Contemporary Art Blog

Recently, I visited the Black is Beautiful exhibition at the Museum of the African Diaspora.  The exhibition consisted of photographs taken by Kwame Brathwaite. The photographs feature black women and men with natural hair and clothes that reclaim their African roots as a response to white conceptions of the 1960s. Kwame Brathwaite, Sikolo Brathwaite wearing a beaded headpiece by designer Carolee Prince , 1967 Brathwaite is a Brooklyn-born artist who turned to art and political activism at a young age. He has taken inspiration from Jamaican-born activist Marcus Garvey, who promoted a Pan-Africanist point of view for black economic liberation and freedom. Entrance to the Museum of the African Diaspora Entrance to the Black is Beautiful exhibition on the third floor He also founded organizations that supported his vision such as Grandassa Models, a modeling group for black women, in 1962. It was organizations like this that allowed Brathwaite to hold fashion sho...

On the evening of March 5, I attended the tribute lecture to Frank LaPena. Native American contemporary artists Spencer Keeton Cunningham and Richard Bluecloud Castaneda spoke about LaPena as well as their past and current artworks. Audience at the Frank LaPena tribute lecture by Spencer Keeton Cunningham and Richard Bluecloud Castaneda in the University Library Annex The artists stated how LaPena played a major role in creating a powerful movement of contemporary art in California. This movement inspired later artists like themselves to create artwork that responds to past and current problems among Native American communities such as environmental issues or issues of personal identity. Cunningham Spencer Keeton Cunningham, Shark Fin Soup: New Zealand , public mural, 2015 The messages that Cunningham and Castaneda communicate in their artworks are very eye opening. Some of the issues they discussed were issues that I was not familiar with. For example, Cunningham's...

On Saturday, February 29, I visited the Soul of a Nation exhibition at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.  The exhibition displayed works by Black artists over the course of two significant decades (1963-83) when issues of race and identity dominated private and public debates. It was divided into nine parts based on specific issues faced by Black communities and location. Reginald Gammon, Freedom Now , 1963, acrylic on board Front view of the de Young Museum Entrance to underground level of the museum where Soul of a Nation was located Entrance to the Soul of a Nation exhibition The first artwork I came across upon entering this exhibit was Reginald Gammon’s Freedom Now .  This painting stood out to me as it represents the March on Washington, a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement.  This event was a result of attacks on peaceful Civil Rights protestors in Birmingham, Alabama during the spring of 1963. It not only sparked reactions fr...