This fall, New York offers an unusually rich season of art: the Whitney Biennial, MoMA's survey of West African independence-era architecture, the Guggenheim's reconsideration of Pop, and — at its center — the Studio Museum in Harlem's move into its new 82,000-square-foot home. We're using the season to trace a single thread across these institutions: the presence and influence of African, African-American, Caribbean, and diasporic artists within the larger history of modern and contemporary art. Expect a mix of straightforward museum visits and smaller gatherings built around specific exhibitions, curators, and collectors — an invitation to look closely, and to look together.
Studio Museum of Harlem, Where Black Art Lives. Black Excellence, legacy
Read MoreTerron Cooper Sorrells’s work occupies a charged space at the intersection of art history, race, and economics. His canvases are neither passive reflections nor abstract meditations; they are direct interventions in the ways Blackness has been historically imaged, consumed, and circulated. This painting demonstrates his command of Western visual traditions—appropriating their forms while simultaneously weaponizing them to narrate the endurance of the Black body exploited as commodity.
Read MoreNedia Were’s painting is a profound meditation on the cycle of birth, life, and death, conveyed through fragmented faces and layered symbolism. Rooted in African artistic traditions, it evokes the spiritual depth of masks and figures, connecting identity, ancestry, and transformation. The work engages with the African influences that shaped global movements like Primitivism and Cubism, reclaiming the fragmented aesthetic associated with Picasso and grounding it in African heritage.
The "Mother and Child" motif reflects the African Earth Mother, symbolizing fertility and continuity, and aligns with African cosmologies like the Yoruba and Akan, where life and death are intertwined transitions. Symbols such as the skull and lush foliage emphasize the dualities of existence—creation and destruction, presence and absence.
Drawing from the existential depth of African modernists like Ben Enwonwu, Were’s vibrant palette and symbolic forms bridge traditional African philosophies with global art conversations, offering a deeply resonant portrayal of humanity’s shared journey.
Read MoreAre you living true to yourself? You get rewarded by being you. Adrian Migadde
Adrian Migadde (B. 1989, Uganda) lives and explores deep “Spirituality,” and it sings loudly in his artwork. With simplicity, depth, and power his paintings’ voice is consistent with Bob Marley’s personal, humanist, spiritual side. The voice says: "Wake Up and Live.” Like Bob Marley, Adrian believes “self-realization and freedom are deeply interconnected; self-realization is discovering and embracing one’s true identity, achieving spiritual awakening, and breaking free from mental chains; freedom encompasses physical (and mental) liberation from oppression, spiritual freedom aligned with divine will, and the ability to express oneself authentically.” ChatGPT. Adrian’s striving for spirituality simultaneously creates works deeply personal but with “open to interpretation” meanings, at times disorienting, depending on the viewer’s lens. We explore the duality in Adrian Migadde’s thinking, which manifest in his paintings. Beyond philosophy, his paintings are honest, scholarly, challenging in the use of symbols, metaphors, colors; they evoke feelings and tell his story.
Read Morehttps://www.apartmentguide.com/blog/apartment-textures-and-patterns/
Incorporating texture and patterns into your apartment home’s style is a powerful way to elevate its visual appeal and create a more inviting atmosphere. Whether through layered rugs, framed textiles, or thoughtfully chosen decor, these elements can transform a space from simple to sophisticated. Whether you live in an apartment in New Haven, CT, or a house in Newark, NJ, this ApartmentGuide article will teach you how to add depth, warmth, and personality to your home through art pieces, making each room feel uniquely yours.
Read MoreEmmanuel introduces us to his concept of “Semblance Realism”: “what I want you to see are my thought's appearance on canvas or apparent form of a portrait of an individual, image hidden in a reality of textured materials and colors. The idea is to move the viewer very close to each art piece so that all you see are its colors and textured effect not a face bringing the colors and materials together to form a portrait.”
Read MoreThe Art Hedger, “the accidental, intuitive collector who over decades of speaking with artists…,” catches up with Issa Sylla, who was in Kenya. He encourages Issa to check out the local art scene. While in the throes of a “Pandemic Lockdown,” Issa seizes an opportunity visit art galleries. He empathically connects with the images and artists (they speak to him, as Richard Nattoo and the German Romantics would say). The works spark meaningful and genuine connections between Issa and the Art Makers. He comes away from the experience with a deeper understanding of himself; the realization that he and the artists share much in common. He leaves with a keener sense of his place. Yes, Art sparks dialogue, connections, stories, lends perspective from which we can gather meaning and it can deliver happiness, even in a Pandemic.
Read MoreThe Art Hedger, “the accidental, intuitive collector who over decades of speaking with artists…,” catches up with Issa Sylla, who was in Kenya. He encourages Issa to check out the local art scene. While in the throes of a “Pandemic Lockdown,” Issa seizes an opportunity visit art galleries. He empathically connects with the images and artists (they speak to him, as Richard Nattoo and the German Romantics would say). The works spark meaningful and genuine connections between Issa and the Art Makers. He comes away from the experience with a deeper understanding of himself; the realization that he and the artists share much in common. He leaves with a keener sense of his place. Yes, Art sparks dialogue, connections, stories, lends perspective from which we can gather meaning and it can deliver happiness, even in a Pandemic.
Read MoreHilroy Bulgin, Jamaican Artist
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