Shows & Exhibitions We Asked 5 Prominent Curators About How to Tackle a Sprawling Biennial as a Viewer. Here’s Their Advice We checked in with Massimiliano Gioni, Francesco Bonami, Naima Keith, and others to get their advice on how to see—and absorb—a major biennial. By Melissa Smith, Apr 6, 2022
People U.K. Venice Biennale Pavilion Artist Sonia Boyce on Why She’s Already Expecting Backlash Against the Show The artist sat down with Artnet News to discuss her work and its reception. By Melissa Smith, Mar 31, 2022
Shows & Exhibitions The Art World Ignored Faith Ringgold for Decades. Her Admirers Think Her Work Is More Powerful Today Because of It The artist's New Museum retrospective offers a study in how major artists can go long overlooked. By Melissa Smith, Mar 24, 2022
On View Sadie Barnette Has Made Art From the Files the FBI Kept on Her Father. Now She’s Recreating His Path-Breaking Nightclub The artist continues her excavation of the personal and the political at the Kitchen in New York. By Melissa Smith, Feb 9, 2022
Shows & Exhibitions How an Aluminum Mine in Jamaica Became the Conceptual Core of Breakout Artist Jamilah Sabur’s New Miami Show We spoke with the artist on the occasion of her latest exhibition. By Melissa Smith, Dec 6, 2021
Art Collectors Dameon and Kimberly Fisher Pour Their Hearts Into Being ‘Cultural Caretakers’ for the Work of Southern Black Artists The Atlanta-based collectors want to share their vast trove of works by Black Southern artists with the world. By Melissa Smith, Nov 1, 2021
People ‘I Truly Feel Optimistic’: The Guggenheim’s Chief Curator Naomi Beckwith on Why She Still Has Faith in Museums—and How They Can Change In her first major interview since taking the role at the New York museum, the curator and museum leader outlines her vision. By Melissa Smith, Sep 29, 2021
Art World Betty Blayton Cofounded the Studio Museum and Taught Art to Hundreds. Now, Her Own Work Is Getting a Blue-Chip Reevaluation The late Blayton, who co-founded the Studio Museum in Harlem, is the subject of a new show at Mnuchin gallery. By Melissa Smith, Sep 9, 2021
Galleries Can Ebony L. Haynes’s New David Zwirner Offshoot Actually Make the Art World Slow Down? She’s Banking on It The highly anticipated downtown New York space will debut in October with a solo show of work by artist Kandis Williams. By Melissa Smith, Jun 7, 2021
Market ‘They Have a Lot More Control Than They Think’: How Black Art Promoters Are Urging Artists to Look Beyond Traditional White Gatekeepers Black-run galleries, residencies, and advisories are playing key roles in the careers of emerging Black artists. By Melissa Smith, May 11, 2021
People How Artist Karon Davis’s Tour-de-Force Portrayal of Black Panther Leader Bobby Seale Reveals a Cruel Blind Spot of American History The exhibition at Jeffrey Deitch in New York revolves around a terrifying image of Seale bound and gagged while on trial in Chicago. By Melissa Smith, Mar 15, 2021
Art World A New Documentary on HBO Shows How Black Artists Crafted Their Own Histories in the Face of an Art World That Excluded Them A new documentary on HBO takes as a point of departure a 1976 exhibition that changed everything. By Melissa Smith, Feb 12, 2021
People ‘Most Black Film Isn’t Allowed to Be Ambiguous’: How Garrett Bradley’s Quiet Documentaries Found a Rapt Audience in the Art World The artist was awarded best director at Sundance and has a solo show on view now at MoMA. By Melissa Smith, Jan 13, 2021
Analysis Flush With New Success, Black Art Stars Are Reinvesting Their Windfalls in the Next Generation in Ways That Could Permanently Reshape the Art World From Detroit to New Haven to Dakar, residencies established by Black artists are training artists of color in a way that art schools can't. By Melissa Smith, Oct 5, 2020
People The New Innovators: How ArtNoir’s Larry Ossei-Mensah Went From a Bronx-Born Art-World Outsider to the Ultimate Insider "The first couple years I went to Basel I was staying in the hostel," Ossei-Mensah says. By Melissa Smith, Sep 30, 2020
