by Sandy | Jan 26, 2012 | Art, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums
The Museum of Modern Art, NYC just recently opened an exhibit of work by renowned artist, muralist Diego Rivera, 1886-1957. He was not just Frida Kahlo’s husband, but is also considered by many to be one of the best Mexican artist of the 20th century.
In December 1931, the painter came to New York and set up shop to specifically produce murals for MoMA. ”… Rivera produced five “portable murals”—large blocks of frescoed plaster, slaked lime, and wood that feature bold images drawn from Mexican subject matter and address themes of revolution and class inequity.”
“Along with mural panels, the show will include full-scale drawings, smaller working drawings, archival materials related to the commission and production of these works, and designs for Rivera’s famous Rockefeller Center mural, which he also produced while he was working at the Museum.”
Diego Rivera: Murals for the Museum of Modern Art * Until May 14, 2012
Museum of Modern Art/ MoMA, NYC
by Bob Martin | Jan 23, 2012 | Art, Exhibits
Celebrating African American Arts and Culture, First Friday February 3rd 2012 at Phoenix Space Park.
On first Friday, February 3rd, 2012, Civic Space Park Collaboration, Black Alliance for Just Immigration and Fair Trade Café proudly present Lift Every Voice: Black Art Showcase – First Friday at Civic Space Park. The evening will feature live musical performances, spoken word, drama, art, dance, and more to celebrate culture through art and giving voice to history, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM. This free event will be held at Civic Space Park, 424 North Central Avenue, in the heart of downtown Phoenix.
This kick off to Black History Month will be hosted by actress Nikki Hicks, Zoni Award Nominee and National Urban Fellow. Live performances by Felix Anane and Angelique White – African drums, DJ Sese – hip hop, poet Miouo Nance, and jazz musician Sparkle Nesby. Artwork on display by Felicia Penza, Jesa Townsend, Floyd Galloway, Jalila Jones, Adam Strange, Richard Retter, Bob Martin, and Chip Thomas.
Local organizations and nonprofits will join us in commemorating America’s own black history.We have a blooming black arts culture in Phoenix, and this event reaffirms the richness of our work. With the participation of powerful artists, musicians, actors, performers, and speakers, this First Friday event explores the diversity and depth of black heritage.
by Sandy | Jan 17, 2012 | Art, Blogroll, Exhibits, Film, Movies, Museums
Hopefully, everyone gets a chance to see the new film “Red Tails”, which tells the true story of African American World War II pilots – the Tuskegee Airmen. It opens on Friday January 20, 2012. But, just in case you don’t do movies, but are still fascinated by black “flight”, the Smithsonian has both an online and a traveling exhibit called “Black Wings”. 
“The historic flight of the Wright brothers in 1903 sparked a universal enthusiasm for flying. But as in most areas of life, formidable obstacles and discrimination faced black Americans who had dreams of flying… Black Wings tells the story of how one group of Americans overcame enormous obstacles to break into aviation.”
(Images: Aviatrix, Bessie Coleman in 1923, poster for “Red Tails”)
by Sandy | Jan 14, 2012 | Art, Blogroll, Culture, Exhibits, Museums
“Collected. Ritual explores the performative and process-oriented aspects of making art and examines ritual as an act of special and sometimes mythical significance. The works in this exhibition were chosen for the innovative ways in which the artists engaged with ritual—including through studio art-making and artistic practices that use symbolic actions. This exhibition, organized by Assistant Curator Naima J. Keith, explores the relationship and nexus between art and ritual through twenty-five works of art from the permanent collection spanning the last thirty years.“
Collected. Ritual – Until Mar 11, 2012
The Studio Museum in Harlem, 144 West 125th Street, NYC
(Image: Betye Saar – “Window of Ancient Sirens”, 1979)
by Sandy | Jan 2, 2012 | Art, Artist, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums
MoMA, New York City, offers us a retrospective of the work of Holland born artist de Kooning.
“Representing nearly every type of work de Kooning made, in both technique and subject matter, this retrospective includes paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints. Among these are the artist’s most famous, landmark paintings—among them Pink Angels (1945), Excavation (1950), and the celebrated third Woman series (1950–53)—plus in-depth presentations of all his most important series, ranging from his figurative paintings of the early 1940s to the breakthrough black-and-white compositions of 1948–49, and from the urban abstractions of the mid 1950s to the artist’s return to figuration in the 1960s, and the large gestural abstractions of the following decade. Also included is de Kooning’s famous yet largely unseen theatrical backdrop, the 17-foot-square Labyrinth (1946).”
de Kooning: A Retrospective * Until January 9, 2012
Museum of Modern Art, NYC
by Sandy | Dec 26, 2011 | Art, Artist, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums
The busy and thriving Brooklyn Museum presents – Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties, until January 29, 2012. 
The exhibition “brings together for the first time the work of sixty-eight painters, sculptors, and photographers who explored a new mode of modern realism in the years bounded by the aftermath of the Great War and the onset of the Great Depression.”.
Some of the artists represented are:
Thomas Hart Benton, Imogen Cunningham, Charles Demuth, Aaron Douglas, Edward Hopper, Gaston Lachaise, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Luigi Lucioni, Gerald Murphy, Georgia O’Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz, and Edward Weston.
Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties
Brooklyn Museum, 5th Flr, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York
(Images: Winold Reiss, 1886–1953, Sari Price Patton, 1925 and George Copeland Ault, 1891–1948, Brooklyn Ice House, 1926)
