Visual Artist: Devan Shimoyama

via: shimoyama

Notes:

Devan Shimoyama's work stands out for its vivid portrayal of Black queer identity through a visually rich tapestry that blends the real with the surreal. His paintings often feature figures adorned with glitter, sequins, and jewels, an aesthetic choice that elevates the subjects from their canvas confines to a mythic status. This embellishment serves more than a decorative purpose; it acts as a narrative device that explores themes of masculinity, beauty, and pain. The use of such materials can be seen as a form of armor, protecting the vulnerability of his figures while simultaneously highlighting the resilience and flamboyance of the queer body.

Shimoyama’s exploration of these deeply personal and communal narratives is profound. In his works, the lush, almost tangible textures and vibrant colors create a magnetic allure that draws the viewer into a more intimate dialogue with the subjects. The settings and props in his paintings—barber chairs, flowers, and celestial bodies—work to build a narrative that is both otherworldly and grounded in everyday experiences. His ability to weave pain with triumph, and alienation with community, lends his paintings a complex emotional depth that challenges the viewer to confront their own perceptions of identity and empathy.

Critically, Shimoyama's oeuvre is a significant contribution to contemporary art, not just for its aesthetic innovation but for its cultural and social relevance. His work does not merely represent marginalized identities; it celebrates them, demands recognition for them, and offers a critique of the societal structures that attempt to suppress them. By intertwining the personal with the political, Shimoyama’s art speaks to a broader discourse on race, sexuality, and the ongoing struggle for visibility and acceptance within the art world and beyond. His continuing evolution as an artist promises further insightful and impactful contributions to these essential conversations.

- RJG

Visual Artist:

via: lovell

Notes:

Whitfield Lovell is an artist renowned for his deeply evocative use of historical imagery and found objects to explore African American identity and history. His installations and tableaux often incorporate beautifully rendered, life-sized charcoal portraits of anonymous African Americans taken from early 20th-century photographs. These portraits are paired with salvaged artifacts that resonate with personal and collective memories, such as vintage household items, personal belongings, and ephemera that suggest a narrative or context surrounding the individual depicted. Lovell's mastery in charcoal drawing brings a haunting, visceral presence to these figures, making them seem as if they might breathe and speak at any moment.

Lovell’s work is particularly compelling in its ability to bridge personal and historical narratives, inviting viewers to engage with the past in a deeply intimate way. By selecting objects that resonate with symbolic meanings—such as a pair of worn shoes, a military medal, or a faded letter—he creates a tangible connection to lives that might otherwise be forgotten. This layering of drawing and object invites contemplation on themes of identity, legacy, and memory, asking the viewer to consider the human stories behind historical artifacts. His installations not only highlight the rich texture of individual lives but also challenge the erasure of these lives from the broader historical narrative.

Critically, Lovell's art offers more than just a visual experience; it demands an emotional and intellectual interaction. The silent yet expressive faces in his drawings confront the viewer, their gaze suggesting narratives filled with resilience, dignity, and complexity. However, while the individual stories that Lovell hints at are compelling, they sometimes risk being overshadowed by the sheer aesthetic beauty and technical skill of his work. This tension between form and content is a central thread in critiques of his work, reflecting on how the allure of the medium can both highlight and obscure the profound narratives he seeks to tell. Lovell’s ability to balance these elements is a testament to his skill and sensitivity as an artist.

- RJG

Visual Artist: Tschabalala Self

via: self

Notes:

Tschabalala Self’s Bodega Run series, created at Two Palms, offers a vivid and energetic examination of contemporary urban life through the lens of the neighborhood bodega—a familiar, everyday site in many Black and brown communities. Self uses this series to merge figuration with abstraction, crafting bold, colorful compositions that emphasize the textures and materiality of her mixed-media approach. Through layered prints, painted surfaces, and collage elements, Self transforms the mundane into the monumental. Her figures, often exaggerated and assertive in form, dominate the space with presence and personality, reclaiming a sense of agency in environments that are frequently overlooked.

What stands out in Bodega Run is Self’s ability to fuse humor, sensuality, and critique into a single image. Her characters—often mid-stride or caught in the act of selecting items—embody a sense of autonomy and self-assurance. The bodega itself becomes both a backdrop and a stage for these moments of intimate daily ritual. Through her bold palette and stylized distortion of the body, Self challenges traditional representations of the Black figure, rejecting realism in favor of expression. Her use of collage also mirrors the layered, often chaotic visual language of bodegas themselves, where advertisements, products, and signage compete for attention in tightly packed spaces.

At its core, Bodega Run is both a celebration and a subtle critique—highlighting the cultural significance of the bodega while also suggesting the socio-economic constraints embedded within it. By elevating a commonplace experience to the realm of fine art, Self asks the viewer to reconsider the value and meaning of spaces shaped by working-class life. Her work resists simplification; it invites multiple readings and reasserts the importance of visual storytelling that centers Black identity and culture in all its complexity. The series not only reaffirms Self’s signature style but also demonstrates her continued commitment to capturing the nuances of lived experience.

- RJG

Visual Artist: Tony Cragg

via: cragg

Notes:

Tony Cragg’s sculptural practice is a testament to his deep engagement with material, form, and the relationship between objects and space. His works often take on dynamic, organic shapes that seem to defy the rigidity of the materials he employs, such as bronze, wood, stone, and plastic. By pushing the boundaries of these substances, Cragg creates sculptures that appear fluid and in constant motion, despite their physical solidity. His early works, often made from found industrial objects, reflect an interest in systems and accumulation, while his later pieces evolve into more refined, almost biomorphic abstractions. This shift showcases his ability to balance spontaneity with control, making his sculptures both visually striking and conceptually rich.

A recurring strength in Cragg’s work is his ability to engage with the viewer’s perception of volume and space. His sculptures often feature layers of overlapping forms, creating a sense of movement that shifts depending on the vantage point. Works like Points of View and Versus exemplify this dynamic, as their twisting and stacked structures create optical illusions, encouraging the viewer to navigate around them to fully grasp their complexity. This interplay between form and perception aligns Cragg with modernist sculptors like Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, yet his approach feels uniquely contemporary, often drawing parallels to scientific structures, cellular formations, or geological strata. However, while this fluidity is compelling, some of his later works risk becoming formulaic, as they repeatedly employ similar curvilinear stacking methods without significant variation.

Despite this, Cragg’s legacy as a sculptor remains formidable, particularly in his ability to transform rigid materials into expressive, almost living forms. His exploration of materiality and the way objects inhabit space has left a lasting impact on contemporary sculpture. While his work continues to evolve, a greater departure from his signature aesthetic could push his practice in new and unexpected directions. Nonetheless, Cragg’s sculptures remain powerful in their ability to evoke both natural and industrial landscapes, serving as a bridge between the organic and the manufactured world.

- RJG

Visual Artist: Mel Bochner

via: bochner

Notes:

Mel Bochner’s work is a provocative investigation into the intersections of language, perception, and materiality, making him a crucial figure in conceptual and text-based art. His early work, grounded in mathematical precision and systematic logic, sought to expose the structures underpinning artistic representation. Pieces like Measurement: Room (1969) used numerical data and spatial annotations to make the invisible act of measurement tangible, questioning the ways we quantify and define space. Over time, Bochner’s engagement with language became more explicit, evolving into his signature text-based paintings, where words—often colloquial, confrontational, or humorous—become both subject and material. His manipulation of typography, texture, and composition transforms written language into a visually charged, almost sculptural element, challenging traditional distinctions between image and text.

What makes Bochner’s art particularly compelling is his ability to balance rigorous conceptual inquiry with expressive materiality. His thick, impasto applications of oil and acrylic paste in works like Blah, Blah, Blah (2008) amplify the physicality of language, turning words into visceral, almost grotesque presences on the canvas. The aggressive texture and bright, contrasting colors inject an emotional and sensorial dimension into what might otherwise be seen as purely cerebral work. His use of synonyms, often arranged in cascading lists, exposes the instability of meaning and the slipperiness of communication. This linguistic playfulness, at times humorous and at times biting, reveals the contradictions and redundancies within everyday speech, pushing viewers to reconsider the ways language shapes thought and perception.

Despite the undeniable impact and intelligence of Bochner’s work, there is a risk that some of his later paintings verge on self-referential repetition, diluting their conceptual potency. The reliance on familiar word sequences and similar aesthetic strategies raises the question of whether his work continues to evolve or simply reiterates past successes. However, his lasting influence on contemporary art is indisputable. By merging language, humor, and material experimentation, Bochner has carved out a unique space where painting, philosophy, and conceptual art converge. His practice remains a vital exploration of how we construct and deconstruct meaning, compelling audiences to confront the power—and limitations—of words.

- RJG

Visual Artist: Maryam Ashkanian Ganjgah

via: ganjgah

Notes:

Maryam Ashkanian’s Sleep Series is a compelling exploration of memory, vulnerability, and the subconscious, executed through intricately embroidered fabric sculptures. By stitching delicate yet expressive portraits of sleeping figures onto soft pillows, Ashkanian transforms a common object of rest into a deeply personal and evocative artwork. The use of embroidery—historically associated with domestic labor and femininity—adds another layer of meaning, as the artist imbues each piece with a sense of care and tenderness while simultaneously challenging traditional notions of craft versus fine art. The series invites the viewer to contemplate the intimate moments of sleep, a state in which we are unguarded, drifting between reality and dreams.

The physicality of Ashkanian’s work is particularly striking. The pillows, sculptural in nature, hold an almost ghostly presence, as if preserving the imprints of their subjects. The raised surfaces of the stitched figures create a sense of movement, as though these sleepers are caught in a liminal space, hovering between presence and absence. The tactile nature of fabric contrasts with the rigidity of traditional portraiture, reinforcing the theme of ephemerality. Her monochromatic palette, often working in shades of white and gray, enhances the dreamlike quality of the series, evoking a quiet, meditative atmosphere that encourages introspection.

Beyond its aesthetic qualities, Sleep Series also speaks to universal human experiences—rest, escape, and the passage of time. Each pillow seems to hold the weight of personal histories, inviting viewers to consider the narratives embedded in these seemingly ordinary objects. There is an almost haunting sense of nostalgia and impermanence in the way the artist captures sleep, a state where the boundaries between past and present, real and imagined, blur. By elevating something as mundane as a pillow into a poetic meditation on existence, Ashkanian offers a powerful reflection on the fragility of life and the fleeting nature of our dreams.

- RJG

Visual Artist: Jochen Mühlenbrink

via: mühlenbrink

Notes:

Jochen Mühlenbrink’s work is an intriguing exploration of perception, illusion, and materiality, often blurring the boundaries between the real and the represented. His paintings frequently depict fogged or frosted glass surfaces, complete with condensation, smudges, and finger-drawn marks, creating the illusion that the viewer is looking through a window rather than at a flat canvas. This play with trompe-l'œil techniques invites a meditation on the act of seeing itself, challenging the viewer’s expectations of depth, transparency, and realism. By meticulously recreating ephemeral effects in oil paint, Mühlenbrink constructs an uncanny visual space where the distinction between the physical and the pictorial becomes ambiguous.

Beyond technical virtuosity, Mühlenbrink’s paintings evoke a sense of longing, absence, and fleeting moments. His misted windows, often featuring traces of human touch, suggest intimacy and impermanence, as though we are witnessing the remnants of someone else’s presence. These works align with themes of memory and the passage of time, recalling the way surfaces collect traces of past interactions. The subtle yet deliberate inclusion of words or symbols, as if drawn into the condensation, introduces an additional layer of narrative, hinting at communication or unspoken thoughts. This engagement with the ephemeral gives his paintings a poetic quality, reinforcing the tension between representation and reality.

However, while Mühlenbrink’s work is undeniably skillful and conceptually rich, it occasionally risks becoming overly reliant on its central visual gimmick. The fogged-glass motif, though striking, can sometimes feel like an aesthetic device that prioritizes illusionistic effect over deeper conceptual expansion. While his strongest pieces push beyond mere technical prowess to explore themes of perception, temporality, and absence, others can verge on repetition, offering less variation in emotional or intellectual impact. Nonetheless, his ability to manipulate paint into a convincingly atmospheric and tactile surface is remarkable, ensuring his work remains visually compelling and thought-provoking within contemporary painting discourse.

- RJG

Review: Namibia’s Apollo 11 Stone

via: Namibia Stone

Notes:

The native name for the area around the Apollo 11 Cave in Namibia is "Goachanas". The Nama people named the area, and the cave was named by German archaeologist Wolfgang Erich Wendt. 

Explanation

  • The Apollo 11 Cave is located in the ǀAi-ǀAis/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park in Namibia. 

  • The cave was named after NASA's Apollo 11 moon landing mission by German archaeologist Wolfgang Erich Wendt. 

  • The cave contains painted stone slabs from the Middle Stone Age. 

  • The stones were painted with charcoal, white, and ochre. 

  • The stones depict a variety of animals, including felines and bovids. 

  • The stones are evidence that Homo sapiens were behaviorally and anatomically modern around 25,000 years ago. 

Visual Artist: Erin M. Riley

via: riley

Notes:

Erin M. Riley’s artistic practice is deeply rooted in the meticulous and labor-intensive process of hand-weaving, a medium that she reclaims from traditional domestic craft to engage with contemporary themes of trauma, intimacy, and self-exploration. Using a floor loom, Riley weaves her tapestries from hand-dyed wool, often sourced from discarded or secondhand materials, reinforcing the personal and historical narratives embedded in her work. The deliberate slowness of the weaving process contrasts sharply with the immediacy of the digital images she references, primarily drawn from social media, personal archives, and internet culture. This juxtaposition forces viewers to reconcile the tension between fleeting moments and the permanence of the woven object, underscoring the artist’s meditation on memory, vulnerability, and the commodification of the body.

Riley’s process involves translating explicit, often deeply personal imagery—such as intimate self-portraits, depictions of bruises, broken glass, and moments of solitude—into tactile, large-scale woven pieces. The act of weaving itself becomes an extension of storytelling, where each thread carries the weight of time and emotional labor. Unlike photography, which can be quickly captured and discarded, weaving requires extended commitment, making each work an act of devotion and introspection. Her decision to work with wool—a material associated with warmth, comfort, and domesticity—further complicates the reading of her imagery, blurring the boundaries between care and violence, exposure and concealment. By transforming digital ephemera into physical, time-intensive works, Riley emphasizes the endurance of personal histories and the resilience of her subjects.

The physicality of Riley’s weaving process also speaks to a feminist reclaiming of craft, positioning textile work within the realm of fine art while challenging the historical marginalization of fiber arts. The meticulous repetition of weaving functions as both a meditative act and a confrontation with difficult subject matter, allowing her to process personal and collective traumas through material engagement. By elevating everyday or private moments into monumental forms, Riley not only amplifies their significance but also compels viewers to engage with themes of objectification, consent, and self-representation. Her process is as much about labor and endurance as it is about storytelling, creating works that demand time, attention, and emotional reckoning.

- RJG

Visual Artist: Alma Thomas

via: thomas

Notes:

Alma Thomas's work embodies a deep connection to color, rhythm, and abstraction, which she masterfully developed over her decades-long career. Her vibrant, mosaic-like paintings draw heavily from natural phenomena, with titles such as Starry Night and the Astronauts and Autumn Leaves Fluttering in the Breeze evoking the interplay between humanity and the natural world. The meticulous organization of her compositions—small, tessellated strokes of paint arranged into sweeping, rhythmic patterns—demonstrates her keen understanding of spatial dynamics and chromatic harmony. Her use of color is bold yet balanced, often creating a sense of movement and vibrancy that feels almost musical, inviting viewers to immerse themselves in the rhythm of her visual symphonies.

Thomas’s work is also notable for the way it bridges abstraction and cultural identity. As an African American artist working during a period of significant social upheaval, her work stood as a testament to joy and resilience. Instead of focusing directly on the struggles of the time, Thomas chose to celebrate beauty and transcendence, contributing to a unique dialogue in American art. Her approach challenges traditional narratives by asserting the presence of Black women in modernist abstraction, a space that was often exclusionary. She navigated this context with sophistication, producing work that was both personal and universal, rooted in her experience while reaching beyond it to explore themes of unity, hope, and the sublime.

Critically, Thomas’s contribution to the canon of art history has been underappreciated, though recent scholarship and exhibitions have begun to correct this oversight. While some might view her practice as primarily decorative due to her focus on beauty, this perspective underestimates the intellectual and cultural depth of her work. Her choice to focus on abstraction, rather than overtly political themes, was itself a radical act, asserting that beauty, joy, and innovation are vital forms of resistance. Thomas’s legacy is a reminder of the profound impact that abstraction and the celebration of color can have, offering a meditative and uplifting experience while contributing to broader cultural conversations.

- RJG

Visual Artist: David Hammons

via: hammons

Notes:

David Hammons’ Bliz-aard Ball Sale (1983) is an incisive, provocative, and deeply poetic performance that challenges notions of value, commodification, and the cultural landscape of art. Conducted on the streets of New York City, Hammons sold snowballs of varying sizes, neatly arranged on a blanket, mimicking the display of street vendors. The snowballs, ephemeral and ultimately valueless in a capitalist sense, became powerful symbols of both the absurdity and the critique of the art market. Hammons' choice to present this work outside of traditional gallery spaces and to engage directly with everyday passersby underscores his commitment to making art that disrupts the traditional hierarchies and systems of art valuation.

The work is a commentary on how value is assigned and what is deemed worthy of consumption in both economic and artistic terms. The snowballs, which would inevitably melt, reflect the fleeting nature of material objects and question the permanence that is often associated with fine art. By placing these transient objects in a pseudo-commercial context, Hammons forces viewers to confront their assumptions about what constitutes art. His interaction with the public—particularly in a bustling urban environment like New York—creates a stark juxtaposition between high art institutions and the street-level realities of daily life. This dynamic highlights the socio-economic divides that permeate the art world and society at large.

Additionally, Bliz-aard Ball Sale addresses issues of race and representation in art. As a Black artist, Hammons occupies a unique space within an art market historically dominated by white institutions and collectors. His decision to perform this piece in a public and unsanctioned setting can be seen as an act of defiance, reclaiming agency and space for his artistic practice. The simplicity of the snowballs belies the profound complexities of the work, positioning it as both a critique of and a participant in the systems it examines. Ultimately, Hammons’ piece remains a seminal example of conceptual art’s ability to interrogate societal norms and provoke meaningful dialogue.

- RJG

Visual Artist: Per Kristian Nygård

via: nygard

Notes:

Per Kristian Nygård, a Norwegian artist known for his innovative sculptural and installation practices, challenges the boundaries between architecture, nature, and human intervention. His works, often site-specific, are remarkable for their ability to transform spaces into immersive environments that interrogate the relationships between built environments and organic forms. One of his notable projects, Not Red But Green (2014), exemplifies this tension by filling a gallery space with a sloping, undulating grass landscape, creating a dissonance between the pristine gallery interior and the unruly nature it houses. Nygård’s use of living materials underscores the temporality and fragility of ecosystems, encouraging viewers to reconsider their own place within a world that is both constructed and organic.

What sets Nygård apart is his subtle yet incisive commentary on modernism and its legacies. His installations often critique the rigidity of architectural forms, juxtaposing them with natural growth patterns that resist order. For instance, his use of unfinished wooden structures and imperfect geometries evokes a sense of incompleteness, drawing attention to the imperfections and vulnerabilities in both human-made and natural systems. These elements create a dynamic tension that invites audiences to reflect on the constant negotiation between control and chaos in their own lives. Furthermore, Nygård’s aesthetic decisions are both cerebral and visceral, allowing his work to resonate with a diverse range of viewers.

Despite his strengths, Nygård's works sometimes risk being overshadowed by their conceptual underpinnings, which can alienate viewers unfamiliar with architectural or ecological theory. While his installations are visually compelling, their full impact often relies on contextual knowledge that may not always be readily accessible. Nevertheless, this intellectual density also rewards those willing to engage deeply with the work, offering layers of meaning that extend far beyond the initial encounter. Ultimately, Nygård’s practice stands as a vital exploration of how we shape—and are shaped by—the environments we inhabit, making his contributions to contemporary art both urgent and enduring.

- RJG

Visual Artist: Derrick Adams

via: adams

Notes:

Derrick Adams is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans painting, sculpture, installation, performance, and video. He is celebrated for his innovative exploration of Black identity and culture, often integrating elements of pop culture, art history, and urban life into his work. One of Adams's most compelling aspects is his ability to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. His "Floater" series, for instance, reclaims leisure as a radical act for Black individuals by depicting serene, joyful scenes of Black figures lounging on inflatable pool floats. These works challenge historical narratives that have often omitted Black bodies in representations of rest and luxury, replacing them with images of ease, empowerment, and humanity. His compositions are vibrant and stylized, reflecting his deep understanding of form, color, and texture, which he uses to create striking yet approachable pieces.

Adams’s "The Journey Project" further exemplifies his layered approach to storytelling, connecting personal narratives with broader cultural histories. Inspired by Green Book travel guides, his works in this series highlight both the challenges and the ingenuity of African Americans navigating racial segregation during the mid-20th century. By merging archival materials, architectural forms, and contemporary aesthetics, Adams constructs immersive environments that evoke both nostalgia and critical reflection. This balance between past and present is a hallmark of his practice, demonstrating his commitment to honoring history while reimagining its implications for the present and future.

Adams's work excels not only in its conceptual depth but also in its formal rigor. His meticulous attention to detail, bold use of color, and incorporation of mixed media lend his pieces a tactile, almost sculptural quality, even in his two-dimensional works. However, while his visual language is undeniably compelling, some critics argue that the polished aesthetic occasionally risks overshadowing the underlying social commentary. Nonetheless, Adams’s oeuvre is a testament to his skill as both an artist and a storyteller, offering a nuanced and celebratory vision of Black life that resonates with audiences on multiple levels. His ability to infuse joy, resilience, and complexity into his work cements his position as one of the most significant contemporary voices in art today.

- RJG

Visual Artist: Lorna Simpson

via: simpson

Notes:

Lorna Simpson’s Ice series presents a poignant exploration of identity, memory, and cultural symbolism through her masterful juxtaposition of photographic imagery and painterly abstraction. This body of work, characterized by fragmented portraits of Black women overlaid with layers of ink washes, textures, and resin, creates a sense of duality—melding past and present, visibility and obscurity. The icy blues and muted grays that dominate the series evoke a feeling of distance and fragility, echoing the emotional complexities of personal and collective histories. Simpson’s use of collage further amplifies the tension between wholeness and fragmentation, suggesting the ways identity can be shaped and reshaped over time.

One of the most striking aspects of the Ice series is its interplay between photographic realism and abstraction, which challenges viewers to question the narratives surrounding race and femininity. By obscuring the faces of her subjects with layered materials, Simpson disrupts the gaze, forcing audiences to confront their assumptions about representation and identity. The resin-like surface often creates a frozen quality, suggesting preservation but also entrapment, while the recurring motifs of hair and beauty connect the work to larger cultural dialogues about gender, desire, and power. Simpson’s decision to leave certain elements unfinished or partially veiled mirrors the incompleteness of memory and the impossibility of fully capturing personal histories in visual form.

Simpson’s Ice series ultimately functions as a meditation on the fluidity and complexity of identity, particularly for Black women navigating cultural expectations and historical erasure. The cold palette and layered surfaces convey emotional depth and psychological tension, while the integration of photographic and painterly techniques emphasizes transformation and hybridity. Through this series, Simpson invites viewers to reflect on how identity is constructed, fragmented, and preserved, urging a deeper consideration of the forces that shape our perceptions of race, gender, and selfhood. The Ice series stands as a testament to Simpson’s ability to merge conceptual rigor with visual poetry, making it a powerful contribution to contemporary art.

- RJG

Visual Artist: Alfredo Jaar

via: jaar

Notes:

Alfredo Jaar is a Chilean-born visual artist whose work interrogates the intersections of politics, human rights, and media representation. Known for his conceptual rigor, Jaar often addresses issues of social injustice, war, and the failures of global systems. His installations, photographs, and public interventions demand critical engagement, challenging audiences to confront uncomfortable truths about power and inequality. For example, his renowned installation The Rwanda Project (1994–2000) examines the media’s erasure of the Rwandan genocide, using stark visual contrasts and selective imagery to emphasize both what is shown and what is deliberately omitted. Jaar’s ability to weave aesthetics and activism underscores the urgency of his work, positioning him as a crucial voice in contemporary art.

Jaar’s approach frequently employs minimalism and symbolism to amplify complex narratives. By stripping images and text down to their essential elements, he compels viewers to participate in constructing meaning rather than passively consuming it. His work often highlights the ethical dilemmas embedded in visual culture, pushing audiences to question their complicity in systems of oppression. In A Logo for America (1987), Jaar used electronic billboards in Times Square to challenge perceptions of national identity, emphasizing the erasure of Latin America from the term “America.” Such works reveal his strategic use of site-specificity and temporality, transforming public spaces into arenas for dialogue and critique. This formal precision paired with layered content creates a tension that makes his art both intellectually rigorous and emotionally impactful.

Despite its critical acclaim, Jaar’s practice has faced critiques regarding accessibility and legibility. His conceptual frameworks can sometimes feel overly cerebral, potentially alienating broader audiences who may lack the cultural or historical context necessary to fully decode the work. Additionally, some critics argue that Jaar’s emphasis on conceptualism risks aesthetic detachment, reducing the emotional immediacy of the subjects he seeks to humanize. However, this distance can also be seen as a deliberate strategy, forcing viewers to wrestle with their role as spectators. Ultimately, Jaar’s work raises essential questions about representation, empathy, and activism, ensuring his place as one of the most thought-provoking artists of our time.

- RJG

Visual Artist: Thea Djordjadze

via: djordjadze

Notes:

Thea Djordjadze’s sculptural practice is a compelling exploration of materiality, form, and spatial relationships. Her works often appear as fragile assemblages that balance between structure and impermanence, drawing attention to the tension between organic and industrial elements. Djordjadze employs materials such as plaster, glass, metal, and fabric, transforming everyday objects into poetic constructions. This transformation highlights her interest in process and improvisation, as the visible traces of her hand lend intimacy to otherwise austere forms. Her sculptures suggest architectural remnants or fragments of domestic spaces, evoking a sense of transience and memory. By working within this liminal space, Djordjadze invites viewers to engage in a contemplative experience, questioning the boundaries between art and artifact.

Djordjadze’s practice is deeply rooted in her background in painting, which informs her sensitivity to color, surface, and composition. Even as her work exists primarily in three dimensions, it often reflects a painterly sensibility, as seen in her use of layered textures and subtle hues. This duality between sculpture and painting enables her to create environments that feel both spatially expansive and visually intimate. Her installations often unfold organically, responding to the architecture of the exhibition space and embracing asymmetry and negative space. This responsiveness reinforces the site-specific nature of her work, making each exhibition a unique encounter. By blurring the line between the constructed and the accidental, Djordjadze prompts viewers to reconsider their perceptions of order and disorder, permanence and fragility.

What makes Djordjadze’s work especially compelling is its ability to evoke emotional and psychological resonance through abstraction. Her use of fragmented forms and repurposed materials taps into a sense of nostalgia and displacement, reflecting broader themes of cultural memory and identity. Born in Georgia and later based in Berlin, Djordjadze’s personal history subtly informs her practice, imbuing her work with a sense of migration and adaptation. This autobiographical undercurrent, however, never overshadows the formal and conceptual rigor of her sculptures. Instead, it enriches the layers of meaning embedded within them, allowing viewers to approach her work from multiple perspectives. Through this combination of formal elegance and conceptual depth, Djordjadze challenges conventional notions of sculpture, offering a nuanced and deeply personal exploration of space and materiality.

- RJG

Visual Artist: Willie Cole

via: cole

Notes:

Willie Cole’s artwork masterfully transforms everyday, used objects into profound, sculptural statements that challenge perceptions of materiality, history, and identity. Cole’s assemblages, often created from discarded items like irons, shoes, or water bottles, blur the line between the mundane and the monumental. His re-contextualization of these objects imbues them with a sense of cultural resonance, referencing African diasporic traditions, spirituality, and the cyclical nature of consumerism. For example, his “Stowage” series, featuring scorched ironing board impressions, evokes imagery of the transatlantic slave trade while simultaneously addressing domestic labor, merging personal and collective histories in a deeply evocative manner.

A hallmark of Cole’s work is his ability to evoke anthropomorphic qualities from these objects, turning them into powerful symbols of resilience and identity. His shoe sculptures, such as “The Elegba” series, reference Yoruba deities and spirits, bringing a spiritual dimension to his work. By repurposing worn footwear, Cole emphasizes themes of journey, migration, and the passage of time. These sculptures highlight the beauty in the discarded and suggest a reverence for the stories embedded within the objects. His adeptness at transforming industrial detritus into works of art demonstrates not only his technical skill but also his ability to communicate complex narratives with a striking economy of means.

Cole’s practice also raises critical questions about environmental sustainability and consumer culture. The deliberate use of discarded materials points to the excesses of modern society and the potential for regeneration through creativity. His works function as both a critique of waste and a celebration of resourcefulness. This duality—a tension between critique and transformation—lies at the heart of Cole’s art. By drawing connections between the personal, cultural, and ecological, Cole’s oeuvre offers a poignant meditation on the interconnectedness of human experience and material culture, positioning him as a vital voice in contemporary art.

- RJG

Visual Artist: Palma Blank

via: blank

Notes:

Palma Blank is a contemporary visual artist whose work navigates the interplay of abstraction and materiality, often using minimalist gestures to evoke profound emotional and conceptual resonance. Her paintings and installations are characterized by a meticulous attention to surface, texture, and spatial relationships, engaging the viewer in a dialogue about perception and presence. Blank frequently employs a restrained color palette, relying on subtle gradations, raw materials, and layered compositions to create works that invite close inspection and contemplation. Her approach emphasizes the physicality of her chosen mediums while maintaining an ethereal quality that transcends the purely tactile.

One of the most compelling aspects of Blank’s practice is her ability to merge precision with imperfection. In her recent series, for example, the use of irregular, hand-applied marks juxtaposed against rigid geometric forms highlights the tension between control and spontaneity. This duality draws attention to the act of creation itself, framing it as both a meditative and disruptive process. Her installations often extend this dialogue into three-dimensional space, incorporating elements like metal, plaster, or found objects, which challenge traditional boundaries between painting and sculpture. This interdisciplinary approach enriches her visual language, creating environments where viewers can physically experience the interplay of light, shadow, and texture.

Despite the minimalist aesthetic, Blank’s work carries a deeply emotional undertone, suggesting themes of memory, impermanence, and the passage of time. The subtleties in her compositions—whether the faint trace of a hand-drawn line or the uneven edge of a painted form—echo the imperfections of human experience. By embracing these moments of vulnerability, Blank elevates the mundane into something poetic and universal. Her practice serves as a reminder that art, at its core, is a negotiation of space, time, and feeling, and her work offers an understated yet powerful commentary on the complexities of existence.

- RJG

Visual Artist: Mildred Thompson

via: thompson

Notes:

Mildred Thompson (1936–2003) was a groundbreaking artist whose work transcended conventional categorization, blending abstraction, science, music, and emotion in ways that continue to resonate today. Her career, though underappreciated during her lifetime, has gained well-deserved recognition posthumously for its innovative approaches to visual storytelling and its intersection with broader themes of identity, history, and universal energy. Thompson's distinctive use of color, texture, and dynamic forms creates works that pulsate with rhythmic vitality, evoking both microscopic and cosmic scales. Her paintings and prints, often rooted in her fascination with physics and mathematics, transcend literal representation, exploring unseen forces that connect human existence to the larger universe.

One of the most compelling aspects of Thompson's work is her ability to translate scientific concepts into emotional, almost musical visual experiences. Series like Radiation Explorations and Magnetic Fields delve into the abstract qualities of energy and movement, using bold, swirling compositions to suggest the intangible forces shaping our world. Her use of vibrant, layered colors and densely packed compositions conveys a sense of constant flux, a dynamic interplay of elements that feels both chaotic and harmonious. At the same time, Thompson’s works invite contemplation, rewarding close viewing with intricate patterns and textures that reveal her meticulous attention to detail and deep understanding of her medium. The intensity of her abstractions challenges the viewer to reconsider the boundaries between art, science, and spirituality.

However, Thompson’s work is not merely about scientific inquiry; it is deeply personal and tied to her identity as a Black woman navigating predominantly white, male-dominated art spaces. Her decision to live and work in Europe for much of her career underscores the challenges she faced in the U.S., where her race and gender often overshadowed her artistic contributions. This tension adds another layer to her work, as her vivid abstractions can be seen as acts of defiance—assertions of her place in a global artistic and intellectual discourse. Ultimately, Mildred Thompson's oeuvre represents a profound engagement with the unseen forces that shape both the physical universe and the human experience, leaving an enduring legacy that continues to inspire artists and audiences alike.

- RJG

Visual Artist: Howardena Pindell

via: pindell

Notes:

Howardena Pindell is a trailblazing artist whose work spans painting, drawing, video, and installation, often addressing themes of identity, systemic racism, and personal memory. Her early abstract works, such as her hole-punched, meticulously layered collages, demonstrate a profound engagement with process and materiality. These pieces, with their intricate textures and rhythmic compositions, speak to the meditative potential of repetition while simultaneously referencing fragmentation and the reconstitution of identity. Her use of unconventional materials—like talcum powder, thread, and glitter—challenges traditional hierarchies of artmaking and imbues her work with a tactile, almost bodily presence. In these works, Pindell negotiates between formalism and personal expression, creating pieces that are as intellectually rigorous as they are visually compelling.

Pindell’s shift to more overtly political works, particularly her video art, underscores her commitment to addressing social injustices. Her seminal video Free, White and 21 (1980) is a visceral confrontation of racism and sexism, blending personal anecdotes with biting satire. By inhabiting multiple personas within the video, Pindell destabilizes the viewer's perception and compels them to grapple with the systemic inequalities she exposes. This work is not only a deeply personal narrative of her experiences but also an incisive critique of the broader structures of oppression. The format—simple yet powerful—emphasizes the raw emotional weight of her testimony while bridging the gap between her conceptual rigor and her lived experiences.

Across her career, Pindell’s work exemplifies a seamless integration of formal innovation and political urgency. Her ability to navigate between abstraction and figuration, personal memory and collective critique, positions her as a vital figure in contemporary art. By using diverse media and approaches, Pindell resists categorization, forcing viewers to confront the complexities of identity and systemic inequities. Her oeuvre is a testament to the enduring power of art to interrogate, challenge, and illuminate societal structures, making her one of the most significant artists of her generation.

- RJG