How Contemporary Women Artists Are Reimagining Cubism—and the Body https://ift.tt/uYqEhmr

“Nothing changes in people from one generation to another except the way of seeing and being seen,” wrote Gertrude Stein in Picasso, her 1938 portrait of the Cubist pioneer. In the early 20th century, artists around the world set out to process and represent the effects of accelerated urban, industrial, and technological progress on visual perception. Early Cubists, concerned with the spatial relationship between a form and its parts, dissected familiar objects, including human bodies, into planes, portraying them on canvas as they are conceived of in the mind.

More than a century later, a surge of artists—many of them young and female—are engaging with Cubist techniques. This trend of disjointed forms is perhaps unsurprising considering our current crisis of representation, defined by the failure of the government to represent the governed, media to present factual accounts of events, and culture to integrate diverse perspectives in a holistic way. Combined with the continuing phenomena of gender inequality and sexual violence, these destabilizing conditions have yielded increasingly hostile environments for women. The reversal of Roe v. Wade denied millions in the U.S. the right to access safe and legal abortion; across the globe, proliferating online media depicts the female body as a space for objectification rather than inhabitation. Women’s physical and psychological selves, consequently, become severed.

Titans, 2023
Tahnee Lonsdale
MASSIMODECARLO

In this context, contemporary female artists are reimagining the modernist tropes of fragmentation, flattening, and simultaneous perspectives to reflect current ways of seeing and being seen. Artists like Farah Atassi, Tahnee Lonsdale, Mequitta Ahuja, Akea Brionne, and Danielle Orchard fracture and distort the body, evoking the dissonance between exterior and interior worlds and the dynamic nature of identity. Cubism explored art’s ability to shatter and rebuild. Contemporary female artists are using it to a similar effect, demonstrating the resilience of women’s bodies and perspectives.

“Young artists have the power to shed light on the new ‘crises’—or ones that have only recently entered the space of art historical discourse—that speak to both the world of images and historical conditions of race, gender, colonization, environment, and digital media,” explained Donna Honarpisheh, an art historian and curator at the ICA Miami who has written about the global legacy of Cubism. “Female artists are able to both question and subvert classical forms of realist representation while also establishing their perspectives as women or as people of color as part of their technique and process.”

Resting Bather with Oranges, 2023
Farah Atassi
Almine Rech

As an example, Honarpisheh pointed toward French Syrian artist Farah Atassi’s recent series of paintings that recall Picasso’s bathers as a means of exploring the relationship between artist and model and restoring the painted subject’s autonomy. First shown at Almine Rech, Atassi’s portraits of bathing women, assembled from graphic triangles, squares, trapezoids, and semi-circles, stare out at the viewer from flattened shorelines.

“I feel that my way of life, my freedom, and my statement as a painter is a feminist demonstration itself,” explained Atassi in an interview. She recalled studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where she felt that women like herself weren’t taken seriously as painters, but rather regarded as pretty props in the male-dominated space. Channeling her experience of marginalization, Attasi situates her dissected figures within geometric motifs that erode the distinction between background and subject. This refusal to privilege the reclining models over their environments not only subverts the expectations of the male gaze, but also creates a sense of synergy between the women and their surroundings.

British painter Tahnee Lonsdale, the subject of an upcoming show at MASSIMODECARLO, also builds the female figure from disjointed geometric shapes. Rendered in deep shades of lapis, scarlet, and teal, her forms feel robust and totemic despite their fragmentary constructions and distorted postures. “I want to show them taking up space on the canvas and also as containing a lot of space,” said Lonsdale.

Some canvases feature a single figure filling the frame, while others depict forms splintering apart, suggesting an incarnation of past, present, and future selves collapsed into one scene. Hovering between an ethereal metaphysical realm and the sensuous corporeal world, the paintings press against the bounds of figuration. In the burgundy and cerise Our Human (2022), the swollen female figure appears to push back against the confines of her own form, her segmented features expanding beyond their natural boundaries—like a literal representation of the feminist imperative to “take up space.”

While Lonsdale’s characters appear mysterious and anonymous, Mequitta Ahuja, an African American and South Asian figurative painter, aims to animate hers with voices and stories long denied to them. Ahuja’s densely layered self-portraits and familial portraits synthesize the historical and personal, using text, monochromatic color palettes, and Cubism’s planar geometry and graphic flatness. (“I’m always asking myself what the most essential, basic architecture of this image that I’ve made is,” explained Ahuja.) The resulting portraits investigate the act of picture making and its sociohistorical implications. By centering herself—a woman of color—and her family as the primary storytellers and subjects, Ahuja subverts the parameters in which the Western canon portrays women’s bodies and non-white cultural history.

“Ahuja’s works use broad personal and historical contexts to create canvases that not only contain multiple perspectives but multiple gazes,” said Honarpisheh, “suggesting that the painting looks at us as much as we look at it.” In a 2023 exhibition at Aicon, Ahuja recast traditional portrait compositions, like those of the Christian Holy Family and royal weddings, with depictions of her 19th-century matrilineal ancestors. For example, As They Please (2022) depicts Ahuja’s forebear nursing a child and enwreathed by a banderole emblazoned with language from recently discovered familial archives. Co-opting a pose traditionally reserved for the Madonna and Child, Ahuja asserts her family’s place, and so her own, within the canon. Similarly, her appropriation of various Cubist techniques—which were themselves influenced by non-Western art traditions—restores a sense of artistic agency.

As They Please, 2022
Mequitta Ahuja
Aicon

Mixed-media artist Akea Brionne also addresses the exclusivity of the art historical canon by analyzing the impact of colonial systems on cultural storytelling, identity formation, and assimilation. Her family’s own history of displacement and migration from Belize to Honduras and on to New Orleans left her without adequate ancestral archives, so Brionne relies on dreams, family lore, and imagination to portray her lineage. The resulting digitally printed jacquard tapestries imagine female figures, African masks, and Giorgio de Chirico–esque architecture in seaside landscapes comprised of fragmentary shapes and details that break apart.

“My work’s concerned with the way we actually move through space and challenging traditional representations of place in relationship to it,” explained Brionne. “It’s like how you can be in a different place in your mind than you are in real life, and somehow you are fully in both simultaneously.” Her recent works employ overlapping grids and patterns to establish a sense of spatial synchronicity—of being in multiple places at once. Brionne’s figures often appear at odds with their surroundings—dressed in shimmering ball gowns on a beach, for example—suggesting a discrepancy between their interior and exterior worlds.

Danielle Orchard’s subjects seem more at home. Built up from thick impasto, colorful planes, and sharp, sensuous lines, her paintings envisage nude female bodies in quiet domestic interiors—often using Cubist techniques to create a subtle sense of unruliness. In Keep Warm (2023), a woman sleeps with her arm atop her book while another woman stands over her with a blanket. The flattened picture plane presents the sleeping woman’s body as vertical, the inverse mirror of the standing friend, to uncanny effect.

Orchard’s women are often reclining, their limbs distorted and disorganized rather than elegantly posed. The subject of Page Turner (2022), for example, is sprawled across a mattress, facing not the viewer but a mirror affixed to the wall, in which she observes her own hand slipping between her thighs. Rather than skirting sexuality to avoid objectification, Orchard’s figures assert autonomy over their bodies. Mirrors, window panes, picture frames, and silhouetted shadows recur throughout her work and continuously recenter the question of perspective—offering reminders of the myriad ways in which women are perceived. Their often disjointed and disproportionate reflections reveal a disconnect between subject and spectator.

Despite her debt to male modernists, Orchard’s portrayal of the body is distinctly feminine and fresh, reflecting the contemporary experience of being a woman who sees and is seen. Like her Cubist-inspired peers, she renews the century-old style’s power to interrogate our way of looking. “Cubism was revolutionary,” affirmed Atassi. “And it’s still as relevant and revolutionary today.”

from Artsy News https://ift.tt/Dc8iYuE

In L.A., Felix Art Fair’s Intimate Sixth Edition Is a Standout https://ift.tt/Z5DGL2Y

To the relief of its VIP guests, the clouds in Los Angeles parted just in time for Felix Art Fair’s 2024 edition. For the second year in a row, the VIP preview kicked off on Wednesday, one day before Frieze L.A., at 11 a.m. at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. As Los Angeles emerges from of its wettest February in 26 years, the hotel and its iconic Tropicana Pool shimmered under a clear blue sky, setting a sunlit stage for what has become a premier, electric art fair.

Thanks to meticulous planning from the Felix team in close collaboration with the hotel staff, last year’s long lines and wait times are a distant memory. Organizers had fine-tuned every aspect of the visitor experience, from the elevator queues to the drink stands, as the fair’s co-founder Mills Morán told Artsy by the Roosevelt pool. “We’re really dialed in in terms of flow of traffic and moving people around,” he said. These details weren’t lost on attendees. “Everyone’s in a pretty good mood. It’s hard not to be,” he noted.

Now in its sixth edition, Felix features 66 exhibitors across the poolside cabanas and the 11th and 12th floors of the hotel, running through March 3rd. The idyllic setting fosters a casual, approachable atmosphere where galleries are emboldened to take risks with emerging artists, and attendees can interact with the artwork on a more intimate level—as if it were displayed in their own homes.

Not only did Felix manage to slash the long queues, but the founders (Morán; his brother, Al; and Dean Valentine) also introduced a collaboration with the retailer Dover Street Market at the entrance. The pop-up—a testament to its successful efforts to cut down congestion—featured an installation by Oscar Tuazon, a wooden house-like structure that artfully accommodates the market’s selection of limited-edition clothing.

“The added elements of having Dover Street Market and a retail shop on site has not only attracted a different set of crowds that also gets into the fair and looks and appreciates the art, but it’s some of the art patrons that really like to shop there at the same time are also going back and forth,” said Morán. Also new this year is the Mercedes-AMG Race Service VIP Lounge in the penthouse (Room 1200). The hotel roof features a Mercedes-AMG GT3 sportscar, which was crane-lifted onto the hotel roof. “We’re doing our best this year to try to keep things fresh every day for people to come back,” Morán added.

As attendees meandered between intimate cabanas—made cozier by warm wood walls and soft lighting—around the pool area, guests moved seamlessly from the outdoor exhibition spaces into the crowded hallways. Known for their selective curation, the Felix founders brought together an ensemble of buzzworthy galleries and artists to boot. It was quickly clear that collector enthusiasm was high, too.

Levitating Bottle, 2024
Bari Ziperstein
Charles Moffett

On the first level, nestled behind the dining area, Miami’s Nina Johnson celebrated its fair debut by selling all but one of the works from its solo booth of works by Dee Clement before 2 p.m. These basket weavings, priced from $7,000–$16,000, caught the attention of collectors, marking a milestone for the artist whose first museum show is scheduled for later this year at the University of Texas San Antonio.

Down the hall, Tribeca gallery Charles Moffett is one of the eight exhibitors in cabanas that faces the exterior of the hotel. “We decided to bring works by a selection of artists that could take full advantage of the indoor-outdoor set-up of the fair’s cabana rooms,” said founder Charles Moffett. The gallery is situating ceramic sculptures by L.A.-based artist Bari Ziperstein on the patio, and also features new paintings by New York–based artist Julia Jo, as well as a pair of new and recent paintings by L.A.-based artist Alec Egan. In the fair’s first hours, works from all three artists sold for prices in the range of $14,000–$18,000, $8,500–$16,000, and $40,000, respectively.

Chasing the Light, 2023
Alec Egan
Charles Moffett

Five-time participant Residency Art Gallery has now become something of a Felix veteran. As the sole gallery occupying a cabana on the second floor, the gallery is displaying a neon sign by Patrick Martinez on its porch, proclaiming “Black-Owned Gallery.” Inside, the gallery presents an exhibition of William Maxen paintings, ranging from $2,000–$24,000. Placed on the deck, Maxen’s most expensive work, (Untitled Fourth of July) (2024), is a must-see.

Though the gallery’s cabana is “off the beaten path,” in founder Rick Garzon’s words, the room still ushered in plenty of interested parties on VIP day. “The first couple hours have been really great, and they’ve done a great job filing people up here,” he said.

Upstairs, the galleries transform the towering hotel rooms into immersive—often impressively experimental—exhibition spaces. First-time exhibitors like Antoine Ertaskiran from Bradley Ertaskiran aim to create a more approachable experience by presenting multiple mediums, ranging from $2,000–$28,000, from its artist roster. “We wanted to show the range of the gallery, but also have different materiality inside, inside the room. It’s not your usual fair, it’s a hotel room, so we wanted to create a homier feeling,” Ertaskiran said.

Bradley Ertaskiran was particularly clever when setting up the space. In the main room, a Preston Pavlis painting hangs from the ceiling, and a blue Stephanie Temma Hier ceramic sculpture is shown on the wall. However, the gallery concealed another work by Pavlis on the interior of the closet door, as well as the gallery’s most expensive sculpture from Hier, Unconventional desires (2023), in the shower.

Indeed, many galleries on the upper floors are ensuring they utilize every inch of their allocated space. Bathrooms, in particular, are transformed into mini-project spaces across the fair.

Minneapolis-based HAIRandNAILS situated a Rachel Youn installation in the shower—an artificial plant attached to an electric massager—which sold within the first few hours of VIP day. “They come in and are immersed in the space,” co-founder Ryan Fontaine told Artsy. For him, the rooms allow for more intentional interactions between the guests and the art. “It feels much easier than when you have a hallway, and you’re standing up at the front of it, and people can assess the whole booth at once. I feel like there is a little more immersion and interaction,” he added.

HAIRandNAILS has curated a special 12-person group exhibition for its first art fair appearance in Los Angeles, featuring work such as Christina Ballantyne’s ceramics, priced at $1,500 each, and Julia Garcia’s paintings, priced from $3,500–$5,000. A mere two hours into the fair, Fontaine reported to Artsy that sales had already been “rigorous.”

Untitled, 2022
Maria Joannou
The Breeder

Pepi, 2023
Justin John Greene
The Breeder

Magenta Plains associate director Alia Freier shared the gallery’s positive experiences down the hall on the 12th floor, emphasizing the fair’s vibrant atmosphere and appeal to new and returning clients. “It’s just the first few hours; we had some really great clients come through,” said Freier. “Many recurring clients that we have from back in New York, many new ones. We made a few sales in the first hours, including works that sold in advance.” The gallery is featuring a group exhibition of works priced from $5,000–$20,000.

Returning exhibitors across the board underscored that the enthusiasm at Felix keeps intensifying, giving galleries a confidence to take risks from year to year.

For instance, Athens gallery The Breeder, which returns to Felix for the third time, brings a highly curated exhibition from artists across its roster. “Felix is an amazing fair. It’s building up every year, stronger and stronger,” said co-founder George Vamvakidis. “This year, we brought artists from sub-Saharan Africa, Greece, but also the U.S. and the response has been amazing.” Highlights from the booth include Justin John Greene paintings priced from $15,000–$20,000, and pieces by Maria Joannou priced from $8,000–$10,000.

Another highlight is Ekene Stanley Emecheta’s Funtime in the Bushes (2022), situated on the far wall of the left room. His paintings, priced from $15,000–$20,000, hang around the remarkable corner suite.

Chicago-based gallery Kavi Gupta snagged among the most breathtaking rooms on the 12th floor: Suite 1210. Here, the gallery showcases its enthusiasm for this year’s fair by presenting a substantial exhibition from its 30-strong roster, featuring works from Theaster Gates, Miya Ando, and Kennedy Yanko—the latter a member of The Artsy Vanguard 2021. “We’ve been at the fair since the inception, and Kavi Gupta Gallery really adores Felix L.A.,” said Chaz Shermil Hodges, artist relations liaison at Kavi Gupta.

The gallery, which solely represents artists of color, is presenting artists at various stages of their careers and price points. In the sunlit, top-floor suite, guests will find vibrant James Little paintings for $250,000 near newer work from rising figurative painter Nikko Washington, including Aunt Nancy (2023), priced at $10,000. Despite the wide-ranging prices, the first two hours of the fair garnered notable interest across the board. “The last two hours of the fair have been lovely—being a Chicago gallery and coming into the Los Angeles art scene, people really get excited about what we bring, especially since Chicago is such a big art city,” Hodges added.

Song of the Naga, 2023
Sahana Ramakrishnan
Fridman Gallery

Throughout VIP day, strong interest swept across the 12th floor and downstairs on the 11th floor. Located in a multi-room corner suite on the 11th floor, Fridman Gallery hosts a six-artist exhibition including the work of Debra Cartwright, Azuki Furuya, Hana Yilma Godine, Alina Grasmann, Sahana Ramakrishnan, and David Smalling. Works from Godine, Ramakrishnan, Smalling, and Cartright found homes in several collections by the end of the VIP day, according to gallery owner Iliya Fridman.

Across the fair, a diverse array of talent is on display, showcasing both emerging and mid-career artists making significant strides in the art industry. Among the notable names featured are Bony Ramirez, Deborah Segun, and Maia Cruz Palileo. Additionally, these exhibitions also showcase works by established artists, including the sculptor Richard Hunt, whose posthumous solo exhibition opens at White Cube this spring.

Over six editions, Felix has consistently focused on cultivating an environment that is both welcoming and immersive. The fair has opened its doors wider to a new generation of art enthusiasts, and its approach hasn’t gone unnoticed among new collectors looking for an entry point into the art world. “I feel like the laid-back nature of the pool and the cabanas just made going in and out of the different booths feel a lot more approachable, which I appreciate and I think is unique to this fair,” said collector Dylan Abruscato, who was visiting Felix for the second year in a row.

And it’s this approach to approachability that makes Felix a winner among collectors, exhibitors, and art enthusiasts alike. This fair prides itself on offering a more relaxed, immersive experience, where viewing work poolside or against scenic views is part of the browsing experience. It’s a formula that appears to be working very well indeed.

from Artsy News https://ift.tt/K9MDvb2

New “alternative art fair” Esther to launch in New York during Frieze Week. https://ift.tt/DonOTHR

Gallerists Margot Samel from New York and Olga Temnikova from Temnikova & Kasela in Tallinn, Estonia have announced the launch of a new alternative art fair. Named Esther, the event will run this year from May 1st through May 4th, concurrently with Frieze New York.

Samel and Temnikova said they hoped Esther would challenge conventional art fair formats, noting the influence of new initiatives like Basel Social Club and Condo: “We’ve always been interested in alternative models for gallery collaboration beyond the traditional art fair,” the duo said in a joint statement, noting their shared Baltic origins as a key motivating factor. “Coming from Estonia, it’s been especially important for us to rely on collaboration to expand our community and the ways we can share and enjoy art.”

The pair said they “felt that New York was missing this sort of experimental approach—where galleries can afford to take risks while benefiting from the broadened networks and ideas of the international gallery community.”

Esther will be hosted at the historic Estonian House, a four-story Beaux Arts building that was an important hub for the Estonian community after World War II, located at 243 East 34th Street, New York. This inaugural edition will spotlight projects from 25 international galleries, such as Lima and Madrid–based Ginsberg + Tzu, London-based Gathering, and BANK in Shanghai, alongside local New York names like Someday Gallery and kaufmann repetto.

from Artsy News https://ift.tt/ktH4saY

Richard Saltoun will open a New York gallery space this May. https://ift.tt/hfgZiCA

Richard Saltoun has announced the launch of its New York City outpost with an inaugural exhibition by Canadian artist Jan Wade. The new space will open on May 2nd, during New York Frieze Week, at 19 E. 66th Street in the Upper East Side’s Lenox Hill neighborhood.

“It’s an honor and privilege to open a gallery in NYC, a city renowned for hosting some of the most important exhibitions of the past 100 years,” said founder Richard Saltoun. “We look forward to contributing to this thriving artistic landscape.”

Established in 2012, the gallery was among the first to focus primarily on female artists in London. The new space, occupying the third floor of a 1920 classical Manhattan townhouse, follows the opening of the gallery’s Rome space in 2022.

The inaugural New York exhibition will be Jan Wade’s first solo presentation in the U.S., in advance of the artist’s museum retrospective, “Soul Power,” at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ontario, taking place in June 2024.

from Artsy News https://ift.tt/dcOsbmK

7 Black Collectors Shaping the L.A. Art Scene https://ift.tt/HkzWBFD

Time To Break Out Daddy's Plates, 2023
Corey Pemberton
Chilli Art Projects

As Beyoncé reminded us last year, we are in the midst of a renaissance, specifically a Black arts renaissance. In Los Angeles, this is taking shape in an active and growing arts scene, led by a number of dedicated Black art collectors.

In recent years, Los Angeles has grown into a thriving scene for Black art and has emerged as an attractive and welcoming destination for Black artist transplants from other cities.

Monumental shows such as “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983” made its West Coast premiere at The Broad five years ago and brought a host of Black artists and collectors together. Roughly four years before, the artists Karon Davis and her late husband Noah Davis founded the now-shuttered Underground Museum, which served as an oasis and safe space for Black artists and creatives. The space became a template for many artist collectives and spaces in Los Angeles that continue to flourish today, such as the Black Image Center, Zeal Artist Coop, and Context Projects.

Several Black-owned galleries have opened their doors in the last decade including Band of Vices, Residency, Dominique Gallery, Sow & Tailor, and Galerie Lakaye. Museum curators and professionals such as Naima Keith, Essence Harden, and Erin Christovale have helped transform L.A.’s institutions into destinations for art and culture, as evidenced by jam-packed opening parties held at LACMA, the California African American Museum, and the Hammer Museum. Next year, the Lucas Museum will soon open its doors under the leadership of Sandra Jackson Dumont.

For Black collectors, the opportunity to establish a voice, vision, and influence requires navigating through the well-documented barriers to access that many Black artists themselves have championed. Thanks to the influence of trailblazing collectors such as Janine and Lyndon Barrois and an abundance of creative spaces and neighborhoods spread throughout the city, collectors are today able to connect with a wide range of artists and galleries while building outstanding collections that not only fuel this current moment, but also create a lasting legacy for L.A. and the culture at large.

Here, Artsy speaks to seven Black collectors based in the city, who share their approach to engaging with their local arts ecosystem.

Ayesha Selden

Financial Services Executive and Economic Activist

Ayesha Selden is a noted financial services executive, economic activist, investor, and art collector. Originally from Philadelphia, her remarkable work in finance, investing, and educating marginalized communities has garnered recognition from media outlets such as CBS, NBC, Entrepreneur, and AfroTech.

Selden’s contributions in this space have shed light on the importance of investing in underserved communities, which also extends to her efforts as an art collector.

Since planting roots in Los Angeles during the pandemic, Selden immersed herself in the local arts community, amassing a varied and impressive collection that includes emerging and mid-career artists like Bisa Butler, Shinique Smith, Alteronce Gumby, and Mustafa Ali Clayton in addition to historic names like Gordon Parks.

“I’ve acquired art through most of the traditional ways: galleries, fairs, Artsy, auctions, art advisors, and often, directly from the artists,” said Selden.

The collector has been incorporating a “new process” during her visits to museums, such as when she recently came across an “incredible” photograph of Nellie Mae Rowe by Melinda Blauvelt at the National Portrait Gallery. Selden reached out to the artist’s studio to inquire, and discovered that Blauvelt was the first woman admitted into Yale’s MFA photography program.

“After finding Melinda on Instagram, we developed a solid rapport, and she offered me one of the editions,” recalled Selden. “Through this interaction, I not only added a remarkable piece to my collection but also learned more about Nellie Mae Rowe the subject and folk artist from Vinings, Georgia. I recently acquired another photography work after seeing it in the Philadelphia Museum of Art using the same process.”

Selden’s dedication to nurturing creative expression and building communities is further exemplified through her efforts in collecting, donating, and lending artworks to prestigious institutions like the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta, and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. Her support for the arts also extends to the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, where she is a dedicated member of the prestigious Hammer Circle.

Angela Robinson Witherspoon

Actress and Film Producer

Angela Robinson Witherspoon is an actress, producer, and the widow of the actor John Witherspoon. She is an avid patron of the arts and embodies what it means to be a custodian of the culture.

Originally from Washington, D.C., Witherspoon traveled internationally with her family and made her first trip to the Louvre at the age of 12. She later interned at the National Portrait Gallery before moving to New York to study art and film. Los Angeles later became her home, where she became involved in the arts community, forming long-term friendships with artists including Betye Saar and her family, which includes artists Alison Saar and Lezley Saar. She recently produced and directed the award-winning documentary Betye Saar: Ready to be a Warrior.

“I always collected art and antiques but it was only after John and I were married for several years that I actually had a budget for buying art,” said Witherspoon. “We started with some small and rather obvious purchases but quickly graduated to original art by African Americans. Tony Ramos introduced us to Betye Saar. Betye introduced us to John Outterbridge, and so on.”

For a time, the couple ran a gallery in Burbank called ARTPEACE. “It didn’t last long but it was a great introduction to collecting and to the art circle here,” Witherspoon recalled.

Gathered throughout a 32-year marriage, Witherspoon’s collection includes works by John Outterbridge, Oliver Nowlin, Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Romare Bearden, Ernie Barnes, Bambo Sibiya, Talita Long, and Monica Ikeguwu. Selections from the collection were recently on view as part of a special exhibition at Band of Vices gallery.

Dr. V. Joy Simmons

Retired Physician, Art Collector, and Philanthropist

Dr. Joy Simmons is an art collector and philanthropist who has supported artists of African descent and whose work is informed and inspired by Black culture. She also mentors the next generation of art collectors and cultivates interest in supporting the networks of culture that sustain creativity.

Dr. Simmons has played a vital role in the establishment and growth of various small to mid-size institutions in L.A.’s vibrant cultural landscape. She served as a founding board member of LAXART and currently serves as board chair at The Mistake Room. She is also a commissioner for the Smithsonian American Art Museum and is on the board of the California African American Museum. Having recently retired from a long career as a physician, she is currently working as the senior art and exhibition advisor for Destination Crenshaw, a 1.3-mile public art corridor on Crenshaw Boulevard. And she has also been an active supporter of arts and diversity at Stanford, where she served as a trustee of the university.

Dr. Simmons’s collection includes David Hammons, Mickalene Thomas, Mark Bradford, Carrie Mae Weems, and Kerry James Marshall as well as installations in her home by Lauren Halsey and Genevieve Gainyard.

“I collect work by Black artists because I am interested in telling the stories of our time, our culture, and my culture with images that I wanted to surround my children with and that I wanted to surround myself with,” said Dr. Simmons. “I haven’t collected the Old Masters because I didn’t, for the most part, have the opportunity to meet them and interact with them, and relationships and friendships are always very important to me.

“I’m interested in artists and their dreams, ideas, and talent. I want to know them and I want them to know me. That’s why it was important for me to collect contemporary artists that I personally knew and know. I know every single artist in my collection personally.”

Dr. Simmons’s commitment to a personally meaningful collection also extends to her work as a board member and trustee. She is focused on fostering greater inclusion, which serves as the mission for groups like the Black Trustee Alliance, which she is a part of. “There is a lot of fine work by artists from all over the world; however, I want to ensure that work by Black people is preserved and that we are cherished and honored,” she added.

Darnell Moore and Yashua Simmons

Writer and Media Professional; Creative and Fashion Director

Darnell Moore and Yashua Simmons have built a home and collection where they actively engage with all artists and creatives from across sectors. The two are an example of what it means to live with art and curate a lifestyle that continues to inspire both their professional and personal lives.

Moore is a media maker and the author of the award-winning memoir No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black & Free in America, which was listed among the New York Times’s 100 Notable Books of the Year in 2018. He is also the editor of the photography book Nicolaus Schmidt: Astor Place, Broadway, New York by photographer Nicolaus Schmidt. His writings have appeared in outlets including the New York Times and EBONY, and he has written essays focused on the works of Black artists like Rashaad Newsome, Devin Allen, Clifford Prince King, and Mickalene Thomas. He is the former vice president of inclusion strategy at Netflix.

Yashua Simmons is a creative, fashion director, and image maker who has contributed his talents to the world’s leading publications—from styling the covers of Harper’s Bazaar and Vanity Fair to fashion stories that have appeared in Vogue, Interview, i-D, and CULTURED magazines. His collaboration with artist Marilyn Minter was shown at Frieze New York 2019, and his collaboration with photographer Daymion Mardel was on view at MoMA in 2017.

Yashua also partnered with Chanel on a custom-designed ready-to-wear look for the 64th-annual Grammy Awards, worn by recording artist Givēon. He is currently working on his curatorial debut with UNREPD gallery, which aims to uplift and center the beauty of systematically marginalized people and their cultural contributions.

The couple’s collection includes works by Corey Pemberton, Murjoni Merriweather, Clifford Price King, Herb Ritts, and Velma Rosai-Makhandia. “We acquire what we love, what moves us, because it is our way of participating in that timeworn, Black practice, of transporting ourselves and our culture into the future,” said the pair.

Ramon Alvarez-Smikle

EVP, Digital Marketing at Interscope Records

Ramon Alvarez-Smikle is EVP and head of digital marketing at Interscope Records. Despite being the youngest collector in this group, he started buying art about 10 years ago and currently serves as a founding innovator member of the Studio Museum in Harlem, Frieze 91, and is a part of LACMA’s AvantΩ Garde group.

Alvarez-Smikle’s vision for his collection is clear, committed, and community-driven. He also inspires other young professionals to invest early in long-term and meaningful relationships with artists and galleries.

“I would like to believe that it inspires every aspect of my life,” he said. “I was raised in a household with two parents who are fine artists [Candida Alvarez and Dawoud Bey], who, in addition to their own work, always had incredible works in our house as part of their collection by many of their peers [including Sol LeWitt, Kerry James Marshall, David Hammons, and Ed Clark].

“Now later in life working as an executive within the music industry, I have developed a deep passion for collecting and building a collection of my own. I focus primarily on collecting contemporary art by both established and newer artists, many of color, whose work resonates with me.”

Buying work that he loves and from artists he wants to support always comes first for the collector. “I want to live with the work in my house and feel good every time I look at it,” he said. “I have great relationships with galleries that I have acquired work from, and also have great [many lifelong] relationships with many of the artists in my collection.”

The collector hopes to inspire more creatives and executives in the entertainment industry to collect: “Supporting incredible artists and building an amazing collection is something that has brought me an incredible amount of joy,” he added.

Reginald Cash

CEO, 3BLACKDOT

Reginald Cash is the CEO of 3BLACKDOT. His current role parallels his commitment to investment and cultivating community. Originally launched as a talent management company for gaming content creators, 3BLACKDOT has since evolved into a production and distribution business, leading the model for others in the industry to embrace diversity and inclusion.

The company’s new offices are located in West Hollywood, close to several art galleries that Cash regularly frequents. 3BLACKDOT is one of the few Black-owned global entertainment firms and is valued at $87 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. Cash’s bold move to acquire the company he’s worked for since 2017 serves as an example of the importance of ownership and commitment, and he also worked recently as an executive producer of the film Queen & Slim. In the art collecting community, Cash has taken another bold leap, this time into investing in and building a contemporary collection.

The Cash Collection includes works by Carmen Neely, Abe Odedina, Megan Lewis, Genevieve Gaignard, Tionna Nekkia McClodden, February James, Raelis Vasquez, Ferrari Sheppard, and many more.

“Art helps complete my perspective. It’s a thin slice of someone else’s perspective in creative form,” he said. “The more I collect, especially Black and Latinx art, the better I understand and contextualize my own humanity and feel more connected to that of others.”

George and Azita Fatheree

Lawyer; Disability Rights Advocate

In life and art collecting, George and Azita Fatheree are focused on fostering inclusion across society—an issue of particular importance as parents raising a child with disabilities.

Azita has devoted the last two decades to advocating for people with disabilities. She currently serves on the boards of the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and the Exceptional Children’s Foundation, whose programs include art centers and gallery space for persons with intellectual disabilities. George is an attorney who led the landmark Bruce’s Beach case in 2022, which marked the first time in U.S. history that the government has returned property to a Black family. He recently launched a social impact Fintech company to help remove barriers to homeownership, serves on the boards of the National Portrait Gallery and Loyola Marymount University, and is a 2024 Rockefeller Bellagio Resident.

“We still don’t consider ourselves ‘collectors,’” said George. “Almost every piece of art we own is by an artist who has been to our home, shared meals with us, who we’ve introduced to our friends, and who’s become part of our circle—we want to support them as artists, beyond just buying the work.”

The couple approach art with a patronage model: “It’s important to us that Black and Brown artists, and artists with intellectual disabilities, get the same type of support that other artists receive,” George noted.

Art is akin to traveling to a new country together for the couple. “We need to feel something, but we also want to learn something, to discover something new. We make all of our art decisions together,” said Azita.

Dee Kerrison

Financial Services Executive and Art Collector

Demetrio “Dee” Kerrison embodies a passion for art. Born in Harlem, he now resides in Los Angeles with his wife Gianna Drake Kerrison, and the couple are regular fixtures at art openings and gatherings around Los Angeles.

Kerrison credits a 2001 visit to the Studio Museum of Harlem to view an exhibition titled “Freestyle” curated by Thelma Golden and Christine Y. Kim as the catalyst for building an art collection centering African diasporic artists. In the years that have since followed, Dee and his wife Gianna have built an eclectic contemporary art collection that foregrounds emerging and ultra-contemporary figurative painters. Abstract, sculpture, conceptual, and photographic works are also featured.

The couple’s collection includes works by Anthony Akinbola, Kwesi Botchway, Alteronce Gumby, Umar Rashid, and April Bey, among others. They are active patrons and sit on many boards both past and present, including the William H. Johnson Foundation, Mistake Room, Noah Purifoy Foundation, the Hammer Museum Board of Advisors, and the Mike Kelly Foundation.

from Artsy News https://ift.tt/9q6Pzlw