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Episode 52: Brooke talks with Rock Hushka, chief curator of the Tacoma Art Museum about the 30 Americans exhibition which runs until this Sunday, January 15, 2017. The critically acclaimed showcase of influential African-American artists who have have emerged as leading contributors to the contemporary art scene in the United States was put together nearly a decade ago, but is making its West Coast debut at the TAM. Eight of the thirty artists featured have strong Pacific Northwest connections, and the TAM has several programs related to the exhibition to involve the community in the discussion.
Featured Image: Glenn Ligon, America, 2008. Neon sign and paint, ed. of 1 plus AP, 24 × 168 inches. Courtesy of the Rubell Family Collection. A group of 30 Americans artists, left to right: Rashid Johnson, Nick Cave, Kalup Linzy, Jeff Sonhouse, Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems, Barkley L. Hendricks, Hank Willis Thomas (front row), Xaviera Simmons, Purvis Young, John Bankston, Nina Chanel Abney, Henry Taylor, Mickalene Thomas (front row), Kerry James Marshall, and Shinique Smith.
Photo credit: Kwaku Alston, 2008.
Kara Walker Camptown Ladies, 1998 Paper, 8 × 55 feet Courtesy of the Rubell Family Collection
Jean-Michel Basquiat Bird On Money, 1981 Acrylic and oil on canvas
66 × 90 inches Courtesy of the Rubell Family Collection
Glenn Ligon America, 2008 Neon sign and paint, ed. of 1 plus AP 24 × 168 inches Courtesy of the Rubell Family Collection
Rashid Johnson The New Negro Escapist Social and Athletic Club (Thurgood), 2008 Lambda print, ed. 2/5 69 × 55½ inches Courtesy of the Rubell Family Collection
Hank Willis Thomas Who Can Say No to a Gorgeous Brunette? from the Unbranded series, 1970/2007 Digital C-print Edition 1 of 5 31⅛ × 30 inches Courtesy of the Rubell Family Collection
Episode 52: “I wanted to make art where the viewer wouldn’t walk away, he’d get pulled into history, into fiction, into something totally demeaning and possibly very beautiful.” -Kara Walker
Kara Walker has created art that is unquestionably provocative, challenging and thought-provoking. Her silhouette images present the brutality of slavery in a way that is both demeaning and beautiful.
Brooke talks with Jennifer Navva Milliken of the Bellevue Arts Museum in Bellevue, Washington about Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker’s Tales of Slavery and Power, which runs through November 27, 2016. Milliken gives a brief biography of Kara Walker and explains the challenges and rewards involved in curating this powerful and moving exhibition.
Kara Walker African/American edition 22/40, 1998
Linocut. 44 x 62 in.
Photo: Courtesy of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation
Photo: Frank Ross
Kara Walker The Emancipation Approximation (Scene #18), edition 7/20, 1999-2000
Screenprint. 44 x 34 in.
Photo: Courtesy of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation
Kara Walker The Keys to the Coop, edition 39/40, 1997
Linoleum block. 46 X 60 1/2 in.
Photo: Courtesy of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation
Kara Walker The Keys to the Coop, edition 39/40, 1997
Linoleum block. 46 X 60 1/2 in.
Photo: Courtesy of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation
Kara Walker An Unpeopled Land in Uncharted Waters: Savant, edition 19/30, 2010
Etching with aquatint, sugar-lift, spit-bite and dry-point. 27 X 17 in.
Photo: Courtesy of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation
Kara Walker Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated): Confederate Prisoners Being Conducted from Jonesborough, edition 21/35, 2005
Offset lithography and screenprint. 39 X 53 in.
Photo: Courtesy of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation
Featured Image:
Kara Walker An Unpeopled Land in Uncharted Waters: No World, edition 19/30, 2010
Etching with aquatint, sugar-lift, spit-bite and dry-point 27 X 39 in.
Photo: Courtesy of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation
