“Museum of the African Diaspora is proud to present “Meet Us Quickly: Painting for Justice from Prison”, an exhibition of the work of twelve artists incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison…”
They have also provided notes about themselves and their work.
Meet Us Quickly: Painting for Justice from Prison
MoAD – The Museum of the African Diaspora
685 Mission Street San Francisco, CA
(Image: Gentle Giants, Antwan “Banks” Williams)
~~**~~**
“Naudline Pierre: What Could Be Has Not Yet Appeared”
“The DMA presents the first solo museum exhibition of works by Naudline Pierre, whose vividly hued paintings portray opaque, otherworldly narratives through depictions of supernatural beings entangled in complex scenes of struggle and intimacy.”
Dallas Museum of Art / DMA
1717 North Harwood
Dallas, Texas
****<
Until March 31, 2023: The City of Goodyear Library and Sedona Arts Center Gallery presents, Vision & Sound: An African American Experience.
The exhibit highlights the work of eight prolific artists that represent various mediums and genres of art.
Michael Cunningham, Founder
Norma Cunningham, Founder
*Vision and Sound: An African American Experience* founded in 2015
cunninghamart@ cox.net ~ Phone 623-680-0538
https://www.goodyearaz.gov/government/departments/parks-recreation/library-fine-art-shows
~~~****~~~
The exhibition, “Edward Hopper’s New York takes a comprehensive look at Hopper’s life and work, from his early impressions of New York in sketches, prints, and illustrations, to his late paintings, in which the city served as a backdrop for his evocative distillations of urban experience.”
Until Mar 5, 2023
Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street, New York, NY
* Image: Edward Hopper, “New York Movie”, 1939
~***~
(Originally posted 3/5/12)
A PBS program that I enjoyed is now on DVD – “Simon Schama’s – Power of Art”. Relaxed and informative, it even includes some personal tidbits about one of my favorite artists. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was gloriously talented, but he was also a youthful offender – violent and incorrigible. Not a cute “Denis the Menace” type, (he murdered a rival) but, as Schama labels him – a thug. I was shocked! Does his anger and madness show in his art? Maybe.
Considered part of the early Italian Baroque style of painting, his work, perhaps as a way of seeking redemption, focused on biblical themes – but, if you look at the faces, you will notice that these are no cherubs or saints, his paintings are inhabited by the people that he found in the local taverns with all their blemishes and wrinkles. I’ve found his work to be vibrant and alive regardless of its theme – whether card players or John the Baptist – full of energy, often full of violence, always very up close and in your face.
Schama narrates the hour and takes a gossipy, anecdotal look at the short life of Michelangelo Caravaggio, (1571 – 1610), and includes some re enactments to give background as to why/how certain paintings were created – like “Calling of Saint Matthew” and his “David with the Head of Goliath”.
BTW – Caravaggio was like Alfred Hitchcock, who always had a walk on or walkthrough in his movies and TV shows – the artist liked to paint himself in the middle of his scenes – with a table of card sharks, with a group of musicians and most notably, he serves himself up as the “Head of Goliath”.
The PBS series included the same 8 artists that are highlighted in Mr. Schama’s book of the same name, “Power of Art”: Caravaggio, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso, Rothko and Bernini.
(Image: David with the Head of Goliath, c. 1609. Oil on panel)
~~~ *** ~~~
It is not necessary that we come to an agreement about what is good works of art. It is important that we independently see value in the art that we like and appreciate. To have our own listening, our own sight, that we are not relying on what others think. We don’t need talking heads for everything.
***
“In celebration of its status as the first public museum in the United States to purchase a painting by Vincent van Gogh—Self-Portrait, 1887, which was acquired in 1922—the Detroit Institute of Arts is organizing the first exhibition dedicated to the introduction and early reception of the iconic artist’s work in America.”
Until January 22, 2023
Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan
Artist Eugene Grigsby,1918 – 2013, taught at Arizona State for 20 years and spent two decades teaching in Phoenix public schools.
of the Kuba people of the Congo. This is a multiracial family, White mother, Black father and bi-racial children, a situation that was seen as illegal not long ago in this country. It is not lost on me that this portrays the family of some one who may become the President of the US. 
Rip Woods and Samella Lewis, who has written several books on Black/African American Artist and was the founder of International Review of African American Art, which has been taken over by Hampton University.
They and others painted and wrote about an unvarnished truth that I feel may have helped to motivate people and governments to do something different. Art can free people up to think.
Undivided Attention – New work in welded steel and paint by Joan Waters, ©2011
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to chat with Joan Waters about her exhibit, “Undivided Attention: New Work in Welded Steel and Paint”, at the Chandler Center for the Arts. We spoke about being an artist and the people who played a role in her career. Here is a portion of what we talked about.