This year has seen a spate of solo museum exhibitions of work by black artists in Los Angeles: Mark Bradford and Charles Gaines at the Hammer, Noah Purifoy at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and William Pope.L and Kahlil Joseph at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Last week, I spoke with African and African American art historian Steven Nelson about these exhibitions and what shifts they might represent at the institutional level.
One thing we both noted: a glaring lack of major museum solo exhibitions featuring the work of black women artists.
There is, however, some hope on the horizon.