Gotham City Soul

Godzilla , 1966, by Emma Amos I've been meaning to get around to this, this little review of Spiral: Perspectives on an African-American Art Collective at the Studio Museum in Harlem. I'm including an excerpt from co-curator Emily G. Hanna's introduction to the original show, which opened at the Birmingham Museum of Art late last year (because I want to get this out to you now and it would take me a long time to craft suitable words to go with): "In July 1963 Romare Bearden initiated conversations with fellow painters Hale Woodruff, Norman Lewis, and Charles Alston about the prospective role of African-American artists in the Civil Rights movement. While their original focus was the upcoming March on Washington, attention was also given to if, how, and to what degree artists might assume a meaningful placement within the social change platform of the overall movement. The discussions evolved into regular meetings at Bearden’s downtown New York Canal Street

A repost from a couple of years ago. It seems that my job is keeping me away from Gotham City Soul, and that Friday's are for abbreviated blogs that lift the spirit. I have so many many things to write about, and when I can arrange my time, I'll be giving you more history, and culture and soul than you'll probably want to read. Until then, this morning Cousin Taroue Brooks sent this video, the song "Sun Moon Child is by Imani Uzuri, created by Pierre Bennu. Lovely.

The Yusef Hawkins mural today. This morning I was reminded of Yusuf Hawkins, the 16-year old Bed-Stuy youth who was killed by a white mob in Bensonhurst , New York, just for being black and in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was 22 years ago in August. But the reminder came in a positive story: A young white artist named Gabriel Specter, himself a resident of Bed Stuy is working to recreate the mural on a material called parachute cloth, to be attached to the original mural wall, which has, over the been painted over and has faded. I can't  find a photo of the original mural. Specter is paying for materials out of his pocket, and this just does the heart good. Hear and read the story from NY1  Yusuf Hawkins, date unknown As a sidenote: While I was searching for a mural image, I came upon a site with a painting called "The Murder of Yusef Hawkins." In the description underneath is the account of members of St. Dominic's Church in Bensonhurst laying a w

I've been meaning to get around to this, this little review of the Spiral show at the Studio Museum in Harlem. From the National Gallery of Art's website (because I want to get this out to you now and it would take me a long time to craft suitable In 1963 Bearden and fellow artist Hale Woodruff invited other artists, later calling themselves the Spiral group, to meet at Bearden's downtown Canal Street studio to discuss political events related to the civil rights movement and the plight of blacks in America. Initially the group was concerned with logistical issues, such as obtaining busses to travel to the March on Washington in the summer of 1963. However, their efforts turned toward aesthetic concerns, rather than political. Spiral member Norman Lewis framed the question: "Is there a Negro Image?" To which group member Felrath Hines responded, "There is no Negro Image in the twentieth century—in the 1960s. There are only prevailing ideas that