Selections from the Hamptons Virtual Art Fair September 3 - October 17, 2020
Sam Gilliam, Renaissance I, 1986, Acrylic, Enamel, Aluminum and Canvas Construction on Wood (in two parts) 75 x 90 x 7 in.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bill Hodges Gallery is pleased to present Selections from the Hamptons Virtual Art Fair, an exhibition displaying over 30 artworks by prominent African American artists working in the 20th and 21st centuries. The curated selection of works from Bill Hodges’ collection being featured at the Hamptons Virtual Art Fair will be available to view by appointment at our Chelsea location from September 3rd until October 17th. The exhibition includes art by Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis, Sam Gilliam, Edward Clark, Jacob Lawrence, Kara Walker, Lorna Simpson, and Mickalene Thomas, among others. This exhibition showcases approximately 30 of the 43 works displayed at the Hamptons Virtual Art Fair, a virtual reality-based art viewing event taking place from September 2nd-7th. Organized into three virtual booths entitled “African American Artists,” “Norman Lewis,” and “Romare Bearden,” collectors can view works of art available for acquisition in both a two dimensional format and in three dimensional virtual gallery spaces. The exhibition taking place at the gallery’s Chelsea location gives collectors the opportunity to see these richly detailed works of art in person, by appointment. “African American Artists’’ is our largest booth, including 22 paintings, photographs, prints, drawings, and mixed media works by Black artists working within both abstract and realist traditions. The works presented range from intimate portraits to abstract works of art by notable artists like Carrie Mae Weems, Kara Walker, and Kerry James Marshall, to name a few. Of particular interest is Sam Gilliam’s Renaissance I, a large-scale collage that layers various materials into a chaotic yet alluring threedimensional sculptural painting. As a prominent color field painter, Gilliam is known for pouring supple layers of color onto draped canvases, an experimentation he continues on the wood and metal surfaces of Renaissance I. The exhibition also features a large scale C-print by prolific contemporary artist Mickalene Thomas entitled Les Trois Femmes Noires. In this image, three Black women dressed in bold, contrasting patterns pose in front of the cameras lens, their relaxed poses subverting conventional portraiture. Thomas produces a bold, visually commanding compositional reality exploring feminine power and identity. 529 West 20th Street, #10E, New York, NY 10011 ∙ 212-333-2640 ∙ info@billhodgesgallery.com
Including such contrasting works in the same exhibition demonstrates the breadth of art chosen for display at the Hamptons Virtual Arts Fair from the gallery’s collection. Additionally, multiple works of art by artists Norman Lewis and Romare Bearden are displayed in two booths dedicated solely to each artist. Initially working in a realist tradition, painter Norman Lewis started exploring abstraction in the 1950s, joining the Abstract Expressionist movement and working alongside the infamous Irascibles. Lewis’ work did not procure an audience until recently, as curators and collectors uncover Lewis’ fruitful contributions to the Abstract Expressionist movement. The works selected for exhibition highlight his achievements working in an abstract expressionist style. Title Unknown, 1955-1978, presents a hieroglyphic-like, abstract reality as small, geometric shapes seemingly march across the textural, two-dimensional surface. Such large scale, highly abstracted works are exhibited alongside his more minimalist works on paper, like Figures, 1965, in which Lewis outlines a voluptuously shaped figure with densely shaded pockets of shadow. These selections demonstrate the diverse range of abstract compositions presented in Lewis’ canvas and paper works. Norman Lewis, Title Unknown, 1955-1978, Oil on Canvas, 37 x 62 in.
The booth dedicated to Romare Bearden similarly features works emblematic of his signature style and long, fruitful career. Bearden is best known for his abstract collages and portrayals of Black American life. He is a founding member of the Spiral Group, a venture which ultimately inspired him to create his famous collages. Inspired by Cubism and Mexican Muralism, Bearden produced art in a lively color palette and linear abstract style exploring themes related to religion and the human Romare Bearden, The Rites of Spring, ca. 1941 Gouache on Cardboard, 31 ½ x 48 in. experience. The exhibition pairs large scale, abstract painting such as The Rites of Spring, ca. 1941 with densely layered, abstract collages like Saturday Evening, 1975, showcasing the evolution of Bearden’s artistic style across his prolific career. Established in 1979, Bill Hodges Gallery remains committed to showcasing Black artists, advocating for their status as leading artistic pioneers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Having shown exemplary works of art by Black and traditionally underrepresented artists since the mid-1970s, Bill Hodges Gallery presents highlights from this specialized, thoughtfully-curated collection in the Hampton’s Virtual Art Fair online and in the Chelsea-based exhibition, Selections from the Hamptons Virtual Art Fair. Bill Hodges Gallery is located at 529 W. 20th Street, suite #10E, between 10th Avenue and 11th Avenue. Our closest subway stations are 14th St. & 8th Ave. (A-C-EL) and 23rd St. & 8th Ave. (C-E). The Gallery is open Monday to Friday by appointment only. For more information or to arrange a private viewing, please contact Bill or Navindren Hodges at (212) 333-2640 or at info@billhodgesgallery.com
529 West 20th Street, #10E, New York, NY 10011 ∙ 212-333-2640 ∙ info@billhodgesgallery.com
Selections from the Hamptons Virtual Art Fair September 3, 2020 – October 17, 2020 1. Adam Pendleton (1984 - ) Father Divine, 2005 Silkscreen on Canvas 30 ½ x 31 ⅜ in.
2.
Mickalene Thomas (1971 - ) Les Trois Femmes Noires, 2006 C-print, Edition of 5 56 ¼ x 65 ¼ in.
3.
Romare Bearden (1911- 1988) The Rites of Spring, ca. 1941 Gouache on Cardboard 31 ½ x 48 in.
4.
Norman Lewis (1909 - 1979)
Parade, 1961 Oil and Graphite on Paper 18 ¾ x 25 ¾ in.
529 West 20th Street, #10E, New York, NY 10011 ∙ 212-333-2640 ∙ www.billhodgesgallery.com
5. Kara Walker (1969 - ) the secret sharerer, 2010 Etching with Aquatint, Sugar-lift, Spitbite and Dry-point, Printed on Hahnemuhle Copperplate Bright White 300gm Paper, Edition of 30 30 ¼ x 27 ¾ in.
6.
Edward Clark (1926 - 2019) New York Ice Cream, 2003 Acrylic on Canvas 72 ⅛ x 57 ⅞ in.
7.
Norman Lewis (1909 - 1979) Title Unknown, 1955-1978 Oil on Canvas 37 x 62 in.
8. Carrie Mae Weems (1953 - ) Mayflowers Long Forgotten, 2008 Inkjet Print 20 x 24 in.
529 West 20th Street, #10E, New York, NY 10011 ∙ 212-333-2640 ∙ www.billhodgesgallery.com
9. Norman Lewis (1909 - 1979)
Unextinguishable Being, 1952 Oil on Burlap 19 x 24 in.
10. Romare Bearden (1911- 1988) Sunset, 1980 Collage and Mixed Media on Fiberboard 14 x 18 in. 11. Sam Gilliam (1933 - ) Renaissance I, 1986 Acrylic, Enamel, Aluminum and Canvas Construction on Wood (in two parts) 75 x 90 x 7 in. 12. Kara Walker (1969 - ) Chain of Events, 2003 Colored Pencil on Paper 24 x 19 in.
529 West 20th Street, #10E, New York, NY 10011 ∙ 212-333-2640 ∙ www.billhodgesgallery.com
13. Norman Lewis (1909 - 1979) Figures, 1965 Oil on Paper 25 ½ x 19 ¾ in.
14. Romare Bearden (1911 - 1988) Prince Cinque (Maquette), 1976 Nylon Banner 59 ¾ x 44 ½ in.
15. Roy DeCarava (1919 - 2009) Untitled (Man with Portfolio), 1950s Gelatin Silver Print 14 x 11 in.
16. Norman Lewis (1909 - 1979) Title Unknown, 1945 Oil on Canvas 29 ¼ x 16 in.
529 West 20th Street, #10E, New York, NY 10011 ∙ 212-333-2640 ∙ www.billhodgesgallery.com
17. Richard Mayhew (1924 - ) Portrait of a Young Man, ca. 1950s Oil on Canvas 24 ⅛ x 18 ⅛ in.
18. Romare Bearden (1911 - 1988) The Family, 1975 Color Aquatint and Photoengraving on Paper, AP Edition of 25 19 ¼ x 26 ⅛ in.
529 West 20th Street, #10E, New York, NY 10011 ∙ 212-333-2640 ∙ www.billhodgesgallery.com
Bill Hodges Gallery Romare Bearden (1911 -1988)
The Rites of Spring, ca. 1941 Gouache on Cardboard, 31 ½ x 48 in.
Romare Bearden (Charlotte, NC; 1911 – New York, NY; 1988) was an American artist best known for his paintings and collages. Aside from his earlier comics , Bearden began his art career with portrayals of Black American life and scenes of the American South. Inspired by Cubism and Mexican muralists, Bearden echoed their color palettes and linear styles in some of his works. While developing his style, Bearden was a caseworker for the Department of Social Services and later served in the U.S. Army during World War II, which allowed him to travel internationally. After his service, Bearden traveled to Europe to meet and befriend artists and his style evolved more towards abstraction, dealing with themes like religion and the human experience. In the early 1960’s, Bearden was a founding member of Spiral, an artist collective formed for Black artists to meet and discuss the struggle for Civil Rights. Soon after his participation in the group, Bearden transitioned into making his well-known collages. In 1964, Bearden was appointed the first art director of the Harlem Cultural Council, he was also involved in the creation of the Studio Museum, the Black Academy of Arts and Cinque gallery. The artist passed away in New York in 1988.
529 West 20th Street, #10E, New York, NY 10011 ∙ 212-333-2640 ∙ www.billhodgesgallery.com
Bill Hodges Gallery Ed Clark (1916 - 2019)
New York Ice Cream, 2003 Acrylic on Canvas, 72 ⅛ x 57 ⅞ in.
Ed Clark (New Orleans, LA; 1926 – Detroit, MI; 2019) was a renowned color-field painter and abstract expressionist. Clark’s sophisticated painting style centers on breaking down forms with his fantastic use of color, inventive brush stroke techniques and shaped canvases. Clark was born in rural Louisiana but his family ultimately left the south, relocating to Chicago, Illinois. In 1943, at the age of 17, Clark dropped out of high school and enlisted in the Air Force during World War II which led him to spend two years stationed in Guam. Upon moving back to Chicago, he enrolled at the School of Art Institute of Chicago in 1947. With the help of the GI Bill, he moved to Paris in 1952 to attend Académie de la Grande Chaumière. At this time, Clark was exposed to popular abstract artistic groups like Art Informel and CoBrA. However, he was particularly influenced by Nicolas De Staël, a French painter known for saturated colors, block forms and impasto techniques. While living in Paris, Clark started to create large scale works of art using his innovative “push-broom technique”, which involves laying his canvas on the floor, pouring paint atop, and using a push broom as a massive paint brush, creating impressive strokes of color. Clark eventually returned to America, relocating to New York City and becoming a member of the honorable Brata Gallery on 10th Street. Here, Clark held his first New York show in 1958 and exhibited his “shaped canvas”, noted for being the first of its kind. Clark received many awards including the Art Institute of Chicago’s Legends and Legacy Award (2013), Rush Philanthropic Arts’ Art for Life Honored Artist Award (2000), the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s Painters and Sculptors Grant (1998), the United States Congressional Achievement Award (1994), the National Endowment for the Arts’ Master Award (1972), and Musée des Arts Decoratifs’ Prix d’Othon Friesz (1955). His work is in the permanent collections of The Art Institute of Chicago; the Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, Michigan; the Studio Museum in Harlem in New York City; the Metropolitan Museum in New York, NY; the Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY; the California Afro-American Museum in Los Angeles, California, the Kresge Art Museum at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan; the James E. Lewis Museum of Art at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland; the Museum of Solidarity in Titograd, Yugoslavia; the Museum of Modern Art in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; the Centro de Arte Moderno in Guadalajara, Mexico; and The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida; and more. Clark passed away on October 18, 2019 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.
529 West 20th Street, #10E, New York, NY 10011 ∙ 212-333-2640 ∙ www.billhodgesgallery.com
Bill Hodges Gallery Roy DeCarava (1919 - 2007)
Untitled (Man with Portfolio), ca. 1950s Gelatin Silver Print, 14 x 11 in.
Roy DeCarava (New York, NY; 1919 – New York, NY; 2007) was an American photographer. He is well known for his portraits of daily Black life and the jazz scene. DeCarava began studying art in high school at Textile High School and continued to study painting at the Cooper Union. He began photography as a way to record his paintings and references but ended up falling in love with the medium. In his lifetime, he was featured in multiple shows at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney and the Studio Museum of Harlem. He was the first African-American artist to be awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and later, in 2006, he also received the National Medal of the Arts.
529 West 20th Street, #10E, New York, NY 10011 ∙ 212-333-2640 ∙ www.billhodgesgallery.com
Bill Hodges Gallery Sam Gilliam (b. 1933)
Renaissance I, 1986 Acrylic, Enamel, Aluminum and Canvas Construction on Wood (in two parts), 75 x 90 x 7 in.
Sam Gilliam (Tupelo, MS; 1933) showed an interest in painting at a young age. After completing his BFA at the University of Louisville in 1955, he applied to graduate school, took a brief hiatus to participate in the army and completed his MFA, also at the University of Louisville, in 1961. After receiving his Master’s, Gilliam taught at multiple schools and universities on the east coast before moving to Washington D.C. with his wife, Washington Post reporter Dorothy Butler. Gilliam’s earliest works, from college, reflected his studies of European abstract expressionism while his principal career works were more inspired by his move to Washington D.C. and his involvement with the Washington Color School. Being in Washington D.C. and working with the Color School inspired Gilliam to take full advantage of the canvas which resulted in his partially sculptural, large scale, stained and hanging canvases - which are some of the most iconic works of his career. A few decades later, his works undertook another shift as the artist began experimenting with collaging and materials like wood and metal. The artist lives and works in Washington D.C.
529 West 20th Street, #10E, New York, NY 10011 ∙ 212-333-2640 ∙ www.billhodgesgallery.com
Bill Hodges Gallery Norman Lewis (1909 - 1979)
Title Unknown, 1955-1978 Oil on Canvas, 37 x 62 in.
Norman Lewis (New York, NY; 1909 – New York, NY; 1979) was born to Bermudian parents in Harlem, and gravitated to art from childhood. Lewis studied drawing and commercial design in high school then worked as a merchant marine until returning to New York and to study under Augusta Savage and at Columbia University, from 1933 to 1935. These years were incredibly valuable for Lewis as he met many other Black artists, writers and creatives. As a result of this period, Lewis joined 306 Group - a group of artists including Jacob Lawrence, Charles Alston and Ralph Ellison who worked to promote and support other upcoming Black artists. With the help of his friends at 306 Group, Lewis became a founding member of the Harlem Artists’ Guild in 1935. A year later he became a teacher at the Harlem Community Arts Center through the WPA (Works Progress Administration). While teaching in the 1930’s, Lewis’ style was social realist marked with influences of Cubism, African sculpture, jazz and “new Negro” as coined by Alain Locke. In the 1940’s, after WPA ended, Lewis taught at the newly built George Washington Carver School in Harlem alongside Elizabeth Catlett and Charles White. During this time, his style also slowly evolved more towards abstraction with the use of calligraphic lines and loose representations. In the late 1940’s, Lewis began exhibiting by himself and alongside other abstract expressionists. Lewis was the only Black artist of the group and has only posthumous gained respect and reknown for his contriubtions to the movement. Though his shift in genre separated him from his more realist peers in Harlem, he still remained close and co-founded the Spiral Group in 1963 with Romare Bearden, Alston and Hale Woodruff. His commitment to Black artists and the civil rights movement continued as he pursued his art. In 1969, he also opened the Cinque gallery with Bearden and Ernest Circhlow. Lewis’ works are on display in a number of major museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
529 West 20th Street, #10E, New York, NY 10011 ∙ 212-333-2640 ∙ www.billhodgesgallery.com
Bill Hodges Gallery Richard Mayhew (b. 1924)
Portrait Of A Young Man, ca. 1950s Oil on Canvas, 24 ⅛ x 18 ⅛ in.
Richard Mayhew (Amityville, NY; 1924) is an Afro-Native artist known for his vibrant, rainbowesque landscape scenes. When he was younger, Mayhew studied at the Art Students League in New York under Edwin Dickinson before studying at the Brooklyn Museum Art School with Reuben Tam. Mayhew co-founded the art collective Spiral alongside Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis, Hale Woodruff and Charles Alston in 1963. Mayhew taught at Pennsylvania State University for 14 years while continuing his practice. His work is in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California; deYoung Museum, California; Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. The artist currently lives and works in Santa Cruz, CA.
529 West 20th Street, #10E, New York, NY 10011 ∙ 212-333-2640 ∙ www.billhodgesgallery.com
Bill Hodges Gallery Adam Pendleton (b. 1984)
Father Divine, 2005 Silkscreen on Canvas, 30 ½ x 31 ⅜ in.
Adam Pendleton (Richmond, VA; 1984) is an American conceptual artist known best for his screen prints, paintings, collage and video performances. His work often involves the investigation of language and the re-contextualizing history through appropriated imagery. Pendleton’s early period consisted of conceptually driven abstract paintings, often incorporating text. These early works caught the eye of gallerist Kazuko Miyamoto and she included one of his paintings in a summer group show at Gallery Onetwentyeight, in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. An assistant to Sol LeWitt at the time, Miyamoto was visited by the artist, who took interest in Pendleton’s painting and agreed to trade one of his own pieces for it, making LeWitt one of Pendleton’s first collectors. In 2004, Pendleton received his first one-artist exhibition, Being Here, at Wallspace Gallery, New York, which coincided with his first major group show, When Contemporary Art Speaks, at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, Indiana. In 2005, Pendleton had his first solo exhibition at Yvon Lambert, New York, presenting text-based screen print paintings that appropriated the writings of Toni Morrison and Audre Lorde, among other poets, overlapping the critical use of language, conceptual art, and activism.
529 West 20th Street, #10E, New York, NY 10011 ∙ 212-333-2640 ∙ www.billhodgesgallery.com
Bill Hodges Gallery Kara Walker (b. 1969)
the secret sharerer, 2010 Etching with Aquatint, Sugar-lift, Spit-bite and Dry-point printed on Hahnemuhle Copperplate Bright White 300gm paper, Edition of 30, 30 ¼ x 27 ¾ in.
Kara Walker (Stockton, CA; 1969) was surrounded by art from a young age due to her father Larry Walker, who worked as a painter. This persuaded her at the tender age of 3 to decide that she wanted to be an artist as well. Her father recalled her often drawing on the sidewalks outside their home. The Walker family eventually moved to Georgia, her father’s home state, and Walker ultimately attended the Atlanta College of Art where she earned her B.F.A in painting and printmaking in 1991. During her undergraduate career, she admits that she struggled with confronting race in her work for fear of being pigeonholed but during her MFA program at Rhode Island School of Design, she began undertaking race as a theme in her works and now her oeuvre is best known for her use of silhouetted characters that tackle issues of race and sexuality. Walker’s work has been exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. She is a 1997 recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, Walker was the United States representative to the 2002 Bienal de São Paulo. The artist currently lives and works in New York.
529 West 20th Street, #10E, New York, NY 10011 ∙ 212-333-2640 ∙ www.billhodgesgallery.com