Black Art Near + Far

Exhibits and Events

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Black Art Near + Far 
​Lists art exhibitions locally, nationally, and internationally.  

This edition features exhibits in Atlanta (Harmonia Rosales) Chicago (Hank Willis Thomas, Coby Kennedy), London (Windrush Generation),  Los Angeles (​Alison Saar),  Miami (Lonnie Holley),  New York ( Eric Grottesman), Paris (Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze)  ​and more.  
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Scroll down to find artists and exhibitions that interest you. 
​Come back often to see what's happening! 
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South Florida

Lonnie Holley: If You Really Knew

Lonnie Holley: If You Really Knew, provides an intimate look at Holley’s life and explores a decades-long career in his first major debut in the Southern United States. The exhibition showcases 70 works, including foundational “sandstone” sculptures, new works on paper, and quilt paintings. Holley’s influence on Southern art is highlighted throughout the exhibition, featuring works from a cohort of artists he championed, including Miami native Purvis Young, Thornton Dial, Mary T. Smith, and Hawkins Bowling. Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami  770 NE 125th Street, North Miami, FL.
Runs May 10 through Oct., 1, 2023.

Photograph By Allen Chen / SLH STUDIO

Longshoremen Local 1416 ​

Longshoremen Local 1416 is part of Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora’s (Miami MoCAAD) public art mural  series, Veo Veo, I See I See, Mwen Wè Mwen Wè. Miami MoCAAD's  interactive mural honors the International Longshoremen Association (ILA) Local 1416, an essential part of the Overtown community since its founding in 1936. ​The mural, created by Miami-based artist  Reginald O'Neal and curated by Donnamarie Baptiste, features QR codes containing oral  history videos about Miami’s Black Longshoremen and Overtown. On view at ILA Local 1416 Union Hall, 816 NW 2nd Ave, Miami, FL.  Ongoing with corresponding website at murals.miamimocaad.org.

Reginald O'Neal, Longshoremen Local 1416, ​Courtesy Miami MoCAAD

Miami MoCAAD: OVERtown: Our Family Tree

OVERtown: Our Family Tree is part of Veo Veo, I See I See, Mwen Wè Mwen Wè, an interactive public art project exploring Overtown through visual art, storytelling and technology commissioned by Miami MoCAAD and curated by Donnamarie Baptiste. The mural, created by Miami-based artist Anthony “Mojo” Reed II,  honors Miami's first Black judge, the late Judge Lawson E. Thomas, who as a lawyer fought fearlessly for civil rights of Black people during the 1940s and 1950s Jim Crow era.   Judge Thomas  owned the Overtown law office building  where the mural incorporates QR codes containing oral  history videos about Judge Thomas and Overtown.  On view at 1021 NW Second Ave, Miami, FL. Ongoing with corresponding website at murals.miamimocaad.org.

Mojo, OVERtown: Our Family Tree, Courtesy Miami MoCAAD

Atlanta, GA

Harmonia Rosales: Master Narrative

Master Narrative presents twenty paintings and a large-scale sculptural installation by the Los Angeles-based Afro-Cuban American artist, Harmonia Rosales, who entwines tales and characters of the Yorùbá religion, Greco-Roman mythology and Christianity with canonical works and artistic techniques of European Old Masters. Rosales highlights the beauty and strength of Black people, particularly women, while touching upon narratives of creation, tragedy, survival and transcendence. Spelman College Museum of Fine Art 350 Spelman Ln. SW, Atlanta, GA. Runs through Dec. 2, 2023. ​

Harmonia Rosales

Chicago, IL

AT THE PRECIPICE ​

At The Precipice is an exhibit that explores the use of color, tactility, material, and data. The artwork explores how it feels to inhabit an irreversibly damaged planet facing a precarious future and considers the purpose of art and design in understanding how our collective trajectory must rapidly change direction. This exhibit features more than 10 artists. Design Museum of Chicago 72 East Randolph Street Chicago, IL, 60601 United States. Runs through Oct. 30, 2023.

Morel Doucet, Courtesy of Morel Doucet

REACH

REACH, a collaborative installation, by contemporary artists Hank Willis Thomas and Coby Kennedy, featuring two monumental hands reaching out to each other, has been installed at O’Hare International Airport. The installation is above escalators in the airport’s Multi-Modal Facility. The sculptural commission and installation was organized by the Chicago Department of Aviation and Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and is part of the Expo Chicago fair's program for large-scale and site-specific works. Chicago O'hare Airport 10000 W Balmoral Ave, Chicago, IL 60666. On-going. ​

Left to Right: Hank Willis Thomas, Coby Kennedy

Cooperstown, NY

Crafting Freedom: The Life and Legacy of Free Black Potter Thomas W. Commeraw

Crafting Freedom: The Life and Legacy of Free Black Potter Thomas W. Commeraw, is the first exhibition showcasing the work of Thomas W. Commeraw, a successful formerly enslaved Black craftsman. The exhibition explores his history as a craftsman, business owner, family man, and citizen through approximately 40 pieces of stoneware produced by Commeraw and his competitors between the late 1790s and 1819. Documents accompanying the exhibit  convey a deeper understanding of free Black society in New York. The Fenimore Art Museum 5798 NY-80, Cooperstown, NY. Runs through Sept.  24, 2023

Thomas W. Commeraw (Active ca. 1797-1819) Jug, ca. 1800-19.

Detroit, MI

James Barnor: Accra/London

James Barnor: Accra/London - A Retrospective at Detroit Institution of Art. presents more than 50 works by British-Ghanaian photographer James Barnor.  Born in 1929 in Accra, Barnor is considered a pioneer of Ghanaian photography – with a career that spans six decades, bridging continents and photographic genres to create transatlantic narratives. Detroit Institute of Art, 5200 Woodward Avenue Detroit, MI USA.  Runs through Oct. 1, 2023. ​

James Barnor

Los Angeles, CA

Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure©

Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure, includes over 200 artworks, artifacts and ephemera from the late artist’s personal life. The exhibit weaves art and personal narrative together to inspire audiences of any age.  Curated, and produced by Basquiat’s family, this exhibit celebrates his singular vision and creative life with never-before-seen paintings, drawings, and more. The Grand LA, 100 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA , USA, 90012 Runs through October 15th, 2023

Jean-Michel Basquiat by Andy Warhol in 1982

New York, NY

Coming Back to See Through, Again

“Njideka Akunyili Crosby: Coming Back to See Through, Again” includes New Paintings, presenting “a new vernacular and iconography in contemporary visual culture”.  The show will  travel to David Zwirner Gallery, New York in Sept. 2023. 519 West 19th Street
New York, New York. Runs Sept. 14—Oct. 28, 2023

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, LOLIPUTA/GETTY IMAGES

The Roof Garden Commission: Lauren Halsey

The Roof Garden Commission: Lauren Halsey, created a personal monument to Black lives and urban energy. Using 750 glass-fiber-reinforced concrete tiles, Halsey constructed a 22-foot-tall structure that resembles an Egyptian-style temple.  Four large-scale sphinx statues with faces that are portraits of Halsey’s immediate family and her life partner stand as guardians, through which visitors can walk.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue , 82nd Street New York, NY.  Runs through Oct. 22, 2023.

Lauren Halsey Photograph By Allen Chen / SLH STUDIO

Listen Until You Hear ​

Listen Until You Hear invites audiences to approach photography, film, sculpture and performance on display, with curiosity and intentional awareness. Each of the exhibiting artists explores the idea of deep listening as healing with work that is deeply personal, political, and imaginative through a variety of media.. The artists include Hank Willis Thomas, Cassils, Maia Ruth Lee, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Eric Gottesman and Kameelah Janan Rasheed. All from diverse backgrounds. Fotografiska Museum, 281 Park Ave S, New York, NY. Runs through Oct. 22, 2023. ​

Eric Gottesman - The Encounter (2023)

Africa Fashion

Showcasing a dazzling array of garments alongside music, visual art, and much more, Africa Fashion celebrates the ingenuity and global impact of African fashions from the 1950s to today.  More than 180 works of more than forty designers and artists from twenty African countries are represented, ranging from Kofi Ansah (Ghana) and Shade Thomas-Fahm (Nigeria), to the newest generation of cutting-edge creatives, such as Thebe Magugu (South Africa) and Gouled Ahmed (Djibouti). Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn, New York 11238-6052. Runs through Oct. 22, 2023.

Leonardo Drew: Chapel ​

Leonardo Drew: Chapel  features Leonardo Drew’s new work titled Number 360, a sculpture commissioned for the Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s 18th century Chapel. Representing themes of collective experience and memory, this exhibition features a response to the Chapel as a whole. Galerie Lelong & Co., New York 528 West 26th Street New York, NY. Runs through Oct. 29, 2023. ​

Jamel Shabazz: Faces and Places, 1980–2023

Jamel Shabazz: Faces and Places, 1980–2023 showcases hundreds of Shabazz’s portraits, drawn from his remarkable archive. Since 1980, Shabazz has documented the vitality of city life and hip-hop culture in New York City and beyond, creating enduring images of style, community, and joy. Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn, New York 11238-6052. Runs through Oct. 8th 2023. ​

Jamel Shabazz

Norman Lewis: Give Me Wings To Fly

Give Me Wings To Fly, a solo exhibit honoring Norman Lewis, featuring sixty works dating from 1935 through 1978 that collectively trace  major developments of the artist’s visual language and reveal his immense range in subject, technique, and style. An online catalog publishes new scholarship by art historian, Ruth Fine. Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 100 11th Ave New York, NY New York. Runs Sept. 7th - Nov. 4th 2023

Norman Lewis, © Peter A. Juley & Son Collection, Smithsonian American Art Museum J0001863

Michael Richards: Are You Down?

This retrospective, Michael Richards: Are You Down?, showcases visionary artworks, including sculptures, drawings, installations, and video work. Of Jamaican and Costa Rican lineage, Richards’s artwork gestures toward both repression and reprieve from social injustices and the simultaneous possibilities of uplift and downfall as well as the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen, The Bronx Museum, 1040 Grand Concourse The Bronx, NY. Runs through Jan. 7, 2024. ​

Michael Richards

The African Origin of Civilization ​

The African Origin of Civilization exhibition features collections from west and central Africa alongside art from ancient Egypt for the first time in The Met’s history. The exhibit allows introspection of different African cultures and eras while providing a rare opportunity to appreciate the extraordinary creativity of the continent across five millennia. The Met Fifth Avenue 136, 1000 5th Ave, New York, NY.   Ongoing.

​Tiona Nekkia McClodden’s 
​The Brad Johnson Tape, X – On Subjugation

Tiona Nekkia McClodden’s The Brad Johnson Tape, X – On Subjugation beacons Brad Johnson (American, 1952–2011), a Black gay poet whose “embrace of violence, sex, cruising, and, more importantly, his investment in love” shaped his work.   Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, Manhattan, The David Geffen Wing. Ongoing.

Tiona Nekkia McClodden at Brooklyn Museum during Black Lunch Table's Wikipedia Editathon for We Wanted A Revolution: Black Radical Women 1965-85 with guest photographer Noelle Théard

​Everyone

Nick Cave’s glass mosaics in his installation, Everyone, at the 42nd St shuttle in New York capture motions of  his “Soundsuits”.   Colorful  “figures on the wall are depicted leaping and twirling in mosaic Soundsuits”—Cave’s full body costumes that make noise when they move. “ ​​It’s almost like looking at a film strip,” Cave said. “As you’re moving down that from left to right, you see it in motion.” MTA New York, 42nd St Subway Connector.  Permanent installation

Nick Cave

Philadelphia, PA

Rising Sun: Artists in an Uncertain America

The African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA)  collaborated to present Rising Sun: Artists in an Uncertain America, a multi-venue exhibition of new works examining: “Is the sun rising or setting on the experiment of American democracy?” Installations by 20 artists explore equality, free speech, and other tenets of democracy. Artists at AAMPinclude John Akomfram, Mark Gibson, Dread Scott, Renee Stout, Deborah Wilis and more.  Concurrently at The African American Museum in Philadelphia, 701 Arch Street Philadelphia, PA & Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 118-128 N Broad Street Philadelphia, PA.  Runs through Oct. 8, 2023.

Alison Saar, “Hygiea” (2020)

Sit A Spell at The Colored Girls Museum

With the understanding that Black girlhood is often fraught with societal hardships that can interfere with health and well-being, Sit A Spell features the work of six Black women artists who were paired with African American girls between the ages of 10 and 18. Their resulting  portraits simultaneously evoke “movement and rest, contemplation and action.” The exhibition reminds us that while stillness and motion initially seem to be at odds, they actually sustain each other. 4613 Newhall St, Philadelphia, PA 19144. Ongoing.

Gina Giles - Fan Mask #2

Sarasota, FL

Chakaia Booker: Surface Pressure

Chakaia Booker: Surface Pressure celebrates work of multimedia artist Chakaia Booker who is renowned for her expert manipulation of unconventional materials. This exhibit presents her signature sculptures composed of recycled tires alongside innovative creations in printmaking and painting. Sarasota Art Museum Ringling College Museum Campus, 1001 South Tamiami Trail Sarasota, FL 34236. Runs through Oct. 29, 2023. ​

Chakaia Booker by: Hannah Price for The New York Times

​Washington, DC

​“Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience.”

 Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience explores the Black Lives Matter Movement, social protests and the struggle for equality.  Amy Sherald’s portrait of Breonna Taylor in a magnificent  blue flowing gown stands regally as the sole artwork in a gallery room.  The Breona Taylor portrait, which first appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair’s September 2020 issue, is buttressed by 27 newly exhibited images and artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Sheila Pree Bright, Bisa Butler, Shaun Leonardo, David Hammons and more.  Bisa Butler’s, I Go To Prepare A Place For You  presents a quilt of multiple bright-colored cotton, silk and velvet fabrics depicting Harriett Tubman seated against a dark floral background majestically gazing down at the viewer.  The exhibit offers an augmented-reality experience allowing visitors to use their mobile devices to connect the artwork with other objects and themes in the museum to create an interactive, immersive, digital experience. National Museum of African American History and Culture, 1400 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, DC Ongoing. ​

On loan from Amy Sherald, © Amy Sherald, Breonna Taylor

Bisa Butler, Harriet Tubman

Called to Create: Black Artists of the American South

Called to Create: Black Artists of the American South features: Thornton Dial, James “Son Ford” Thomas, Lonnie Holley, Mary T. Smith, Purvis Young, and other artists in the South who worked with little recognition, often using recycled materials as their art supplies and yards, porches, or boarded-up storefronts as their galleries. This exhibit brings their works to the public as prominent focal points within the National Gallery of Art. The National Gallery of Art West Building 6th St and Constitution Ave NW.​ Runs through Dec. 31, 2023.

Missouri Pettway, 1900 – 1981, "Path through the Woods",

International 

São Paulo, SP, Brasil

The Biennale Architettura 2023

Fundação Bienal de São Paulo’s four curators—Diane Lima, Grada Kilomba, Hélio Menezes, and Manuel Borja-Villel—have selected 120 participants, with 92 percent of the artists identifying as Black, Indigenous, and/or non-white. The Bienal de São Paulo was initiated in 1951 and is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennial, which was established in 1895.Fundação Bienal de São Paulo Parque Ibirapuera, Portão 3, Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo BR - 04094-000, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. Runs through Nov. 26, 2023.

Cape Town, South Africa

PAST DISQUIET

Past Disquiet is a documentary and archival exhibition based on four art collections that were intended to be “museums in solidarity” or “museums in exile”.  The exhibition reveals stories told with documents, photographs, pamphlets, press clippings, posters, interviews, and videos curated.  Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa ​​V&A Waterfront Silo District, S Arm Rd, Waterfront, Cape Town, 8001, South Africa. Runs through Mar. 24, 2024.

​Nantes, France

Water is a Right : Barthélémy TOGUO.

"Water is a Right", the new exhibition of French-Cameroonian artist Barthélemy Toguo he invites spectators to discover new works, designed for the exhibition as part of a residency at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, presents paintings and sculptures, an amphora and ceramics with soft and fluid shapes. t HAB Galerie, 21 Quai des Antilles, 44200 Nantes, France Runs Sept. 7th, 2023 - Oct. 7th, 2023  ​

Barthélémy Toguo

London, UK
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WINDRUSH: PORTRAITS OF A PIONEERING GENERATION

The Windrush generation is being celebrated in a series of ten new portraits that will go on public display for the first time at Edinburgh’s Royal Palace. The portraits were commissioned by His Majesty The King. The portraits were created by black artists personally selected by His Majesty The King.  National Portrait Gallery St. Martin's Place London, WC2H 0HE.  Runs  Oct. 2023-March, 2024.

Edna Henry, painted by Amy Sherald.

Paris, France

THE POETICS OF SPACE

New work by Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze entitled The Poetics of Space will be presented in a solo exhibition. She has designed the frames and plinths, in desire to emulate her interest in an architectural dimension, beyond the paper and plane. Mariane Ibrahim Paris, 18 Av. Matignon, 75008 Paris, France. On view from September 1 to Oct. 7, 2023.

Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze