In it she wrote that "as a matter of principle," she does not allow her work to be exhibited in "all-black shows," because she believes these shows "perpetuate the segregation of African-American artists from the mainstream contemporary art world." Piper preferred not to be interviewed, but she sent NPR the email she sent to the show's curator. She recently demanded that a film of hers be removed from a show of black performance art. She's a conceptual artist whose work is in the collections of major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Presence is the opposite of absence," Ramos says.īut that brings up a larger issue: Are museums doing an artist a favor or a disservice when they group shows together around ethnicity or gender rather than aesthetics? Adrian Piper believes it's a disservice. That's why the word 'presence' is in the subtitle. "We use the term 'Latino art' as a construct, as a handle, really, to talk about an absence in the way that we think about American art and culture.
It's also extremely rich, she says, yet many of the artists in the Smithsonian show - regardless of style - have been ignored by mainstream museums. Ramos fully agrees the term "Latino art" is extremely broad.
It took her three years to put together "Our America." With 92 artworks by 72 artists who have roots throughout Latin America, it's an extensive survey that covers the period from the mid-20th century to the present. Someone who didn't weigh in on the volatile discussion was Smithsonian curator Carmen Ramos. "But I was interested because it was a good conversation." Kennicott was so interested, he invited Rivera to square off with him in The Washington Post.
"I was kind of the skunk at the party in those discussions," he says. Artist Judithe Hernández wrote, for example: "When was the last time the Guggenheim, Whitney or MOMA, exhibited contemporary Latino American artists?"Įven Kennicott chimed in. It was a lively Facebook thread with several people in the Latino arts community chiming in. Rivera also notes that critics do not question such equally broad categories as "American" or "European" art. "And every time that happens, there's a review that says putting our work together is a bad way to organize art." Yet, Rivera says, critics rarely review the work itself. "Every so often there's a show, kind of like the one at the Smithsonian, that gathers our work together and gives it a venue," Rivera says. Rivera told NPR that he and other artists have seen these reviews before.
So he posted some angry comments about Kennicott's review on his Facebook page. "I was pretty stunned," says New York-based artist and filmmaker Alex Rivera. She currently has an exhibition of work inspired by Malcolm X at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.Ĭourtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Sculptor and writer Barbara Chase-Riboud is troubled by race-based groupings.
0 kommentar(er)
