Current Black Artists, You Need to Know About.

I know I have been slacking on the black artists series, but it has been a minute since I have felt inspired. As a little life update, I recently moved to the NJ/NYC area. An area as we all know is renowned for its world-class art, grandiose architecture, and overall hub center for ethnically diverse communities. This crazy move inspired me enough to not just talk about one artist today but 4 (crazy right). Artists that I get to -excitedly one day- see their work in the future due to my newfound proximity.

Adam Pendleton

 Pendleton is a New York-based conceptual artist known for showcasing his work in multi-disciplinary forms. Pendleton grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and moved to NY at a young age to pursue a career as an artist. His most recognizable work is his graffiti silkscreen paintings. I put him on this list because I like that he feeds his audience both visually and audibly. The first piece I got familiar with was surprisingly his podcast: Who is Queen? It is a fairly new podcast that features monthly conversations with notable writers and philosophers. The podcast is a small piece of an entire exhibit in which he mixes painting, sculptures, and sound collages. The first episode, “A Wild Conversation with Jack Halberstam and Lynne Tillman”; Explores different writing processes, loose structures of queerness, and a variety of topics with theorist Jack Halberstam and author Lynne Tillman.

Toyin Ojih Odutola

Toyin is a Nigerian contemporary artist and moved to the US at a very young age. Her exhibit called MAPS in the JACK Shainman gallery explores the sense of space and presence in an almost alien-isk manner and is based on her very transient upbringing. What attracted me to her was the similarities between both our upbringings.

Both of our families appreciate storytelling by mouth, which takes me back to my childhood and the stories my grandpa will tell me about our family history. What attracted me to her work is the innovative perspective she takes in drawing people. As you can see from the photo below these are two men canvassed to look like a landscape. “When I draw the skin of my subjects, I really want people to travel throughout them,” she says. “The surface isn’t something I trifle with. In the making of the work, skin is the geography I travel in order to discover each individual and his/her story. With every line I mark up, I map out the territory of their realities.”

Ndidi Emefiele

Ndidi is a British artist that currently lives and works in London but grew up in Abuja, Nigeria. “layered figurative compositions with dynamic brush strokes and juxtapositions of colors; She encompasses numerous traditional elements that connect her to her Nigerian heritage. What attracted me to her work was its eccentricity and uniqueness. I couldn’t help but look at her pieces and say, “What the hell is going on?”. But realizing I also love the way she depicts black women in different forms but all strong-willed, confident and empowering. I love her take on capturing women from the past, present, and future.

Kehinde Wiley

Kehinde is a Los Angeles portraitist based in NY. In 2017 it was announced that he would create the portrait of the 44th president. He didn’t stray far from his original technique-brown subjects enveloped in intricated detailing. But it was a portrait that was a lot different from previous presidents. No stiff upright pose, very little neutral color tones, and most importantly not in an office. President Obama is sitting down comfortably, arms folded calmly across his elbows. He is enveloped by a vineyard of different flowers that represent aspects of President Obama’s journey that lead him to where he is now. Wiley is an artist that believes a lot in the community and his work shows this. He has created portraits of some of the core people that created a foundation for him to celebrate art under the African American lens. 

Feel free to leave a comment on some of your favorite artists! And check out my last post on black women tropes!