#30americans

The #30Americans exhibition at the Barnes Foundation was pretty amazing. 🤎 (at The Barnes Foundation) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7MhgxTBwRg/?igshid=9vostg48r463

Nick Cave "Soundsuits" (2006-2008) from '30 Americans' @rubellmuseum⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ "The works in the Rubell Collection are from my series of 'Soundsuits,'" Cave writes. "This sculptural form is based on the scale of my body. It creates a camouflage, masking and forming a second skin that conceals race, gender and class, forcing one to look without judgment. Three of the works in the Collection are in the shape of what I call an 'A-frame.' This form has many connotations that reference power, such as a bishop’s mitre, a Ku Klux Klan uniform, a condom, or the head of a missile. As for the surfaces themselves, I treat them like collages, applying patterns that build on the surface. The piece that is made out of synthetic hair strips this down, using one material instead of many to create a visceral sensibility. The fourth piece, with the armature made of flowers, takes the baroque ornamental sensibility of the A-frame surfaces and brings it into an expanded dimensionality."⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Edited by Juan Valadez. Preface by Rubell Family. Text by Franklin Sirmans, Glenn Ligon, Michele Wallace, Robert Hobbs.⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Order from your local independent bookstore! Moreover, consider supporting a #blackownedbusiness and buy from a #blackownedbookstore. A list of them is here: https://manylink.co/@artbook. You can also order through many of these stores via Bookshop.org.⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ #30americans #nickcave @nickcaveart #soundsuit https://www.instagram.com/p/CBgWchVDMzj/?igshid=1r63wub09g75t

Works by Wangechi Mutu from '30 Americans' (4th editions) @rubellmuseum⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Michele Wallace writes: "'30 Americans' contains a near-comprehensive repertoire of the tropes of black postmodernism and the African-American sublime, in which the negativities of slavery, Jim Crow, blackface minstrelsy, racism, sexism and sexual slavery are constantly invoked and interrogated for the rich, dark spaces and designs that their still-warm undersides may reveal. Every African-American artist I can think of whose work I admire finds some way to signal his or her existential 'outsiderness.' In a dominant visual culture in which blackness is often viewed as a negation of both culture and worth, the outside holds as much interest and cachet as the inside. We black people always want to know, regardless of our education and family background: What relation does your work have to the outside where most black people continue to be found everywhere you can look?"⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ ⁠Order from your local independent bookstore! Moreover, consider supporting a #blackownedbusiness and buy from a #blackownedbookstore. A list of them is here: https://manylink.co/@artbook. You can also order through many of these stores via Bookshop.org.⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ #wangechimutu @wangechistudio @wangechimutu @mfaithwallace #30americans https://www.instagram.com/p/CBgF7LRDymO/?igshid=hn8ng97e3tfh

Works by Glenn Ligon from '30 Americans' (4th edition)⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Nationally celebrated as one of the most important exhibitions of contemporary art in the US within the last decade, '30 Americans' showcases an influential group of prominent African American artists who have emerged as leading contributors to the contemporary art scene in the US and beyond. The exhibition and accompanying catalog explores the evolving roles of black subjects in art since the 1970s and highlights some of the most pressing social and political issues facing our country today, including ongoing narratives of racial inequality; the construction of racial, gender and sexual identity; and the pernicious underpinnings and effects of stereotyping.⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Many of the artists in this exhibition interrogate how African Americans are represented, politicized and contested in the arts, media and popular culture. Several are driven by the exclusion of black subjects in art throughout much of history and celebrate and glorify black subjects through pictorial traditions including genre painting and portraiture.⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ In addition to essays by Robert Hobbs, Glenn Ligon, Franklin Sirmans and Michele Wallace, this expanded fourth edition contains new artworks and 22 commissioned writings by artists in the exhibition about artworks in the catalog, including pieces by Nina Chanel Abney, John Bankston, Mark Bradford, Nick Cave, Robert Colescott, Noah Davis, Leonardo Drew, Renée Green,Barkley L. Hendricks, Rashid Johnson, Kerry James Marshall, Rodney McMillian, Wangechi Mutu, William Pope.L, Rozeal Shinique Smith, Jeff Sonhouse, Henry Taylor, Hank Willis Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, Kara Walker and Kehinde Wiley.⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Order from your local independent bookstore! Moreover, consider supporting a #blackownedbusiness and buy from a #blackownedbookstore. A list of them is here: https://manylink.co/@artbook. You can also order through many of these stores via Bookshop.org.⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ #30americans #glennligon @glennligon @rubellmuseum https://www.instagram.com/p/CBf2x1djmR6/?igshid=akzwwadpk635

took my daughters to see 30 americans at the @barnesfoundation and had interesting conversations about all of the black art that isn’t owned by black people. they wouldn’t promise not to sell everything in our collection if I die but they did promise to keep all works by @hebrubrantley (figures) and they sort of understand the importance of us owning our history. in fact, the exact question they asked was “if black people created all of this, why do white people own it” #30Americans #BarnesFoundation #Art (at The Barnes Foundation) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7PF6bXBtSl/?igshid=1wsmghefksa1h

#MarkBradford as part of #30Americans. I always stare at Mark’s work@to try and figure out where it starts and ends and also what materials I can find within. It acts as a physical map, encompassing everything that each locale has to offer up. Almost inviting itself to the artwork. • #ArtAboveReality #LookWhatArtFound #Inspiring #Art #Curator #ContemporaryArt #FineArt #ArtMarket #ContemporaryPainting #CollectArt #LiveWithArt #ArtConsultant #TheBarnesFoundation #ContemporaryArtist #maps #blackartist (at The Barnes Foundation) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6L07Tonvas/?igshid=1d2fjfi5xbctq

Jean-Michel Basquiat, One Million Yen, 1982. Oil on canvas with wood and jute 60 x 58 x 3 3/4 in. (152.4 x 147.3 x 9.5 cm) as part of #30Americans on view at the @barnesfoundation in #Philadelphia. • #artabovereality #basquiat #oil #wood #red #yen #oilstick #neoexpressionism #barnesfoundation #rubellfamilycollection #million #exhibition #museum #jeanmichelbasquiat #nyc #blackart (at The Barnes Foundation) https://www.instagram.com/p/B51EsBpHcFR/?igshid=ua03nwk8ycfb

Do you remember when all sports players especially players like @realwaltclydefrazier of the @nyknicks? They were superfly stepping into the arenas! I really love how #BarkleyLHendricks captured that essence of style. His bold backgrounds always set the tone for the personality of the subject. • For Noir, 1979 I think Barkley just wanted to put down the cool of being African American on canvas. The whole style of the subject is saying “Well, who you thought it was?” 🤣 • Noir, 1979 by Barkley L. Hendricks as part of #30Americans at the @barnesfoundation. • #artabovereality #yellow #cool #figurativeart #figurativepainting #bold #man #cigarette #suit #philadelphia #glasses #contemporaryart #contemporarypainting #museum #exhibition #barnesfoundation #painting (at The Barnes Foundation) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5nEB6AHErU/?igshid=1t0j927l1vq4w