chelle barbour

“Diasporagasm” is an international multimedia group exhibition organized by April Bey, presented at the South Bay Contemporary Gallery (SoLA), October 5 – November 18, 2017. A bacchanalia of rhythmic color, texture, tonality and hue, the collection of artwork includes painting, photography, illustration, textile, sculpture, and video, which explores the blackness and gender in the diasporic imaginary.
Considering the international scope of “Diasporagasm,” corollary questions arise over what makes them authentically African, Black American, or the Caribbean? Ghanaian artists who operate in the international space subvert the stereotypes and perceptions of what African artwork is.  American artists present colorful abstraction, and Bahamian artists delve into themes of interiority and personal agency. “Diasporagasm” subverts heteronormative associations, and calls for the collection to be read through an intersection of aesthetic codes of Afro-futurism, identity, sexuality, feminism, and humanism in the black public sphere.

Newton’s Third Law of Physics suggests that for every action there is a reaction. In “No Justice, No Peace: L.A. 1992,” an exhibition on view at the California African American Museum through August 27, curator Tyree Boyd-Pates re-contextualizes the 25th anniversary of the Los Angeles Riots, showing how the violent days following the acquittal of four police officers in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King has its roots in generations of racism, vice and civil unrest going back to the early 1900s -- content that you will not learn in history books.

Walter Hopps entered the art world during one of the most historic sociopolitical  periods in America: President Truman, without the approval of Congress, committed American troops to battle; the Vietnam War was prolonged; Senator Joseph McCarthy began his communist witch hunt; the abstract expressionist movement was in full swing; President Truman ordered the construction of hydrogen bomb; Truman signed a Peace Treaty with Japan, which officially ended WWII; Joseph Stalin died; the Iron curtain went up; segregation was ruled illegal in the U.S., Disneyland opened, Abstract Expressionism faded, Pop-art became huge, civil rights activist, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus and Water Hopps painted the art world with broad strokes--from Los Angeles to Washington and onward to Houston, Texas.
This paper is about Hopps, the artist-curator, whose contributions indispensably elevated the appreciation of modern art in America.  With insightful commentary by his widow, Caroline Huber, my objective is to shed light on the legendary Hopps who redefined the way the art world examined art and embraced his genius.