Reading the Art World: Bernard Lumpkin

Reading the Art World episode six: a conversation with collector and patron Bernard Lumpkin whose collection is the subject of the exhibition and book, Young, Gifted and Black: A New Generation of Artists. (D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers Inc, 2020)

It’s nothing less than a renaissance we are in right now . A renaissance of black contemporary art and it’s amazing, it’s exciting. There’s visibility in places where there was no visibility before. There are resources that didn’t exist before; there are opportunities to see the work of black artists and to engage with those artists. There are platforms now which help the conversation around black art … and I love the democratic spirit of that — Bernard Lumpkin

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Order the book here .

Young, Gifted and Black celebrates the art of a dynamic new generation of black artists whose works are part of the prestigious collection of Bernard I. Lumpkin and Carmine D. Boccuzzi, longtime champions of emerging artists of African descent. In this podcast Bernard tells the story of his evolution to collector, patron and advocate and how the exhibition of the collection and accompanying book furthers his own mission or broader education about black contemporary art. His decisions around the structure, texts and contributors to the book are a reflection of the way in which he and Carmine engage with their roles as collectors

Edited by Antwaun Sargent, the richly illustrated book features over 100 artworks—including painting, photography, sculpture and performance. With texts by curators, scholars and the artists themselves offering diverse perspectives, Young, Gifted, and Black speaks broadly to notions of community and identity that, while rooted in the specific experience of blackness, capture how these artists are shaping the ways we think about representation, race and the history of art.

Artists

Mark Bradford, David Hammons, Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu, Adam Pendleton, Pope.L, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Henry Taylor, Mickalene Thomas, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Sadie Barnette, Kevin Beasley, Jordan Casteel, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Bethany Collins, Noah Davis, Cy Gavin, Allison Janae Hamilton, Tomashi Jackson, Samuel Levi Jones, Deana Lawson, Eric N. Mack, Arcmanoro Niles, Jennifer Packer, Christina Quarles, Jacolby Satterwhite, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Sable Elyse Smith, Chanel Thomas, Stacy Lynn Waddell, D’Angelo Lovell Williams, Brenna Youngblood, and more.

Contributors

Antwaun Sargent, Graham C. Boettcher, Jessica Bell Brown, Connie H. Choi, Anthony Graham, Lauren Haynes, Jamillah James, Thomas J. Lax, Hallie Ringle, Adeze Wilford, Gordon Dearborn Wilkins, and Matt Wycoff, plus an interview with Bernard Lumpkin by Thelma Golden.

Learn more about Reading the Art World here.