An important patron of the arts both locally and nationally, Tim Francis curates Black Beauty with a powerful vision and aesthetic sensibility focused on highlighting the brilliance of contemporary Black artists. Black Beauty is comprised of Black artists whose work shares “a relationship to the African American condition that celebrates humanity in all of its diversity, eccentricities, and social and moral quandaries.” Black Beauty features work by Romare Bearden, David Driskell, Rashaad Newsome, Brandan “B-Mike” Odums, Shoshanna Weinberger, Fahamu Pecou, Brent McKeever, Lezley Saar, and Frederick J. Brown. A catalog accompanies the exhibition and features a critical essay by noted art historian Richard J. Powell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship, administered by United States Artists, seeks to establish new channels of support for artists through unrestricted funding to support their work, while also building a network of practitioners and professionals in the field to new opportunities for collaboration in Knight cities and beyond. In addition to the Fellowship, the Knight Foundation has created a new web-based publication exploring new media landscapes and spotlighting the inaugural Knight Arts + Tech Fellows. To read click the link below.

Cyborgian Shade by Legacy Russell

 

From the Rupture: Ideas and Actions for the Future
February 17-20

Eyebeam is delighted to announce From the Rupture: Ideas and Actions for the Future, a four-day online/IRL festival of art and ideas.

Join Eyebeam for an expansive digital convening of radical practitioners spanning the fields of public policy, journalism, healthcare, and more with over 25 talks and conversations. On February 17 at 3:55 pm EST Rashaad Newsome and Legacy Russell will be in conversation about Black data, Black trauma, and the possibilities of machine learning as a tool for healing. In anticipation of the Being 1.5 app’s public launch in spring 2021, Rashaad Newsome will initiate a citywide wheatpaste campaign throughout historically Black NYC neighborhoods to build awareness of the work as a free mental health resource for the Black community. Featuring a new poster, especially designed by the artist, the campaign aims to “make mental health sexy” for Black folks, and offer alternative strategies for community building and cultivating awareness beyond digital outreach and social media.

Read the full article HERE!

For more info on the project and to watch the film click the link below.

BLACK MAGIC

Parenting While Black

2020

Photo collage on paper, in custom mahogany and resin artist frame with automotive paint

45 x 49 3/4 x 3 5/8in

Rashaad Newsome’s work Parenting While Black was created at his home in Oakland during the COVID-19 pandemic this year. While sheltering in place, the work reflects the experience of being in isolation and observing the ongoing and increasingly visible violence against Black people, and the crippling anxiety that a parent must feel losing a child in this way. Newsome’s multidisciplinary approach draws from Black and queer cultural histories to create contemporary narratives, centering on intersectionality. Parenting While Black will appear in OMCA’s upcoming 2021 exhibition Mothership: Voyage Into Afrofuturism. Full Press Release Here!

 

 

Read the full article here!

 View the full story here!

Black Magic

December 1, 2020 – December 31, 2020

Rashaad Newsome

Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art

11:30 pm – 12 am, Thursday, December 10, 2020
Duffy Square, Broadway, and 46th St

Rashaad Newsome, Times Square Arts, and the Leslie-Lohman Museum invite the public to a special live performance in celebration of Newsome’s December Midnight Moment, Black Magic.

Black Magic premieres on December 1, 2020, in commemoration of World Aids Day.

Rashaad Newsome returns to the screens of Times Square with Black Magic, a multi-channel, site-specific work that combines improvisational performance with his animations of mesmerizing, vibrant, and intricately designed graphics. Black Magic is Newsome’s second Midnight Moment, following The Conductor in 2015.

Carefully choreographed across 72 digital displays each night in December, Black Magic carves out a space for transgression and liberation within the dominant culture of Times Square, while also resonating with the district’s long history as a gathering place for celebration, protest, creativity, and performance. It is a fitting close to a year in which Times Square has been a frequent site of rallies and vigils grieving and protesting racial injustice.

 

More info here!