Art_Africa_2016_03_

ARTAFRICA

CURATOR'S INSIGHT

A CONSTELLATION / AMANDA HUNT 1/6

An Intergenerational

Dialogue

Curator Amanda Hunt on ‘A Constellation’

at The Studio Museum in Harlem, NYC

‘A Constellation’ is an exhibition curated by Amanda Hunt, the assistant curator at

the Studio Museum. Drawn from the Museum’s permanent collection, the exhibition

juxtaposes eight works made between 1967 and 1996 with recent works by eighteen

contemporary artists. The works from the collection – which include David Hammons,

Al Loving, Betye Saar and Elizabeth Catlett – serve as material and conceptual anchors;

exploring themes of the figure, formal abstraction, economy, African diasporic history

and materiality. The newer works, produced by artists who are exhibiting at the Studio

Museum for the first time, expand on these themes, prompting an intergenerational

dialogue in visual space. Together the works function as a ‘constellation,’ a metaphor for

stars that form a pattern – a representation of a gathering of dynamic, kindred artists.

The connections drawn throughout the exhibition function to present just one possible

combination among an infinite variety of configurations.

Nona Faustine, From Her Body Sprang Their Greatest Wealth, from the ‘White

Shoes’ series, 2013. Archival, pigment print, 30 x 40 in. Courtesy the artist.

ARTAFRICA