Instagram has got me on a art collecting kick and I am trying to expand my collection. I started to get the work that Joshua Mays (shout out to scarf king ikejones) has done because I love all of his work. He's got a huge mural he just put up in Oakland and I actually want to travel out to see it. I actually miss Museum Mammy's posts about contemporary Black art. Now that she's got a job in the museum world her posts are generally more about her life and feelings and less about the art. (Let me go check the tumblr...http://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/ welp, the tumblr is still on brand thankfully.)
I was looking into Harlem Renaissance artists and came upon Swann Galleries https://www.swanngalleries.com/departments/african-american-fine-art/. I have never bought anything from a gallery before and looking through their past auctions, there are some pieces that are accessible. I see that there are some unsold items from their most recent auction and I would love to have my own original Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence works. Owning an Augusta Savage work would also be a milestone for me.
America has imported more warlord theocracy from Afghanistan than it has exported democracy.
1. "I'm also a paper artifacts buyer" In response to Reply # 0
I love old letters, newspaper clippings, 1st edition books and the like. If I could get a first edition of "God's Trombones" by James Weldon Johnson with the Aaron Douglas cover, I'd be good for some years.
13. "This question is tough, because I realize I like the covers..." In response to Reply # 3 Thu Jan-31-19 07:32 PM by flipnile
...a lot for the album that's in the cover. My favorites are the classic Blue Note-style 'portrait' covers, but I also like a lot of 60s/70s graphics covers from jazz, funk & rock albums.
I never hang any albums, I just lean whatever I'm feeling on the front of the shelf so I can see it.
33. "I bought these frames from www.recordsonwalls.com" In response to Reply # 3
They are well worth the money for me. I used to use small nails above and below the sleeves but I don't think that approach is really good for them long term. I've seen other ways to do it that are also cheaper (3M hooks and making a shelf) but I like what I have right now. I recently saw another product that used transparent plastic but I can't remember where at the moment. It might have been reddit.com/r/vinyl/. That subreddit has a lot of good ideas and pictures of displays.
"For Freddie" is serious. i appreciate the artist explanation that accompanies his work as well because my interpretations are one thing but his words are most important.
America has imported more warlord theocracy from Afghanistan than it has exported democracy.
5. "Man I could have bought a Kindle Wiley piece for like 5k a decade ago. " In response to Reply # 0
Of course I didn't know anything about art and that would have been serious bread for me but the work really did speak to me and I had an inkling he could be huge.
One of my life regrets.
********** "Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
7. "after he did obama's portrait I'm sure his prices tripled" In response to Reply # 5 Thu Jan-31-19 01:38 PM by naame
it's interesting that amy sherald, the woman who painted Michelle Obama's portrait, is a constant presence in Baltimore and used to even volunteer at the same nonprofit as a from of mine.
America has imported more warlord theocracy from Afghanistan than it has exported democracy.
17. "I'm a compulsive print buyer" In response to Reply # 0 Fri Feb-01-19 01:14 PM by sectachrome86
I have a whole drawer full of them. More graphic art stuff, not fine art. I buy them and then realize its going to cost a fortune to frame because its an odd size or I just don't have a place to hang them.
The best things I have are a few signed/numbered screen prints from Mike Giant and Don Pendleton.
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller (/ˈmiːtə ˈvaʊ/ MEE-tə VOW; born Meta Vaux Warrick, June 9, 1877 – 18 March 1968) was an African-American artist notable for celebrating Afrocentric themes. She was known as a multi-talented artist who wrote poetry, painted, and sculpted but was most noted for her sculpture. At the turn of the twentieth century, she had achieved a reputation as a well-known sculptor in Paris before returning to the United States. Warrick was a protegé of Auguste Rodin, and has been described as "one of the most imaginative Black artists of her generation. She created work with strong social commentary; for instance, she made a sculpture of Mary Turner, a young, married and pregnant black woman who was lynched in Georgia in 1918 the day after protesting the lynching of her husband. Warrick is considered a forerunner of the Harlem Renaissance, a movement among African Americans promoting their literature and art. America has imported more warlord theocracy from Afghanistan than it has exported democracy.
30. "mah b - thats just regular hood stuff" In response to Reply # 27
$5 t-shirt special
(quiet as is kept I seriously wish I'd have kept some of those early 90s freaknic shirts purely for the pop-culture ghetto-historical value. where else you gonna get black bart simpson throwing on dubs talking bout his grind?)
anyway, on topic I think back to the prints of airpbrushed looking "art" sold at the Black expo back inna day
THAT stuff had the nerve to really think it was respectable, put it in a frame and hang it over the mantle type art
Be warned if you actually visit the gallery itself; once you start walking around the place and start vibing with the space and all the art everywhere, it's very hard not to start rationalizing spending money....
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