Art News

An inside look at events and happenings in the contemporary art world.

Kwame Brathwaite, Sikolo Brathwaite, African Jazz-Art Society & Studios (AJASS), Harlem, ca. 1968. From Kwame Brathwaite: Black Is Beautiful (Aperture, 2019). Courtesy the artist and Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles.

Black is Beautiful
Opening February 5 at the Reynolda House Museum of American Art in North Carolina, Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite, features more than 40 photographs of Black men and women with natural hair and clothes, reclaiming their African roots. Photographer Kwame Brathwaite was a pivotal figure in the second Harlem Renaissance, and his art helped popularize the “Black is Beautiful” cultural movement of 1960s United States. On view through May 8, this is the first major exhibition to highlight the artist’s work.

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Maggi Hambling, Wall of Water VI, oil on canvas, 78 x 89"Maggi Hambling: Real Time
A celebrated LGBTQ+ icon and prominent figure in the art world for more than 50 years, Maggi Hambling will have her first major exhibition at Marlborough in New York. Held on the first and second floors, the exhibition features several of Hambling’s well-known series. Her most recent Edge paintings depict mountains and polar wastes through bold accumulations of indigo and white, “[suggesting] an internal–psychological–wilderness as much as a physical setting.” The artist’s admired Wall of Water (2010-12) series features “large-scale paintings that capture explosions of water inspired by the experience of watching waves crash into a concrete sea wall, followed the death of a close friend.” Maggi Hambling: Real Time is on view February 3 through March 26.

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Cara Romero, Sand & Stone, ed. of 7, limited edition archival fine art photograph, 45 x 30"LAND BODY

LAND BODY explores the connections between the human body and the landscape through the eyes of 11 women artists. Currently on view at Ogden Contemporary Arts Center through February 20, the exhibition takes a closer look at desert environments in relation to environmental issues, climate concerns, cultural histories and female identity. Visitors can explore the works of some of the most esteemed artists working today, including Nikesha Breeze, Cara Romero, Wendy Wischer, Jaclyn Wright, Josie Bell, Jill O’Bryan, Chelsea Call, Al Denyer, Sama Alshaibi, and Sonia and Miriam Albert-Sobrino, known together as the Also Sisters.

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James Drake, Tongue-Cut Sparrows (Gabriella), 1996, charcoal on paper. Denver Art Museum, gift of Polly and Mark Addison. © 2021 James Drake / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: courtesy Denver Art Museum.What is Left Unspoken

A thematic exhibition at the High Museum of Art titled What is Left Unspoken, Love showcases contemporary works from the early 1990s through present day exploring one of life’s most powerful forces: love. Delving into the ways in which love is understood and expressed, the exhibition features around 70 works by a diverse group of artists from across the world, including Michelle Stuart, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Gerald Lovell, Ghada Amer, Carrie Mae Weems, Alanna Fields, James Drake and more. What is Left Unspoken, Love runs March 25 through August 14. —