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The contribution of black artists are often overshadowed in the art world. In spite of that black creatives continue to blossom and impact the culture and challenge the narrative of art
Today,we have so many black artists taking the world by storm: The Living Black Artists Thread
Today,we have so many black artists taking the world by storm: The Living Black Artists Thread
In this thread I am going to name a lot of the notable living black artists but please drop artists I didn’t mention. I also want to encourage every BLACK artists that sees this to drop their work. Preferably in this format:
A portrait
2-4 pictures or links of your work
A portrait
2-4 pictures or links of your work
Kehinde Wiley
Wileys larger than life figures disturb and interrupt tropes of portrait painting,often blurring the boundaries between traditional and contemporary modes of representation and the critical portrayal of masculinity and physicality in the view of black and brown men
Wileys larger than life figures disturb and interrupt tropes of portrait painting,often blurring the boundaries between traditional and contemporary modes of representation and the critical portrayal of masculinity and physicality in the view of black and brown men
Kara Walker
“Art means too much to me. To be able to articulate something visually is really important, I wanted to make work where the viewer wouldn’t walk away; giggle nervously, get pulled into history,into fiction,into something totally demeaning and possibly very beautiful”
“Art means too much to me. To be able to articulate something visually is really important, I wanted to make work where the viewer wouldn’t walk away; giggle nervously, get pulled into history,into fiction,into something totally demeaning and possibly very beautiful”
Titus Kaphar
Kaphar’s works seeks to dislodge history from its status as the “past” in order to unearth its contemporary relevance. reconfiguring them into works that reveal unspoken truths about the nature of history and to investigate the power of a rewritten history.
Kaphar’s works seeks to dislodge history from its status as the “past” in order to unearth its contemporary relevance. reconfiguring them into works that reveal unspoken truths about the nature of history and to investigate the power of a rewritten history.
Rashid Johnson
Johnson’s works express personal and complex histories through objects and mark-making. His work expands a network of elements related to African and Black identity and history, that contemplate the past in the present moment.
Johnson’s works express personal and complex histories through objects and mark-making. His work expands a network of elements related to African and Black identity and history, that contemplate the past in the present moment.
Kerry James Marshall
“The lighter the skin, the more acceptable you are. The darker the skin, the more marginalised you become. I want to demonstrate that you can produce beauty in the context of a figure that has that kind of velvety blackness. It can be done.”
“The lighter the skin, the more acceptable you are. The darker the skin, the more marginalised you become. I want to demonstrate that you can produce beauty in the context of a figure that has that kind of velvety blackness. It can be done.”
Senga Nengudi
Nengudi’s work explores feminism,African and Japanese dance,music,and religious rituals. Her works are composed of an evocative mix of natural and synthetic materials, often crafted into forms to be worn, touched, and used by Nengudi to bring her work to life.
Nengudi’s work explores feminism,African and Japanese dance,music,and religious rituals. Her works are composed of an evocative mix of natural and synthetic materials, often crafted into forms to be worn, touched, and used by Nengudi to bring her work to life.
Radcliffe Bailey
Bailey is a painter, sculptor, and mixed media artist who utilizes the layering of imagery, culturally resonant materials, and text to explore themes of ancestry, race, and memory. His work is often created out of found materials and certain pieces from his past
Bailey is a painter, sculptor, and mixed media artist who utilizes the layering of imagery, culturally resonant materials, and text to explore themes of ancestry, race, and memory. His work is often created out of found materials and certain pieces from his past
Lorna Simpson
Exploring the experience of African American women, simpson creates her pieces from both original photographs and found images from eBay flea markets.
Exploring the experience of African American women, simpson creates her pieces from both original photographs and found images from eBay flea markets.
Mickalene Thompson
Thomas creates paintings, collages, photography, video, and installations that draw on art history and popular culture to create a contemporary vision of female sexuality, beauty, and power.
Thomas creates paintings, collages, photography, video, and installations that draw on art history and popular culture to create a contemporary vision of female sexuality, beauty, and power.
Amy Sherald
I'm painting the paintings that I want to see in museums. And I'm hopefully presenting them in a way that's universal enough that they become representative of something different than just a black body on a canvas.”
I'm painting the paintings that I want to see in museums. And I'm hopefully presenting them in a way that's universal enough that they become representative of something different than just a black body on a canvas.”
Julie Mehretu
“Trying to figure out who I am and my work is trying to understand systems,” Mehretu’s abstract compositions reference modernist architecture, Google Maps, Coliseum-like buildings, and defaced structures.
“Trying to figure out who I am and my work is trying to understand systems,” Mehretu’s abstract compositions reference modernist architecture, Google Maps, Coliseum-like buildings, and defaced structures.
Mark Bradford
Bradford transforms materials scavenged from the street into wall-size collages and installations that respond to the impromptu networks—underground economies, migrant communities, or popular appropriation of abandoned public space—that emerge within a city.
Bradford transforms materials scavenged from the street into wall-size collages and installations that respond to the impromptu networks—underground economies, migrant communities, or popular appropriation of abandoned public space—that emerge within a city.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby
”[my work] really is about what it means to be someone who has existed between multiple worlds and carries all those influences with them at once — for me, a rural Nigerian person, an urban Nigerian person and an American at the same time.”
![Njideka Akunyili Crosby”[my work] really is about what it means to be someone who has existed between multiple worlds and carries all those influences with them at once — for me, a rural Nigerian person, an urban Nigerian person and an American at the same time.”](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EJIBKt7WoAMDQwJ.jpg "Njideka Akunyili Crosby”[my work] really is about what it means to be someone who has existed between multiple worlds and carries all those influences with them at once — for me, a rural Nigerian person, an urban Nigerian person and an American at the same time.”")
![Njideka Akunyili Crosby”[my work] really is about what it means to be someone who has existed between multiple worlds and carries all those influences with them at once — for me, a rural Nigerian person, an urban Nigerian person and an American at the same time.”](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EJIBKt9WsAUEp_U.jpg "Njideka Akunyili Crosby”[my work] really is about what it means to be someone who has existed between multiple worlds and carries all those influences with them at once — for me, a rural Nigerian person, an urban Nigerian person and an American at the same time.”")
![Njideka Akunyili Crosby”[my work] really is about what it means to be someone who has existed between multiple worlds and carries all those influences with them at once — for me, a rural Nigerian person, an urban Nigerian person and an American at the same time.”](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EJIBKvZXUAMKROR.jpg "Njideka Akunyili Crosby”[my work] really is about what it means to be someone who has existed between multiple worlds and carries all those influences with them at once — for me, a rural Nigerian person, an urban Nigerian person and an American at the same time.”")
![Njideka Akunyili Crosby”[my work] really is about what it means to be someone who has existed between multiple worlds and carries all those influences with them at once — for me, a rural Nigerian person, an urban Nigerian person and an American at the same time.”](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EJIBKuqXsAAmfdF.jpg "Njideka Akunyili Crosby”[my work] really is about what it means to be someone who has existed between multiple worlds and carries all those influences with them at once — for me, a rural Nigerian person, an urban Nigerian person and an American at the same time.”")
”[my work] really is about what it means to be someone who has existed between multiple worlds and carries all those influences with them at once — for me, a rural Nigerian person, an urban Nigerian person and an American at the same time.”
Henry Taylor
“I paint everyone, or I try to, I try to capture the moment I am with someone who could be my friend, a neighbor, a celebrity, or a homeless person.” Taylor’s colorful, expressive paintings are characterized by their emotional intimacy and gestural looseness.
“I paint everyone, or I try to, I try to capture the moment I am with someone who could be my friend, a neighbor, a celebrity, or a homeless person.” Taylor’s colorful, expressive paintings are characterized by their emotional intimacy and gestural looseness.
Nick Cave
Cave creates “Soundsuits”—surreally majestic objects blending fashion and sculpture—Fully concealing the body, the “Soundsuits” serve as an alien second skin that obscures race, gender, and class, allowing viewers to look without bias towards the wearer’s identity.
Cave creates “Soundsuits”—surreally majestic objects blending fashion and sculpture—Fully concealing the body, the “Soundsuits” serve as an alien second skin that obscures race, gender, and class, allowing viewers to look without bias towards the wearer’s identity.
Kiyan Williams
Williams is a multidisciplinary artist from Newark, NJ who works fluidly across sculpture, performance, and video. They often work with dirt, sediment, and debris as material and metaphor to unearth diasporic experiences and trans/gressive subjectivity
Williams is a multidisciplinary artist from Newark, NJ who works fluidly across sculpture, performance, and video. They often work with dirt, sediment, and debris as material and metaphor to unearth diasporic experiences and trans/gressive subjectivity
Kameelah Janan Rasheed
Rasheeds art explores memory, ritual, discursive regimes,historiography, and archival practices through the use of fragments and historical residue. She is known for her work in immersive text-based installations,large-scale public text pieces, and collage.
Rasheeds art explores memory, ritual, discursive regimes,historiography, and archival practices through the use of fragments and historical residue. She is known for her work in immersive text-based installations,large-scale public text pieces, and collage.
Howardena Pindell
Pindell often employs lengthy, metaphorical processes of destruction/reconstruction. She cuts canvases in strips and sews them back together, building up surfaces in elaborate stages. Pindell reverts to these thematic focuses in order to address social issues.
Pindell often employs lengthy, metaphorical processes of destruction/reconstruction. She cuts canvases in strips and sews them back together, building up surfaces in elaborate stages. Pindell reverts to these thematic focuses in order to address social issues.
Howardena Pindell pt2
In Free, White and 21 she illustrates the divide between being black and white but also the paradox of white feminism to black women.
In Free, White and 21 she illustrates the divide between being black and white but also the paradox of white feminism to black women.
Jonathan Lyndon Chase
Blending both the interior and the exterior world of queer black males in various emotional states of pain, pleasure, tenderness, and despair, Chase draws and paints scenes that are both poetic and visceral.
Blending both the interior and the exterior world of queer black males in various emotional states of pain, pleasure, tenderness, and despair, Chase draws and paints scenes that are both poetic and visceral.
Juliana Huxtable
Huxtable combines and reinvents cultural histories, questioning the presentation and perception of identity in artworks that often use her own body.
Huxtable combines and reinvents cultural histories, questioning the presentation and perception of identity in artworks that often use her own body.
