisher. Nothing in this publication may
be reproduced without the permission of the publisher.
/ Fall • Winter 2005–06
COLLECTOR’S
ISSUE

The Studio Museum in Harlem

Transcription

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Contents - February 2003