Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Boldly Going


This is What I Know About Art by Kimberly Drew
New York : Penguin Workshop, [2020]
63 p. ; 16 cm. 

This short, little book packs a punch!  I'm always on the lookout for small books that I can drop for a student, hoping that the size and design will not scare them off.  This is one of those.

I had no idea what to expect from this book, but it was a pleasure and an education.  The book is essentially the art-map story of Kimberly Drew's journey from from being a financially pinched and very smart (but unknown) Black college student who feels the pressure to pursue a "realistic" major (e.g. architecture, engineering, medicine) even though what she loves is art.  On the recommendation of a professor, she applies for and lands an internship at the Harlem Studio Museum that changes her life and launches her on the way to become a force in the art world.  

The only drawback of this book is that it lacks an index and has no photographs/illustrations to accompany all the amazing artwork Drew introduces to the reader. And there is A LOT of art she discusses and most of it is stunning, and not widely known.  If she ever puts together a YA book of these artists and their works, I'll buy it in a heartbeat.  

To help me (and you if you're reading this) find/remember the artists she touches on I'm diverging from my usual review and posting the following list of art/artists/collectives in the order that they come up in the book.  Where possible, the first reference is to Drew's Tumblr - Black Contemporary Art.  Just a glance there will show you how superb many of the artists she highlights are!

Any omissions or link/spelling mistakes are mine. I hope you'll read her little book and visit her big world of activism and art.  You won't be sorry.
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Glenn Ligon - https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/Glenn+Ligon
http://www.glennligonstudio.com/
 
Jean-Michael Basquiat - https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/Jean-Michael+Basquiat
https://www.thebroad.org/art/jean-michel-basquiat (Los Angeles)
 
Trenton Doyle Hancock – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/trenton+doyle+hancock
https://www.jamescohan.com/artists/trenton-doyle-hancock
 
Lorna Simpson – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/lorna+simpson
https://lsimpsonstudio.com/
 
Jamel Shabazz – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/jamel+shabazz
https://www.annenbergphotospace.org/person/jamel-shabazz/
 
Samuel Fosso – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/samuel+fosso
https://www.walthercollection.com/en/collection/artists/samuel-fosso
 
Nick Cave – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/nick+cave
https://jackshainman.com/artists/nick_cave
 
Mickalene Thomas – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/mickalene+thomas
https://nmwa.org/art/artists/mickalene-thomas/
 
Stephen Wiltshire – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/Stephen+Wiltshire
https://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/
 
Coco Fusco – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/coco+fusco
https://www.cocofusco.com/
 
Guillermo Gómez-Peña – https://www.guillermogomezpena.com/
 
Creative Time - https://creativetime.org/
Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ “Untitled” – https://creativetime.org/projects/untitled-1995/

Black Lives Matter at Black Contemporary Art – https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/search/Black+Lives+Matter


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