Liz Andrews’s Five Favorite Works from Frieze New York Viewing Room 2023
The Executive Director of Spelman College Museum of Fine Art selects powerful paintings, sculpture and prints by Jack Whitten, June Clark and Mary Lovelace O'Neal, amongst others
The Executive Director of Spelman College Museum of Fine Art selects powerful paintings, sculpture and prints by Jack Whitten, June Clark and Mary Lovelace O'Neal, amongst others
MARY LOVELACE O'NEAL
TID - Flowers and Still Life, Who Expected It, circa 1990s
Mixed media on canvas
213.4 cm x 152.4 cm
Presented by Jenkins Johnson Gallery
This painting is simultaneously abstract and representative in a way only Mary Lovelace O’Neal could achieve. In this 'still life,' I see both an ode to and challenge of art history.
JUNE CLARK
Untitled (from the Perseverance Suite), 2023
Silver tray, Railroad spikes
20.32 cm x 27.94 cm x 27.94 cm
Presented by Daniel Faria Gallery
June Clark brings together two metal objects that suggest the labor of people she has known, and many more from generations past. A pristine silver tray holds up rusted railroad spikes, offering a sharp visual contrast and commentary.
JACK WHITTEN
Untitled, 1976
Acrylic on canvas
181 cm x 179.1 cm
Presented by Hauser & Wirth
At just the moment when Jack Whitten sought to disguise the trace of the artist's hand, his signature was most profound. With paint applied on the front of the canvas, and pressure applied from behind it, Whitten created a powerful texture in this monochromatic work.
ALFREDO JAAR
The Fire Next Time, 1988
Illuminated globe and fire extinguisher
99 cm x 41 cm x 41 cm
Presented by Galeria Luisa Strina
Alfredo Jaar’s The Fire Next Time is a dedication to a book written by James Baldwin of the same title. Baldwin’s book came from the turbulence of the 1960s, and Jaar’s sculpture reflects the conflicts of the 1980s, yet the relevance of an illuminated globe atop a fire extinguisher remains painfully relevant in our world of the 2020s.
LAUREN HALSEY
Untitled, 2023
Inkjet print
244.5 cm x 159.4 cm x 5.1 cm
Presented by David Kordansky Gallery
Multiple sites of origin - real, romanticized, and perhaps longed for - exist in this digital collage by Lauren Halsey. Outer space, monuments to the pharaohs of Egypt, and the sights of South Central LA are (re)mixed together in colorful spendor.
About Liz Andrews
Liz Andrews is an artist, curator, museum professional, and leader who is dedicated to the arts and social justice. She is the Executive Director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, the only museum in the nation focused on art by and about women of the African diaspora.
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Main Image: Lauren Halsey, Untitled (detail), 2023. Inkjet print, 243.8 x 158.8 cm. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery
