17 Days to 30 Americans(born 1960) Glenn Ligon employs the practice of intertextuality in his conceptual work. This term, coined by Bulgarian-French philosopher Julia Kristeva in 1966, describes how the meaning of a text is not inherent, but rather malleable relative to the time, the context it is read, the knowledge of the reader, and other non-static factors. Ligon’s intertextual works invite interpretations around race, language, and sexual identity. Learn more about the 30 Americans ... Read More

18 Days to 30 Americans (born 1977) “Black science” is an ideal description for Rashid Johnson’s absorbing photography, sculptures, conceptual work, and video works, through which the artist investigates science fiction, divination, black American history, and hip-hop culture, as well as personal memories. Learn more about the 30 Americans exhibition at http://arkansasartscenter.org/30-Americans. Learn more about Johnson at http://www.art21.org/artists/rashid-johnson. photo: www.art21.org Share this Post

19 Days to 30 Americans (born 1945) Barkley L. Hendricks’s large-scale paintings and photographs epitomize black American urban style. His portraiture works infuse realistic depictions of contemporary black people with a certain romanticism. Dignified and fashionable, his subjects are not generic types, but rather recognizable human beings. Learn more about the 30 Americans exhibition at http://arkansasartscenter.org/30-Americans. To view Hendricks's work visit http://www.barkleyhendricks.com/. Video photo: Duke Photography/ www.collegeart.org Share this Post

20 Days to 30 Americans(born 1943) Bliz-aard Ball Sale is one of David Hammons’s most famous and influential performance art pieces. In 1983 he sold snowballs of varying sizes and prices alongside other street vendors in Manhattan during a winter snowstorm. The satirical performance commented on the U.S. capitalism system, the classist nature of the high-art world, and the superficial value of “whiteness” in U.S. racial politics. Hammons mostly creates art on the street, and for ... Read More

21 Days to 30 Americans(born 1959) Renée Green’s transfixing installations epitomize the Information Age because they are often built upon archival material, regardless of her chosen medium—film, text, photography, prints, sculpture, music, textiles, fabrics, and new media. Her prismatic art explores themes surrounding cultural and personal history and memory. In 2009 the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, Switzerland, exhibited Ongoing Becoming, a retrospective of Green’s works, spanning from 1989 to 2009. Learn more about ... Read More

22 Days to 30 Americans(born 1961) The cyclical nature of life—decay and resurrection—plays a central, recurring role throughout Leonardo Drew’s elaborate and enthralling installations and multilayered sculptures, which are often composed of found objects, wood, and fabrics. As gripping as Drew’s large-scale works are, they can be enigmatic to the point of being hermetic, forcing some viewers to question the validity of their artistry. Others are captivated by the suggestiveness and mystery of the works. ... Read More

23 Days to 30 Americans (born 1983) Richard Brautigan’s provocative 1968 novella In Watermelon Sugar provided the impetus for Noah Davis’s 2010 exhibition The Forgotten Works at Roberts & Tilton gallery in Los Angeles. The literary work centers around a post-apocalyptic commune that resides in a gathering house known as iDEATH. In the story, the sun constantly changes colors. One of the major characters, inBOIL, decides to leave the commune and live in a forbidden area called “The Forgotten Works,” ... Read More

24 Days to 30 Americans (1925 - 2009) Satire plays a huge role in Robert Colescott’s vibrant, at times claustrophobic, paintings. Colescott addressed issues surrounding history and racial stereotypes with wry, transgressive humor and keen observation. In 1975 he began creating a series of works that referenced classic Western art, but recast the central figures as black. Learn more about the 30 Americans exhibition at http://arkansasartscenter.org/30-Americans. photo: http://www.oregonlive.com Share this Post