Charles Guice Contemporary at Photo Miami

December 3, 2008 – 2:42 PM
Thomas_After_61_years.jpgIn his new series, Unbranded: Reflections in Black by Corporate America from 1968 to 2008, Hank Willis Thomas utilizes print advertisements from 1968 to the present, removing the entirety of the original texts and logos, and only presenting the figures and characters in the ad. The scenarios, which are at times intriguing, awkward, and absurd, reveal the visual language strategies of the advertisers, as well as the cultural stereotypes upon which they are rooted. By presenting these works--two images for each of the forty years since the apex of the Civil Rights Movement--Thomas incites the viewer to reflect on how advertising constructs and reinforces stereotypes about African American life, and how the public willingly accepts these images.

CHARLES GUICE CONTEMPORARY returns to Photo Miami, the international art fair of photo-based art, video, and new media, featuring Thomas' Unbranded series in special, single artist showcase.  The complete, 82-piece tour de force, which debuted in its entirety in After 1968: Contemporary Artists and the Civil Rights Legacy at the High Museum in June, is also featured in the Rubell Family Collection's current exhibition, 30 Americans.

Join us in Miami this week-end for a unique opportunity to explore the tenuous relationship between history, the body, race, class and commercial markets through the eyes of one of the most significant emerging artists of a generation.


December 3 - 7

Photo Miami
NW 31st Street at North Miami Avenue
Wynwood Art District
Miami, Florida

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Thomas to lecture at Lucie Awards

October 13, 2008 – 2:30 PM
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Hank Willis Thomas and Sara Terry, 2008 Lucie Honoree, will speak as part of the Lucie Lecture Series on Sunday, October 19, at Splashlight Studios in Soho.  The talk, which is being presented in conjunction with En Foco and Nueva Luz Photographic Journal, will begin at 5:00 pm.  The lecture is free but reservations are required at lectures@lucieawards.com.
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Pitch Blackness

October 3, 2008 – 9:00 AM
Thomas_Pitch_Blackness.jpgHank Willis Thomas gained wide recognition with his highly provocative series B®ANDED, which addresses the commodification of African-American male identity by raising questions about visual culture and the power of logos. Pitch Blackness, published by Aperture, is Thomas' first monograph and features selections from this series as well as others, including his latest, Unbranded: Reflections in Black by Corporate America from 1968 to 2008.

The book begins with a deeply personal and interpretive re-telling of the senseless murder of young Songha Willis, the artist's cousin, who was robbed at gunpoint and murdered outside a nightclub in Philadelphia in 2000.  It then charts Thomas' career as he grapples with the issues of grief, black-on-black violence in America, and the ways in which corporate culture is complicit in the crises of black male identity.  With its characteristic pointedness and dark humor, Pitch Blackness exemplifies why Hank Willis Thomas is considered one of today's most compelling emerging artists.

The first recipient of the inaugural Aperture West Book Prize, Thomas' book was made possible by the generous support of Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla, and the LEF Foundation.


Pitch Blackness
Hardcover
125 four-color images
128 Pages
8 x 10 inches
ISBN: 978-1-59711-072-3

Available through booksellers and aperture.org

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Weems' acclaimed new series opens at the Savannah College of Art and Design

October 2, 2008 – 2:00 PM
Weems_Mourning.jpgConstructing History: A Requiem to Mark the Moment, Carrie Mae Weems' critically-acclaimed new series, opens tonight at the Savannah College of Art and Design's Red Gallery, in Savannah.  The new body of work, which premiered in Atlanta in July to strong reviews, will be on exhibit through November.


October 2 - November 30
Constructing History: A Requiem to Mark the Moment

Red Gallery
Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah
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Kambui Olujimi's The Clouds Are After Me opens in Cincinnati

October 1, 2008 – 3:06 PM
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Kambui Olujimi's The Clouds Are After Me premieres October 9 at the DAAP Gallery at the University of Cincinnati.  The new body of work, consisting of approximately 300 small, painted collages, explores the anxieties and phobias that permeate the public and private sectors of our lives and nation.

Olujimi comments on the work, "through a series of wanted posters picturing clouds as their perpetrators, I draw parallels to the 'elusive', 'ever present dangers' which we are both running from and hunting for."


October 9 - November 7
The Clouds Are After Me

DAPP Gallery
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati
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Hank Willis Thomas to lecture in Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco with the release of Pitch Blackness

September 26, 2008 – 10:12 PM
21st_Century_Soul_Power.jpgAperture Foundation, the Hammer Museum, PhotoAlliance, the Henry Art Gallery, and the Seattle Art Museum present the 2008 Aperture West Collaborative Lecture Series with artist Hank Willis Thomas, winner of the inaugural Aperture West Book Prize.

With his characteristic pointedness and dark humor informed by his personal experiences, Hank Willis Thomas is one of the most compelling emerging artists working today.  Join Hank as he discusses the work in his first monograph, Pitch Blackness, featuring his highly provocative series B®ANDED, addressing the commodification of African-American male identity.


Wednesday, October 1, 7:00 p.m.

Henry Art Gallery
15th Avenue NE and NE 41st Street
Seattle, Washington
(206) 543-2280

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Thursday, October 2, 7:00 p.m.

Hammer Museum
1089 Wilshire Boulevard, Gallery Six
Los Angeles, California
(310) 443-7000

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Friday, October 3, 7:30 p.m.

PhotoAlliance at San Francisco Art Institute
800 Chestnut Street
San Francisco, California
(415) 781-8111
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Jessica Ingram's Hilltop High featured in OjodePez

September 22, 2008 – 2:30 PM
Ingram_Hilltop.jpgJessica Ingram's thought-provoking series, Hilltop High, is featured in the current issue of the Spanish photography magazine OjodePez.

Photographed in San Francisco at the public high school of the same name, Hilltop High, is a story about young women in high school during and after their pregnancy. The students come from all over the city in an effort to graduate, often taking several buses with their baby carriages and backpacks before arriving at Hilltop.

Inside the school, strollers line up in front of lockers and pregnant teenagers discussing mothering and boyfriends pass in the halls like a natural occurrence, while outside the young women are raising children, often in the midst of gang culture, immigration and housing problems, foster care, poverty, and violence.


Esta Tierra se hizo para ti y para mí
 OjodePez, Issue #13
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Deborah Willis releases new book, Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs

September 18, 2008 – 1:50 PM
Willis_Obama.jpgDeborah Willis has organized and curated a new book entitled Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs.  Through 150 striking color photographs, Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs charts the road to Barack Obama's nomination as the first African American to lead the presidential ticket of a major party.  This amazing collection of photographs captures the public and private moments of his journey, and offers a unique window into one of the great triumphs in American politics.

A companion exhibition, co-curated with Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, includes photographs by Jessica Ingram and opens with a reception on September 18.  The show will be on view through November 8 at the Leica Gallery.


September 19 - November 8
Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs
Hardcover
160 pages
10 x 8 inches
ISBN: 978-0061733093


Book-signings
Thursday, October 30, 5:00 - 7:00 pm
Saturday, November 1, 2:00 - 4:00 pm


Leica Gallery, New York

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Kianga Ford premieres first solo museum exhibition

September 17, 2008 – 2:50 PM
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My Life in Fiction, Kianga Ford's first solo museum exhibition, premieres September 20 at the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore.  My Life in Fiction is a trilogy of new works for the gallery and an audio walk for the Mt. Vernon cultural district (Charm City Remix).

Not a survey but a culmination of the last eight years of working with narrative as a cultural modality, the core idea of the show is the experience of narrative immersion.  The site-specific audio piece is a new addition to the ongoing series The Story of This Place.  The three works for the gallery include Brasilia, a faux ethnographic film; Defragmentation, a performance installation; and The Quiet Room, an audio installation and reflecting space.


September 20 - November 23
My Life in Fiction

Contemporary Museum, Baltimore
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Hank Willis Thomas featured in the Fall Issue of Nueva Luz

September 17, 2008 – 10:00 AM
Thomas_Nueva_Luz.jpgThe Fall issue of Nueva Luz, a tri-annual photographic journal published by En Foco, includes an article on the work of Hank Willis Thomas.  En Foco is a non-profit organization that nurtures and supports contemporary fine art and documentary photographers of diverse cultures.  The magazine, which features work by contemporary fine art and documentary photographers of African, Asian, Latino, and Native American heritage, is a finalist for the 2008 Lucie Awards' Photography Magazine of the Year.

Join En Foco and the Lucie Foundation on October 19 for a Nueva Luz Artist Talk and Signing, with Hank Willis Thomas and Sara Terry, at Splashlight Studios in New York.  RSVP required: lectures@lucieawards.com.


Sunday, October 19, 5:00 pm
Artist Talk

Splashlight Studios
535 West 35th Street, New York
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