Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Blues for smoke / organized by Bennett Simpon

Catalog Data

Sponsoring body:
Simpson, Bennett  Search this
Host institution:
Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, Calif.)  Search this
Physical description:
222 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm
Type:
Exhibitions
Date:
2012
20th century
21st century
Notes:
This publication accompanies the exhibition "Blues for Smoke," organized by Bennett Simpson and presented at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, October 20, 2012-January 7, 2013.
Contents:
Jaki Byard : Blues for smoke / Fred Moten -- This air / Bennett Simpson -- The wire and the blues / Glenn Ligon -- The timeless blues / George E. Lewis -- Muse & drudge / Harryette Mullen -- My blues love affair / Wanda Coleman -- Five lines four spaces / Jack Whitten -- There : a feeling / Gregg Bordowitz -- From a broken bottle traces of perfume still emanate, volume five / Nathaniel Mackey
Summary:
"Covering nearly half a century and including the works of some 50 artists in a wide variety of media, this book looks beyond ideas of musical category to identify the blues as a visual and cultural idiom that has informed multiple generations of artists--from Romare Bearden and William Eggleston to David Hammons and David Simon, creator of the television series The Wire. Generously illustrated with paintings, drawings, photographs, sculpture, installation, and video stills, and containing a wide range of critical writing, poetry, and fiction, the catalog explores topics central to the blues--from articulations of daily life, modes of abstraction and repetition, and self-performance to ecstatic and cathartic expression and metaphors of memory and the archive. Both scholarly and unique, this reimagining of all things "blues" will draw audiences from across cultural and racial boundaries as it celebrates a uniquely American idiom that has made its mark on nearly every contemporary artistic medium"-- Provided by publisher.
Topic:
Arts, Modern  Search this
Blues (Music) in art  Search this
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_995256