UTA Artist Space Launches First Virtual Exhibit Featuring 12 Emerging Black Artists

By Chris Gardner

The Hollywood Reporter

UTA
“Aston and Ethan,” by artist Alfred Conteh. (Courtesy of Alfred Conteh and Galerie Myrtis)

UTA Artist Space has launched its first virtual exhibition amid the coronavirus pandemic. Starting today and running through July 3, the venue will host Renaissance: Noir, featuring paintings by 12 emerging Black artists on its website.Curated by Myrtis Bedolla, Baltimore-based owner of Galerie Myrtis, Renaissance: Noir is said to investigate “Blackness on the continuum of the historiographies of Black artists’ narratives that assert, individually and collectively, their state of mind and state of being Black,” per today’s announcement. It arrives at a time of a cultural reset and resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis.

The artists included in Renaissance: Noir include Tawny Chatmon, Wesley Clark, Alfred Conteh, Larry Cook, Morel Doucet, Monica Ikegwu, Ronald Jackson, M. Scott Johnson, Delita Martin, Arvie Smith, Nelson Stevens and Felandus Thames.

A portion of the proceeds from the exhibition will be donated to Artist Relief, a coalition of grant-makers that have rallied to support artists amid the pandemic.

Of the exhibit, Arthur Lewis, creative director of UTA Fine Arts and UTA Artist Space, said: “It is thanks to Myrtis Bedolla that I first saw the work of Amy Sherald and Jamia Richmond Edwards. She is a true visionary who continues to give broader visibility to the narrative of Blackness.”

Added Bedolla: “Renaissance: Noir is more poignant than ever as we share these thought-provoking works which depict the social, political, and historical journey of the Black experience through intergenerational narratives. I am excited to be partnering with UTA Artist Space on such a timely collection of paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures, and conceptual works, which span over 40 years of artistic production.”

More information about the exhibit can be found here.