30 Americans

Nina Chanel Abney, Class of 2007, 2007, acrylic on canvas, diptych, overall 114 x 183 in. (289.6 x 4 64.8 cm), Rubell Museum, Miami, acquired in 2008

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Bird On Money, 1981, acrylic and oil on canvas, 66 x 90 in. (167.6 x 228.6 cm), Rubell Museum, Miami, acquired in 1981

Hank Willis Thomas, Basketball and Chain, 2003, digital chromogenic print, ed. 2/3, 99 x 55 in. (251.5 x 139.7 cm), Rubell Museum, Miami, acquired in 2007

The exhibition highlights complex explorations into identity

THE INFLUENTIAL EXHIBITION 30 Americans showcases work by some of the most important artists of the last three decades. It focuses on issues of racial, sexual, and historical identity in contemporary culture while exploring the powerful influence of artistic legacy and community. Highlights include works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Nick Cave, Robert Colescott, Lorna Simpson, Wangenchi Mutu, Kehinde Wiley, and Mickalene Thomas. 30 Americans was conceived during the Barack Obama presidency in 2008 when the media touted the beginning of a post-racial period in American history. In the ten years since, the political landscape has shifted considerably. How we view and write about 30 Americans today may be vastly different from how we would have written about it ten years ago. And yet, according to Curator Gwendolyn Dubois Shaw's 2019 article in Art News: “Because these artists occupy complex subject positions, to say that they share a common identity as African Americans belies the richness of their varied and often intersectional experiences as men, women, straight, gay, queer, wealthy, working class, and so forth. Just as there is no single type of work in this exhibition, which includes sculpture, painting, video, and installation, neither is there one kind of ‘Black’ artist in the group.”

The Miami-based collectors, the Rubell

Rashid Johnson, The New Negro Escapist Social and Athletic Club (Thurgood), 2008, Lambda print, ed. 2/5, 69 x 55 1/2 in. (175.3 x 141 cm), Rubell Museum, Miami, acquired in 2008

family, consciously named the exhibition 30 Americans rather than 30 Black Americans or 30 African Americans. “Nationality is a statement of fact,” they write in the introduction to the exhibition catalog, “while racial identity is a question each artist answers in his or her own way, or not at all.” The Rubells began collecting African American art as the Black Arts Movement gained steam in the 1960s and 1970s. Groundbreaking exhibitions deeply influenced the collectors, notably Freestyle at the Studio Museum in Harlem, which identified a new generation of contemporary Black artists. They also tapped into museum retrospectives of Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall, Lorna Simpson, and Kara Walker, all of whom have works in 30 Americans. Perhaps most well known are the neo-expressionists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Robert Colescott. Basquiat’s Bird on Money pays homage to musician Charlie “Bird” Parker. Colescott’s paintings challenge iconic European works by creating alternative narratives that feature Black figures. They are also among those who influenced younger artists in the exhibition.

There is no doubt that 30 Americans offers challenging material. Race underscores many of the works, sometimes subtly, sometimes directly, such as Gary Simmons' Duck Duck Noose, an installation of Ku Klux Klan hoods on stools surrounding a noose. Kehinde Wiley riffs on traditional European portraiture and power, putting a Black man in the saddle in the stylized Equestrian Portrait of Count Duke Olivares. Carrie Mae Weems' From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried takes historic daguerreotype portraits of American slaves and re-photographs them. Lorna Simpson’s prints, Wigs, refers to the body without including it.

There’s much to discover in 30 Americans. The exhibition presents the provocative, stunning, and thought-provoking works of some of the most important artists of the last three decades.

Mickalene Thomas, Baby I Am Ready Now, 2007, acrylic, rhinestone and enamel on panel, diptych, overall 72 x 132 in. (182.9 x 335.3 cm), Rubell Museum, Miami, acquired in 2007

Nick Cave, Soundsuit, 2008, fabric, fiberglass and metal, 102 x 36 x 28 in. (259 x 9 1.5 x 71 cm), Rubell Museum, Miami, acquired in 2008

ON VIEW

30 AMERICANS

October 3 – January 3