Latest News in Black Art: David Shrobe Joins Monique Meloche, Sandra Mujinga Wins Top German Art Prize, Jeremy O. Harris and Arthur Jafa Named New Museum Visionaries, Rob Fields Leads Sugar Hill Museum & More
Latest News in Black Art features news updates and developments in the world of art and related culture
From left: DAVID SHROBE, “Riding the Wind’s Back,” 2021 (oil on canvas, acrylic and white charcoal on linen, acrylic and colored pencil on wood, and canvas, silk, suede, wool chambray, canvas, acrylic, and faux suede fabrics mounted on joined carved wood, 77 x 60 x 1 1/2 inches / 195.6 x 152.4 x 3.8 cm). | © David Shrobe, Courtesy the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery; Artist David Shrobe. | Courtesy Monique Meloche Gallery
Representation
Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago announced its representation of David Shrobe. Currently on view, “David Shrobe: Riding the Wind’s Back” is his first exhibition with the gallery and in Chicago. Shrobe’s “meticulously carved and painted assemblage structures investigate the coexistence of hybrid identities and notions of a collective remembrance reimagined.” Thirteen new works are featured, all created in 2021. Shrobe was born in New York, where he lives and works.
Rob Fields on Sugar Hill Children’s Museum: “Not only do we have the opportunity to make the Sugar Hill community even more vibrant, but we can show how—through creativity and collaboration—the arts build better citizens. And we’re going to start with our youngest citizens and their families.” | Photo by Abbie Fields
Appointments
The Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling appointed Rob Fields as the new director of the Harlem museum. Fields previously served as president and executive director of Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn. He started at the children’s museum on Sept. 27.
Sandra Mujinga receives the Preis der Nationalgalerie 2021. | © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie / Benjamin Pritzkuleit
Awards & Honors
Sculptor Sandra Mujinga won the Preis der Nationalgalerie 2021, which includes a major solo exhibition at the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin in 2022 and an accompanying publication. The award is considered Germany’s most prestigious for young artists under 40. Mujinga was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and lives in Berlin and Oslo, Norway.
Theaster Gates won the 2021 Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts, which includes an award of 55,000 Euros (about US $60,000). The prize is given every two years by the Republic of Austria and the City of Vienna and organized by the Kiesler Foundation.
Artist Arthur Jafa and playwright Jeremy O. Harris have been named 2021 Visionaries by the New Museum in New York. The Stuart Regen Visionaries Series annually honors “individuals who have made major contributions to art and culture and who are actively imagining a better future.” Harris and Jafa will be in conversation in-person in the New Museum Theater on Nov. 12. The event will be simulcast in the museum’s Sky Room and also be available online via livestream.
From left, Jeremy O. Harris. | Photo by Micaiah Carter; Arthur Jafa. | Courtesy the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels. Photo by Robert Hamacher
More News
The Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco announced its 2021–22 research season is informed and inspired by the work of artist and writer Lorraine O’Grady.
Stanley Nelson and his documentary production company Firelight Films are partnering with Independent Lens on a trio of new films that chronicle the historic contributions of Black artists to American culture. Directed and produced by Nelson under the umbrella of “America Revisited II,” the documentaries are titled: “Make It Funky: The History of Funk,” “In Our Own Image: The Story of African-American Art,” and “Harlem: The Soul of the Nation.” | Variety
Opportunities
The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History is accepting applications for the Robert Frederick Smith Applied Public History Fellowship for HBCU Graduates. The two-year appointment in Washington, D.C., offers “advanced training and scholarly support in public history, museum management, outreach programming, and partnership building.” Fellows receive a salary, benefits, and stipend for research and conference travel. Informational applicant webinar is Oct. 18, 2021. Applications due Jan. 15, 2022. | More Info