Energy/Experimentation
Black Artists and Abstraction 1964 - 1980
Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
April 5 - July 2, 2006
The Studio Museum in Harlem proudly presents Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction 1964-1980, comprised of 40 works by 15 leading artists of the era. Focusing on a core group who dedicated themselves to experimentation with structure and materials, this exhibition presents a range of hybrid objects, paintings and sculptures formed from the unique, non-objective visual languages of abstraction. Organized by guest-curator Kellie Jones, Assistant Professor in the Departments of History of Art and African American Studies at Yale University, Energy/Experimentation provides a broad historical context for Black abstract artists and their work.
Artists in the exhibition: Frank Bowling, Barbara Chase-Riboud , Ed Clark, Melvin Edwards, Fred Eversley, Sam Gilliam, Daniel LaRue Johnson, Tom Lloyd, Al Loving, Joe Overstreet, Howardena Pindell, Haywood Bill Rivers, Alma Thomas, Jack Whitten, William T. Williams
Ranging from William T. Williams’ complex polyrhythms and geometric paintings to Alma Thomas’ vivid canvases, works in the exhibition employ inventive explorations of color, subject and texture. Engaged with trends of postpainterly abstraction and systematic painting, they are frontal, holistic and utilize primary forms. At once emotional, optical and vibrant, Howardena Pindell’s early stained drawings and later confetti-laden canvases and Al Loving’s dyed canvases pose questions about the nature of surface. Such investigations move into three dimensions with Tom Lloyd’s vibrant, electronic light pieces, which were included in the Studio Museum’s first show, Electronic Refractions II. Fred Eversley’s cool forms in plastic resin, and Barbara Chase-Riboud’s mix of bronze and silk engage space and texture.
While more militant practitioners and institutions felt that figuration was a better way to fight the derogatory imagery that centered on people of African descent, abstract artists used spatial and pictorial energy, as well as themes and titles, to make the social ferment of the time present in their work. These artists also kept their projects socially involved by exploring the public aspects of exhibition, and crafting art with the idea of encompassing the viewer, connecting them to the work’s energy, and making bodies aware of their corporeality. Energy/Experimentation illuminates the contributions made to American abstraction by a group that challenged artistic, technological and social assumptions of their era.
A full-color catalogue, including essays by Kellie Jones, Lowery Stokes Sims, Guthrie Ramsey, and Courtney J. Martin, as well as a roundtable discussion between Kellie Jones, Lowery Stokes Sims, Melvin Edwards, William T. Williams, Julie Mehretu and Louis Cameron, accompanies the exhibition.
STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM
144 West 125th Street, New York, NY 10027
