Curatorial: 2013 - american beauty

 American Beauty was a critically acclaimed exhibition at Susan Inglett Gallery curated by the artist partially in response to the limited conceptions of art’s ability to achieve formal beauty while addressing concerns that are political in nature outlined in Ken Johnson’s infamous review of the “Now Dig This” exhibition at PS1 MoMa. A particular argument which would find the work of Black artist in the exhibition lacking in their use of Formalism in comparison to their white peers. In turn, the American Beauty exhibition brought together several artists with diverse relationships to America and Americanness whose works purposely synthesizes formal beauty with content addressing spirituality, climate change, identity and migration. One cannot experience one without the other and that is the point. Disappointed with social media exchanges, round tables and bias journalism the artist engaged curatorial practice to underscore the validity and brilliance of this type of work, particularly as it had taken up the greater part of discussions around Johnson’s article in major news outlets. Artists included in the exhibition are Nicole Awai, SunTek Chung, Rico Gaston, Alejandro Guzman, Maren Hassinger, Ariel Jackson, Mathew Day Jackson, Dawit Petros, Naomi Reis, Michael Vahrenwald and Nathaniel Mary Quinn.

Johnson’s reportage on the “Now Dig This” exhibition prompted the artist join fellow artists, Anoka Faruqee, Dushko Petrovich, Steve Locke, and Colleen Asper writing and open letter signed by over … artists and scholars asking the New York Times to address the inaccuracies in Johnson’s reporting and allow for a response in its newspaper to balance his arguments which for many reflected systemic ways in which the voices of women artists and artist of color are limited in the arts through being found lacking in relationship to white male artists. The New York times responded with criticism of using petition software to allow the letter to be signed, defended Johnson despite admitting his article had a number of inaccuracies and denied the letter a response. After many roundtable discussions such as “Acts of Resistance and Inclusion in African American Art” Art in America arranged and released an exchange between cultural critic David Levi Strauss and Johnson becoming the first major and reputable news outlet to engage the conversation. The exchanges centered around Formalism as a primary grievance while being sure to give Johnson the last word.