Missed out on the Frieze this week? Don’t worry, Black artists and curators will be telling extraordinary visual stories about our past and future all summer long.
Fans of Candice Marie Benbow and Sarah Jakes Roberts will rejoice at the explorations of spirituality that speak to the beauty and brutality of Black religious spaces, while those fighting to reclaim public spaces will beam at the Black voices setting the record straight about Black creators and the Black Yeehaw Agenda.
Check out 13 Black must-see art exhibitions you can visit this summer below.
01
Enunciated Life – California African American Museum
Enunciated Life – California African American Museum
02
Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” – Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston
This exhibit featuring work from one of hip-hop’s favorite designers is so popular with patrons it was recently extended into the fall. It opens July 3 see it before it closes on September 26 so you can try and predict the next IG caption you’ll be stealing from Certified Lover Boy.
03
The Hugo Boss Prize 2020: Deana Lawson, Centropy – Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
This exhibit features large scale photographs and holograms from the 13th annual Hugo Boss Prize winner Deana Lawson. The show was co-curated by Ashley James.
04
Alvin Armstrong To Give And Take – Anna Zorina Gallery
Armstrong uses a series of unique characters to “interrogate the vulnerability of Blackness in America,” in this vibrant show curated by Stephanie Baptist.
05
Julie Mehretu Six Bardos – Gemini G.E.L.
06
Lamar Peterson Left Foot, Right Foot – Fredericks & Freiser
The accomplished painter created a series of “pseudo self-portraits” in isolation during the height of pandemic.
07
Theaster Gates: Breathing-Pérez Art Museum Miami
The artist’s personal relationships with buddhism and the baptist tradition inspired these melodic videos.
08
Roland L. Freeman – Portfolio Ogden Museum
The latest exhibition from the celebrated photographer documents decades of social change.
09
Social Works- Gagosian New York (6/24)
Social Works ponders the connections between “the relationship between space—personal, public, institutional, and psychic—and Black social practice.” It is the first show from Antwan Sargent at the galleries.
10
Eight Seconds: Black Cowboys in America – Buffalo Bill Center of The West
Photographer Ivan B. McClellan documents Black equestrian culture in this special exhibition.
11
A Gathering-Housing
This group show is a tribute to Lower East Side legend Steve Cannon. Each artist’s work is presented with the work of a writer who will contribute to a zine commemorating the exhibition.
12
Black Histories, Black Futures – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Teen scholars turned their attentions to the institution’s collections to create a well-organized show with clear themes.
13
Modern Day Buffalo Soldiers – Buffalo Soldier National Museum
This exhibition highlights today’s Black heroes at NASA risking their safety to explore the unknown in the stars.
