If it’s useful, it can’t be art. For the longest time, the art world has deemed craft as less-than. Figures like Ruth Asawa, whose suspended sculptures stem from basket weaving, took a…
Black Artists
The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic and political movement that redefined Blackness in the United States as an act of liberation from post-antebellum discrimination and stereotypes, evidenced by…
In the lobby of NXTHVN, the art hub co-founded by Titus Kaphar and Jason Price, curator Arvia D. Walker invites visitors to her exhibition, Reverence: An Archival Altar, to write a…
If it’s true that the flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long, then Noah Davis is that flame. He arrived in Los Angeles at the age of 21, sold his first painting by the time he was 25,…
The first Haitian female artist to exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art–with her remarkable paper dress sculpture, Justice of Ezili–conceptual artist Fabiola Jean-Louis (…
On view at the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling in Harlem, New York is A Love Worth Fighting For by artist Jamel Robinson. The exhibition brings together 14…
African American artists have contributed to this nation’s cultural landscape throughout its history. From colonial to modern times, realistic portraiture to striking abstractions, here we …
This slideshow is dedicated to black, contemporary artists that we believe our readers should know more about. The artworks highlighted here span drawing, painting, quilting, and sculptural practice.
Outside the Denver Art Museum (DAM), a banner printed with a detail from an Alma Thomas (1891-1978) painting proclaims one of the celebrated artist’s quotes: “Light is the mother of color.”
Edges of Ailey, on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art, is an exhibition that investigates, reveals, and honors the legendary choreographer Alvin Ailey. Ailey was born in Rogers,…
Ranked as one of the best Historic Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in America, Howard University is often referred to as “The Harvard of HBCUs.” Established in 1867, Howard is one of 101…
The drop-down title poem by June Jordan begins with, “these poems/ they are things that I do/ in the dark/ reaching for you/ whoever you are/ and/ are you ready?” The sentiment that this 1977 “These…
In the preface to her groundbreaking book, All About Love, bell hooks writes, "Redeemed and restored, love returns us to the promise of everlasting life. When we love we can let our hearts…
Hilton Als is many things: author, curator, critic, teacher, and winner of many awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Art & Object spoke to Als about his…
April Bey’s practice is grounded in the fundamental truth that systems and attitudes don’t need to be the way they are. Through both her striking aesthetic and her conceptual approach, Bey breaks…
