Kevin Beasley (born 1985 Lynchburg, Virginia) is an American Artist working in sculpture, performance art, and sound installation. He lives and works in New York City. Beasley was included in the Whitney Museum of American Art's Biennial in 2014[1] and MoMA PS1's Greater New York exhibition in 2015.[2] He is represented by Casey Kaplan gallery in New York.
Education
editKevin Beasley was born in Lynchburg, Virginia. He received a BFA from the College of Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan in 2007 and an MFA from Yale in 2012.
Career and Work
editBeasley is known for sculpture that incorporates found materials - especially clothing - and casting materials like resin and foam.[3] While these materials cure or set into their final state, Beasley works them with his body, a process that points to his interest in sculpture that traces of the artist's body while retaining a bodily, fleshy quality of its own.[4] Many of his sculptures also contain audio equipment or are used in sound-based installations or performances.
Beasley's works Strange Fruit: Part I and Strange Fruit: Part II incorporate microphones and audio amplifiers in order to reflect back the sounds made by visitors. [5] The reference to the iconic protest song "Strange Fruit" and the use of Air Jordans in the sculpture point not only to the bodies of the visitors, but to Black bodies throughout history. [6] Strange Fruit: Part I and Strange Fruit: Part II were commissioned by the Young Collector's Council of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum for the 2015 show Storylines: Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim, and are now part of the museum's collection.[7]
Beasley is also known for his performance work, in which he often uses the sculptures he has made to produce sound. For a performance during the 2014 Whitney Biennial, in which Beasley was included, he inserted microphones into several sculptures and moved them around a space to produce sound.[8] Beasley also performs sound art without sculpture - in 2012 he performed I Want My Spot Back in the Atrium of the Museum of Modern Art - a piece consisting only of a capella clips of deceased 1990's era rappers, mixed and amplified by Beasley live.[9]
Beasley was an artist-in-residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem for 11 months from 2013-2014, where he participated in Material Histories at the end of his residency.[10]
Exhibitions
editCollections
editReferences
edit- ^ "Kevin Beasley | Whitney Museum of American Art". whitney.org. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
- ^ "MoMA PS1: Exhibitions: Greater New York". momaps1.org. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
- ^ "Artist Biographiy: Kevin Beasley". Guggenheim Storylines. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
- ^ "Kevin Beasley | Whitney Museum of American Art". whitney.org. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
- ^ "Strange Fruit (Pair 1)". Guggenheim. 2015-01-01. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
- ^ "Strange Fruit (Pair 1)". Guggenheim. 2015-01-01. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
- ^ "Artist Kevin Beasley on Installing His Work at the Guggenheim". Guggenheim. 2015-08-26. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
- ^ "In the Studio: Kevin Beasley - Magazine - Art in America". www.artinamericamagazine.com. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
- ^ "Kevin Beasley". Interview Magazine. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
- ^ "Material Histories | The Studio Museum in Harlem". www.studiomuseum.org. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
- ^ "Storylines: Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim". Guggenheim. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
- ^ "Whitney Biennial 2014 | Whitney Museum of American Art". whitney.org. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
- ^ "Cut to Swipe | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2016-10-20.