Tuesday, June 15, 2010

“Pattern, Costume and Ornament” Explores the Meanings of Decoration
in Contemporary African and African-American Art

“Pattern, Costume and Ornament” opened at the Birmingham Museum of Art on June 6 in the Bohourfoush Gallery. The works gathered in the exhibition were created by African and African-American artists and drawn from the Museum's permanent collection and from local private collections.

Ron Platt, The Hugh Kaul Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, organized the exhibition. “These works are united by a visual presentation that emphasizes eye-catching arrangements, attention to detail and embellishment, and often both,” says Platt.

Amy Pleasant’s captivating site-specific drawing installation, Suspended, is featured at the Birmingham Museum of Art through August 2010. Suspended inhabits the Museum’s Lower Sculpture Garden, a rectangle enclosed by ten foot walls, functioning  essentially as a roofless gallery open to the sky. Pleasant joins artists such as Lawrence Wiener and Lonnie Holley in transforming this large, challenging site.