Black Art
When
Dec 2, 2008 10:00 am - 5:00 pm (Tuesday)
What
While black is a word with many connotations-"referring to color, race, style of comedy, etc.-"the phrase black art is usually associated with works made by artists of Afr...
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Event details: Black Art
Description
While black is a word with many connotations-"referring to color, race, style of comedy, etc.-"the phrase black art is usually associated with works made by artists of African descent. Simply put, it is both a color and a concept.
The 27 artworks in this installation, drawn primarily from SAM's permanent collection, magnify the impact of this charged color and its connections to complicated social histories and purely aesthetic concerns. Black Art includes work that spans across time, from ca. 1830 to 2006, and across national and ethnic boundaries. Among the issues that black, as a concept, raises are racial and cultural heritage, perception and stereotype, spirituality and religion, protest and narrative. The aesthetic role that the actual color black plays in formal exercises of composition and line are highlighted in both figurative and abstract work shown here. It's up to you to determine when black refers to a subject, an artistic identity, aesthetic choices or content.
The installation Black Art is particularly relevant to the work of Gwendolyn Knight and Jacob Lawrence, the artists for whom this gallery is named. Jacob Lawrence found his success in creating art that featured the triumphant stories of Black subjects, and Gwendolyn Knight's work celebrated animals, nature and people of diverse backgrounds.
-"Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Adjunct Curator and the Kayla Skinner Deputy Director of Education & Public Programs
The 27 artworks in this installation, drawn primarily from SAM's permanent collection, magnify the impact of this charged color and its connections to complicated social histories and purely aesthetic concerns. Black Art includes work that spans across time, from ca. 1830 to 2006, and across national and ethnic boundaries. Among the issues that black, as a concept, raises are racial and cultural heritage, perception and stereotype, spirituality and religion, protest and narrative. The aesthetic role that the actual color black plays in formal exercises of composition and line are highlighted in both figurative and abstract work shown here. It's up to you to determine when black refers to a subject, an artistic identity, aesthetic choices or content.
The installation Black Art is particularly relevant to the work of Gwendolyn Knight and Jacob Lawrence, the artists for whom this gallery is named. Jacob Lawrence found his success in creating art that featured the triumphant stories of Black subjects, and Gwendolyn Knight's work celebrated animals, nature and people of diverse backgrounds.
-"Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Adjunct Curator and the Kayla Skinner Deputy Director of Education & Public Programs
Cost
$13 adults; $10 seniors (62+); $7 teens (13–17), students (with ID); FREE for children 12 and under; FREE for SAM membersMore about Seattle Art Museum
Seattle Art Museum
City/neighborhood: Downtown Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, extended hours until 9 p.m. on Thursday and Friday Parking: Paid parking, Street parking Related info: Gallery GuideNeighborhood art walks With a recent addition, Seattle Art Museum has effectively tripled its exhibition space and increased the size of its permanent collection by 1,000 pieces. The original Robert Venturi-designed museum is now the back door to Brad Cloepfil's enormous new space -- and while the new SAM may look anonymous, even cold from the street, inside it's a different story. Natural light pours into airy spaces (adjustable shades on the building's façade protect the art from UV damage), and high ceilings give the art room to breathe.And there's an awful lot of art to fill those new walls. You'll find Japanese pop art by the likes of Yoshitomo Nara and Takashi Murakami; abstracts by Marcel Duchamp and Ellsworth Kelly; classic European works by Paolo Uccello and Peter Paul Rubens; and awe-inspiring pieces by Constantin Brancusi and Cai Guo-Qiang, whose "Inopportune: Stage One" -- a series of tumbling, "exploding" cars -- is as playful as it is iconic. SAM's collection of Asian, African, Mesoamerican and Northwest art remains without peer, and those who go to art museums expecting to see big names -- Botticelli, Pollock, Arbus -- will not be disappointed. This is a proper big-city museum, perfect for a forward-looking metropolis.By Geoff CarterNWsource staffPost a Countdown Widget
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