work to live.

September 17, 2009

Bill T. Jones - Choreographer

At the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Oct 1 - 3:

"Bill T. Jones, the political lion of modern dance … a fiercely experimental choreographer …."
— New York Times

In celebration of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company's 25th anniversary and the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth, YBCA presents the West Coast premiere of Fondly Do We Hope … Fervently Do We Pray. Blending video, live music, movement and theater, Fondly Do We Hope navigates the ambiguous space where art, biography and history collide, profoundly expanding the palette of modern dance. In this thought-provoking new work, Jones—recipient of the 2007 Tony Award for Spring Awakening and recognized worldwide as a cultural trailblazer—considers Lincoln's legacy and unrealized vision for the reconstruction of America, exposing that great distance between what is and what could have been. (Running Time: 90 minutes, no intermission)

Links:

http://www.ybca.org/emails/ealert/sep09/billtjones.html

http://www.billtjones.org/

Filed under // African American Artists Bill T. Jones

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September 10, 2009

Hank Willis Thomas

Check out fellow CCA alumnus Hank Willis Thomas at the Baltimore Museum of Art. As part of his Artist-in-Residence program at Johns Hopkins Center for Africana Studies, Thomas is exhibiting a number of old and new works at the BMA through November 2009.

I went specifically to see Thomas' work but was also very pleasantly surprised to find a very welcoming and well situated museum that is intimate and unpretentious, yet houses an extensive and diverse collection ranging in periods from 19th century to Contemporary, of all mediums and genres including historical/cultural costumes, decorative arts, sculpture, mosaics, textiles and paintings. The museum restaurant, Gertrude's was also formidable - I had a delicious Oyster Po' Boy sandwich that was fresh, airy and light served on home baked bread. Give yourself ample time to enjoy this gem of a museum. There is a lot to discover.

http://www.artbma.org/exhibitions/index.html

Press release:

BALTIMORE, MD (July 29, 2009)—Discover the powerful work of multimedia artist Hank Willis Thomas in the BMA’s West Wing for Contemporary Art from July 29 through November 29, 2009. This acclaimed African-American artist is participating in the Artist-in-Residence Program at The Johns Hopkins University Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences’ Center for Africana Studies during the fall 2009 semester. Thomas is a rising star in the art world, with works featured in numerous exhibitions at national and international venues, including the Studio Museum in Harlem, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Prague Contemporary Art Festival.

The exhibition features 10 examples of Thomas’ recent work exploring racial stereotypes and black identity in America. He first gained wide recognition for his provocative B®ANDED series, which raised questions about visual culture, the power of logos, and media representation of African Americans. An example from this series is Hang Time Circa 1923 (2008), which shows the Jumpman logo from Nike’s Air Jordan ad campaigns appropriated to create an image about lynching. The artist’s deeply personal video, Winter in America (2005), features G.I. Joe toy action figures re-enacting the senseless murder of his beloved cousin, showing how the seeds of violence are sown through play and also the all-too-common killings of young black men by their peers. In recent works such as the I Am A Man series of images (2009), Thomas explores the power of language as a means of questioning concepts of racial identity.

During his residency this fall, Thomas will participate in a series of lectures and workshops on JHU’s Homewood campus, as well as an artist’s conversation at the BMA on November 12, 2009.

Hank Willis Thomas

Hang Time Circa 1923

2008

Filed under // African American Artists Baltimore Museum of Art Hank Willis Thomas

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July 11, 2009

Kehinde Wiley

During my trip to LA I visited the Hammer Gallery. It is inevitable that every time I go there I spend tons of time and money in their bookstore, which I consider one of the BEST museum bookstores in the world - and I've been to many. There I came across a book of artist Kehinde Wiley propped up right near the entrance. It was bold, direct, colorful and full of power - and that was only the cover. I thumbed through and saw beautiful full page images of paintings of baroque and renaissance patterned backgrounds with figures of young contemporary black men in street wear and defiant attitudes in classical aristocratic European poses. The following passage in the book intrigued me and I wrote it down in my sketchbook: "...by applying the visual vocabulary and conventions of glorification, wealth, prestige and history to subject matter drawn from the urban fabric." Returning home I decided to research his work more and discovered his website. WOW! is the only word I can use to describe not only his visual works but the content of his theory and philosophy and the eloquence in which he presents it. I could not do justice to his descriptions so I suggest you listen for yourself (http://www.kehindewiley.com/main.html - go to the media tab). I am in awe of his level of awareness, skill and courage. I look forward to seeing his paintings in person and following the development of his work in the future! Discovering Kehinde Wiley's work inspires me and gives me faith in art again.