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Showing posts from January, 2016

The Power of a Woman

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  Source: The Prisma African art in “The power of a woman” January 24, 2016 An exhibition of paintings at the Gallery of African Art will be in London until Februeary 6 th . The cultural images on show have been painted by the Nigerian artist Nike Davie-Okundale. She is the director of four art centres and owns the biggest gallery in West Africa. Besides that, for the last 20 years her work has been shown in Nigeria, the USA, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy and the UK. As a young person she went to study at Oshogbo, one of the most important art centres in Nigeria. There she learned to paint in Adire , a kind of canvas stained with Indigo, and made by Yoruba women in the south-west of the country. In fact, Nike Davie-Okundale is recognised as the rescuer of Adire in contemporary times, and has received international awards for her importance in the art of painting on this type of canvas. In the show “The power of a woman” , the artist combines new and traditional t

Picasso at the MoMA, NYC

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Source: World Socialist Web Site Picasso’s sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York By Clare Hurley 18 January 2016 Picasso Sculpture ; an exhibit ion at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City through February 7, 2016 Is yet another major and uncritical exhibition of Picasso’s work really called for? During his lifetime Picasso (1881-1973) was likely the most famous artist to have ever lived. Forty-two years after his death, he remains—as art critic John Berger observed in his Success and Failure of Picasso —one of the few artists whose name most people in the world recognize, even if far fewer could actually recognize his artwork. According to a web site devoted to the artist, there are at any given time “perhaps dozens of exhibitions worldwide that feature Picasso, either on his own, or as part of a group show.” And of course his artwork is widely reproduced and imitated. Unfortunately, the Museum of Modern Art’s curren

Artist and Empire

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Source: Wall Street Journal ‘Artist and Empire’ Review An exhibition examine’s Britain’s colonial past.   ‘The Remnants of an Army; Jellalabad, January 13th, 1842’ (1879).   by Elizabeth Butler Photo: Tate Museum, London By Richard Holledge Jan. 5, 2016 4:56 p.m. ET Artist and Empire - Tate Britain - Through April 10, London A ferocious Britannia puts a Bengal tiger to the sword. A mother and baby lie slaughtered at her feet. For many, “Retribution” (1858) by Edward Armitage captures the essence of the British Empire. The animal represents India, which rose against its colonial masters in 1857, massacring, in one terrible incident, almost 200 women and children. The British took bloody revenge; order was restored. Typical of the British sense of right—and might—the uprising was condemned at home as the Indian Mutiny; India hails it as the first nationalist uprising but in these more sensitive times, many historians refer t

African Art at Piedmont Arts

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Blockbuster Exhibition of African Art from Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on Display at Piedmont Arts Source: Martinsville Daily By Bill Wyatt / in Life , Top Story /  on Thursday, 07 Jan 2016 06:44 PM Obj. No. 87.82 African, Kuba Culture (Zaire) Mukenga Mask, 19th – 20th century Raffia, cloth, leopard skin, wood, cowrie shells, glass beads, string 19½”H x 17”W x 22”D 49.53 cm x 43.18 cm x 55.88 cm Image must be credited with the following collection and photo credit lines: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund. Photo: Katherine Wetzel © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Martinsville, VA — Fortune, Courage, Love: Arts of Africa’s Akan and Kuba Kingdoms from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts , a blockbuster exhibition of African artworks from the VMFA’s permanent collection, will open at Piedmont Arts on January 16 .   A curatorial partnership between William King Museum of Ar

The Inspiration for Modernity

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France-Africa : Senufo African art that inspired Picasso comes to France Source: RFI 06 December 2015   A helmet is on display during the exhibition 'Senufo - The Art and Identity in West Africa' at the Musee Fabre in Montpellier, France on November 27, 2015. AFP PHOTO / PASCAL GUYOT It inspired visionary artists like Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger, now Senufo art comes to France. The Fabre museum in Montpellier presents “Senufo: Art and Identity in West Africa”, to the public from November 28th, 2015 to March 6th, 2016. By RFI It's the first large-scale exhibition of the art of the Senufo people of West Africa to go on display in France. “Senufo: Art and Identity in West Africa”, explores the origins of the people who created it in new ways. The people known to the Western world as Senufo, live in a triangular region that comprises Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Burkina Faso. Although they share a common language and culture, they don't necessarily refer to

Birth of a Nation

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‘Birth Of A Nation’ Electrifies Sundance Crowd In World Premiere by Dominic Patten January 25, 2016 5:29pm   Source: Deadline Hollywood   Sundance Film Festival “Without an honest confrontation, there is no healing.” That’s from Birth Of A Nation  director-producer-star Nate Parker today onstage at the Sundance Film Festival . In what I have to say was one of the most emotional experiences I’ve had at a movie theater, Parker world premiered what he called his seven-year “passion project.” His telling of the early 19th century slave revolt led by Nat Turner had audience members crying in their seats and jumping to their feet in a prolonged standing ovation at the film’s conclusion. Potential buyers for the film streamed out of the lobby mere minutes after the cast had left the stage post-screening. Some worked multiple cell phones (with assistants standing nearby fielding calls of their own) in what appeared to be fevered discussions about

Guggenheim Bilboa - The Future of Design is Africa

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"KUBAISM" by Joe Pollitt Acrylic Tiles Size: 20cm x 20cm Date: 2015 Artist Statement: "The conceptional ideas here are to take the designs created in Central Africa from the Kuba Kingdom and stretch them inwardly, in order to create a sense of weightlessness and a feeling of suspension."   Guggenheim: The future of design is Africa By Thomas Page , for CNN Source:  CNN Inside Africa (CNN) Is African design having a moment?  Not according to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, a denizen of contemporary art. Rather, the curators believe the continent's artists and architects are shaping the future of design entirely. In their latest exhibit, Making Africa -- A Continent of Contemporary Design , the museum showcases some of the freshest names in the art world as a whole (they just happen to all be African). Shaping a new world order   Style" (2013), from the series "Moments of Transition" by Mario Macilau Alito. Co-curators Amelie Klein and Petra Joos

LA ART SHOW 2016

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Ed Ruscha's "Zoot-Soot," 2015, presented by Bert Green Fine Art at the upcoming LA Art Show from January 27 - 31 Source: Blouinartinfo (Bert Green Fine Art/ LA Art Show) LA Art Show: A West Coast Fair With A Wider Reach BY Archana Khare-Ghose | January 23, 2016   Kim Martindale, GM & Partner, LA Art Show Called the West Coast’s most comprehensive art experience, the LA Art Show has seen the art scene of the city evolve from being ‘event-centric’ to hosting a very sophisticated collector and artistic community. In the past two decades of its existence, the fair has not just experienced internal growth but also benefitted from the increasingly global character of the city. Ahead of the upcoming edition, the fair’s general manager and partner Kim Martindale answers a few questions for BLOUIN ARTINFO.  How has the art scene in Los Angeles evolved in the past 21 years of the fair’s existence? How would you compare it with the art scene of New York? The art scen

Tyburn Gallery, Central London

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New Art Gallery Provides Rare Insight Into Contemporary African Art Grace Banks , Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Bridget Baker, The Assemblers #1, 2015, Photographer Sarah Nankin. Copyright the artist, Courtesy Tyburn Gallery. Tyburn Gallery is a new London-based exhibition space dedicated to international contemporary art. Founded by the former editor of the South African Journal of Human Rights Emma Menell, an engagement with the culture and socio-politics of Africa is at the heart of this new venture. Growing up in South Africa, Menell maintained a passion for art, and this lifelong fascination is evidenced in the works she collects. Both Menell and her family have been involved in entrepreneurial ventures across Africa which have brought them into contact with artists and collectors across the continent.  Menell’s own collection features pieces by Robert Hodgins , Moffat  Takadiwa , William Kentridge , Guy Tillim and other emerging Sout