On a promising streak
UCLA prof ponders gains by black artists locally but finds one group MIA: women.
The year has seen a number of solo exhibitions by African American artists at major museums in Los Angeles. Charles Gaines had a show of his grid pieces at the Hammer Museum in February. This was followed in March by a pair of intriguing installations at two locations of the Museum of Contemporary Art: William Pope. L’s massive flag at the Geffen Contemporary and Kahlil Joseph’s ruminative film, inspired by Compton and the music of Kendrick Lamar, at the museum’s Grand Avenue building. In June, Noah Purifoy’s assemblages went on view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, followed by the opening of an exhibition of new works by Mark Bradford back at the Hammer.
At amoment when questions of race, equity and representation are paramount, this streak marks an interesting moment for Los Angeles— one that has allowed for the city to take in a broad range of works by black artists: from the intricate assemblages of Purifoy ( who died in 2004 at age 86) to the video work of Joseph, who is just 33, and whose art is inspired by everything from Russian avant- garde cinema to African American films of the 1970s.
Which makes it a perfect time to take a step back to discuss how the representation of black artists may or may not be changing at the city’s major museums.
Steven Nelson is a professor of African and African American Art History at UCLA. He also directs the university’s African Studies Center. He spoke about what these exhibits may reveal— but also what’s missing. Namely, the women.
It’s been a big year for black artists at the big museums in Los Angeles. Are African American artists finally starting to get some parity on the exhibition roster?
There have been, off and on, shows that highlight groups of black artists and individual artists for a long time. LACMA, for example, did a show back in the 1970s: “Two Centuries of Black American Art.” That show really set the stage for what was already an active community of African American artists here in Los Angeles.
But what I do think is different about these shows is their scale. Many of the artists being shown, however, are already famous. So in someways, there is less risk for the institutions.
What I’d say is that we’re seeing a loosening up. Is it a revolution? No. Is it interesting? Yes.
What does giveme pause is the lack ofwomen. Why the Carrie Mae Weems show [ exhibited at the Guggenheim and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville] hasn’t been picked up is beyond me.
In otherwords, there is still work to do.
There are issues of diversity at the institutions themselves. The only place with a diverse curatorial staff is LACMA. LACMA is the only institution that has taken it seriously. And with those changes, you see different types of shows coming forth. To have Purifoy at LACMA is wonderful. It’s their show— they curated it— and it doesn’t surprise me, given the makeup of their curatorial team[ which includes African American curator Franklin Sirmans].
What ideas have you seen in any of these shows that you think have spoken particularly well to the moment we are living?
What I won’t do is read the tea leaves and try to speak for an artist’s intention. But I do think Bradford’s work has always spoken to those kinds of issues. They’ve always been about social inequity and racial inequity and stereotypes of black men.
His work is abstract, but it’s a sort of aerial view of social relations. So in terms of art shows in our present moment, his work is in part about blackmen being under scrutiny.
But black men are always under scrutiny. It’s just more obvious this year.
Which brings us to the women.
What women?! [ Laughs.]
This is the thing, if you’re going to talk about the efflorescence of black art in Los Angeles, what you’re really talking about is an efflorescence of black male art in Los Angeles. I’m not sure why that should be the case, especially given the world of black artists here. In Los Angeles, so many of the drivers of the Black Arts Movement were women, artists like Betye Saar and Senga Nengudi.
So which African American female artists do you think are sorely in need of a solo museum show?
I’d start with Betye Saar. Why isn’t there the big Betye Saar show? She has been working here for half a century. Also, where’s the big show on Adrian Piper? Carrie Mae Weems is the only example we can think of who has recently had a major museum show in the U. S., and you ask yourself, “Why didn’t that show come to Los Angeles?” There can be any number of reasons for that.
The fact is that there have been a lot of black women who have been very active here. Lorraine O’Grady was at [ UC] Irvine for a number of years. Pat Ward Williamswas at Irvine too. Where is thatwork? Where are they, where are the women? You can’t use the excuse that they’re not there.
Ultimately, we don’t yet knowthat theworld has changed. We might have a bigger chair at the table, but has the table itself changed? That’s not somethin gwe can be sure of just yet.