120 x 100 cm
We welcome Spring with an exhibition celebrating contemporary African art and African American artworks from the gallery's collection.
Dating from the early 1950s through today, the works highlight some of the trends of the last half century on both continents: figuration in the work of West African artists, abstraction in the paintings of artists associated with the Abstract Expressionist movements in America. There are paintings, prints, photography, sculpture and assemblage to admire.
One of the artists, Suzanne Jackson, is one of the 70 artists participating
in the 81st Whitney Biennial opening 20 March in New York. We feature an early figurative dreamscape from her early days in Los Angeles.
The works focus on themes of love, friendship, civil rights, and are
connected by a love of color and form.
The connections between the artists also finds itself from various
influences. The early California graphic designer, Marion Sampler, was
influenced by textiles and quilts he had seen as a child growing up in
Mississippi. The Gee's Bend quilters are the most famous of these now, but
that tradition was present throughout the South. And in conversation with
this work, we see the work of contemporary artist, Nengi Omuku, a Nigerian artist who attaches her painted canvases to sanyan, a tightly woven Aso-oke fabric crafted by the Yoruba people.
Artists featured include: Cornelius Annor, David Driskell, vanessa German,
Sam Gilliam, Suzanne Jackson, Alvin Loving, Zanele Muholi Nengi Omuku, Marion Sampler, Carrie Mae Weems, Frank Wimberley and others.
