BOB THOMPSON (1937–1966), “The Golden Ass,” 1963 (oil on canvas, 62 1/2 x 74 1/2 inches). | © Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY   Bob Thompson: Agony & Ecstasy @ Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 100 Eleventh Avenue at West 19th Street, New York, N.Y. | April 1- May 26, 2023 Bob Thompson (1937-1966) invented a realm all his own. Working at the intersection of figuration and abstraction, form and color, Thompson’s dream-like images are informed by his personal experiences, passion for jazz, biblical narratives and mythology. Active for less than a decade in New York and Europe, he d ..read more

  SHORTLY AFTER HE ARRIVED IN PARIS in 2007, Henry Taylor made an epic painting on a wood shipping crate panel. In a moment of inspiration, he painted a riff on Pablo Picasso’s celebrated “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (1907), replacing the artist’s white figures, five female nudes, with images of Black women. A comment on Picasso’s African influences and the politics of representation, Taylor titled his painting “From Congo to the Capital, and black again.” Taylor was in the French capital for his first European solo exhibition at Atelier Cardenas Bellanger, where he included the new painti ..read more

  Latest News in Black Art features updates and developments in the world of art and related culture. Highlights from the week of April 30 include: David Hammons documentary, Howard University’s next president, MICA commencement speakers, Black Lunch Table & more   FILMS | Trailer for “The Melt Goes on Forever: The Art and Times of David Hammons,” a documentary portrait of the New York-based artist who does not appear in the film. | Video by Greenwich Entertainment   FILMS “The Melt Goes on Forever: The Art and Times of David Hammons,” a documentary about the elusive concept ..read more

DANIEL LIND-RAMOS (b. 1953), Installation view of “Baño de María (Bain-marie/The Cleansing),” 2018–2022, MoMA PS1, Queens, N.Y. | Photo by Steven Paneccasio   THE MONUMENTAL SCULPTURES of Puerto Rican artist Daniel Lind-Ramos are formed with everyday objects of personal and cultural significance. Using a visual language all his own, Lind-Ramos tells stories. He works with refuse, remnants of nature, tools, and decorative items—some he finds, others are gifted to him by friends and neighbors. He recently produced a trio of assemblage works invoking the name Maria in their titles, drawing c ..read more

Installation view of “Ficre Ghebreyesus: I Believe We Are Lost,” Galerie Lelong, New York, N.Y. (March 30-May 6, 2023). | © The Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus, Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co., Photo by Jon Cancro   AFRICA, EUROPE, AMERICA. Ficre Ghebreyesus (1962-2012) lived across the globe. Born in Asmara, Eritrea, he left his home country in 1978 during the War of Independence from Ethiopia. He was 16 when he became a political refugee, traveling by foot to Sudan and later spending time in Germany and Italy before landing in the United States. He stayed briefly in San Jose, Calif, moved ..read more

  AS SUMMER COMES TO A CLOSE and the fall semester beckons, the campus museum at Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga., will be transformed into a temple of sorts when spiritual images by Harmonia Rosales are displayed throughout its galleries. Chicago-born, Los Angeles-based Rosales is of Afro-Cuban and Jewish Jamaican heritage, a milieu that informs her perspective and her practice. She reimagines and recasts European Renaissance paintings with Black subjects. Her history paintings invoke religious iconography and the transatlantic slave trade, exploring narratives of creation, tragedy, and s ..read more

  CONTEMPORARY ARTS MUSEUM HOUSTON (CAMH) announced Ryan N. Dennis is joining its curatorial team as senior curator and director of public initiatives. The appointment is a homecoming. Dennis was born in Houston, educated at the University of Houston, where she has also taught, and spent more than half of her burgeoning curatorial career in the city. Dennis currently serves as chief curator and artistic director of the Center for Art & Public Exchange at the Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) in Jackson, where she co-curated the critically recognized traveling exhibition “A Movement in E ..read more

  FOUR ARTISTS SHORTLISTED for the Turner Prize 2023 were announced today by Tate Britain. Jesse Darling, Ghislaine Leung, Rory Pilgrim and Barbara Walker are under consideration for the UK’s top visual art prize. The winner will be named on Dec. 5. Each year, the Turner Prize recognizes British artists for exceptional exhibitions or presentations of their work. Based in Birmingham, Walker makes figurative drawings and paintings that explore political, cultural, and social issues. She was nominated for “Burden of Proof,” a series of drawings that explore the impact of the Windrush scandal ..read more

CY GAVIN, “Untitled (Paths, crossing – blue),” 2022 (acrylic and vinyl on canvas, 86 x 136 inches (218.4 x 345.4 cm). | © Cy Gavin. Photo by Rob McKeever, Courtesy Gagosian   FOLLOWING HIS SOLO DEBUT with Gagosian in New York, Cy Gavin (b. 1985) is now represented globally by the gallery. Gavin produces large-scale landscapes infused with vibrant color. The dramatic abstracted paintings are inspired by his natural surroundings in Upstate New York. A closely watched painter, Gavin hails from Pennsylvania. He presented his first solo show in New York in 2015 at Sargent’s Daughters. The gall ..read more

Patsy Rembert walks through Winfred Rembert’s exhibition at Hauser & Wirth and shares what motivated her husband to start painting his life story on leather. | Video by Hauser & Wirth   THE WHITE CUBE GALLERIES of Hauser & Wirth on the Upper East Side of New York stand in stark contrast to the vivid scenes Winfred Rembert (1945-2021) painted on carved and tooled leather—the joys and pain of the Jim Crow South where he grew up. Housed in pristine white frames, the paintings reflect his memories of Georgia—profound cultural experiences in pool halls, juke joints, and church, and ..read more