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Sanford Biggers
Sanford Biggers’ work is an interplay of narrative, perspective and history that speaks to current social, political and economic happenings while also examining the contexts that bore them. His diverse practice positions him as a collaborator with the past through explorations of often overlooked cultural and political narratives from American history. Working with antique quilts that echo rumors of their use as signposts on the Underground Railroad, he engages these legends and contributes to this narrative by drawing and painting directly onto them. In response to ongoing occurrences of police brutality against Black Americans, Biggers’ BAM series is composed of bronze sculptures recast from fragments of wooden African statues that have been anonymized through dipping in wax and then ballistically ‘resculpted’. Following a residency as a 2017 American Academy Fellow in Rome, the artist recently began working in marble. Drawing on and playing with the tradition of working in this medium, Biggers creates hybridized forms that transpose, combine and juxtapose classical and historical subjects to create alternative meanings and produce what he calls “Chimeras”. As creative director and keyboardist, he fronts Moon Medicin, a multimedia concept band that straddles visual art and music with performances staged against a backdrop of curated sound effects and video. Moon Medicin performed at Open Spaces Kansas City in October 2018 and at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. in April 2019.
Sanford Biggers (b. 1970) was raised in Los Angeles and currently lives and works in New York City. He is the recipient of numerous awards; in 2020 he was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship; in 2018 he received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award and in 2017 he was presented the 2017 Rome Prize in Visual Arts. He has had solo exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2018), the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (2016), the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (2012) and the Brooklyn Museum (2011), among others. His work has been shown in several institutional group exhibitions including at the Menil Collection (2008) and the Tate Modern (2007), and also recent exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2017) and the Barnes Foundation (2017). In 2018, Biggers was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award and in 2019 he was inducted into the New York Foundation for the Arts Hall of Fame. Biggers’ work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Walker Center, Minneapolis; the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington D.C.; the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; and the Legacy Museum, Montgomery, among others.
The artist will have a museum solo exhibition titled Codeswitch dedicated to exhibiting over 60 quilt-based artworks at The Bronx Museum of the Arts (September 9, 2020 - January 24, 2021). The exhibition is organized by Bronx Museum Chief Curator Sergio Bessa and Chief Curator of the Visual Arts at the Contemporary Arts Center (New Orleans) Andrea Andersson. The exhibition will travel to California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA (March 2021) and Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA (October 2021) and will be accompanied by a publication.
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Renée Cox
Renée Cox is a visual artist, working foremost in photography and video. Her work arises at this intersection of history, race theory, and sexuality. In her practice, Cox works to deconstruct stereotypes, engage the viewer and to challenge their preconceived ideas about gender and race. She explores the possibilities of new and affirming self-representations for Black diasporic peoples as a visual corrective to both art history and history writ large—transforming dispossession into self-possession. By deconstructing the Black female body, she reveals the myths behind it.
Cox began her career as a commercial photographer, working for Condé Nast, and the music and film industries. She turned to fine art after receiving an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in 1992. Since then, Cox has worked as a visual artist, educator, curator, lecturer, and a frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine. The Archives of American Art (Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.) acquired Cox’s personal archive in 2019.
Renée Cox (b. Colgate, Jamaica) lives and works in Harlem, NY and Amagansett, East Hampton. Her work is included in several institutional collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Princeton Art Museum.
Photo: Renée Cox
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Cerebral Women
Cerebral Women, founded by Guild Hall trustee Phyllis Hollis, is an online marketing platform designed to promote emerging and mid-career artists of color and female artists. The weekly podcast, Cerebral Women Art Talks, is curated to offer art enthusiasts an intellectual journey into the visual art world and provides insights from various artists and the art professionals that feature them. https://www.cerebralwomen.com/about/ Instagram: @cerebral_women
The idea for RING THE ALARM… A Conversation with series Renee Cox began with discussions on an exhibition of Black Artists that Renee Cox will be curating for the summer of 2023. The first in the series was a conversation with Derrick Adams and Renee Cox both noted artists, colleagues and friends, who have a long history of exhibiting work and curating exhibitions that focus on empowerment, the black experience, and issues of contemporary life.
We are delighted to welcome Sanford Biggers as the next artist to engage in the Ring the Alarm series of conversations. Sanford Biggers’ work is an interplay of narrative, perspective and history that speaks to current social, political and economic happenings while also examining the contexts that bore them. His diverse practice positions him as a collaborator with the past through explorations of often overlooked cultural and political narratives from American history. Working with antique quilts that echo rumors of their use as signposts on the Underground Railroad, he engages these legends and contributes to this narrative by drawing and painting directly onto them. In response to ongoing occurrences of police brutality against Black Americans, Biggers’ “BAM” series is composed of bronze sculptures recast from fragments of wooden African statues that have been anonymized through dipping in wax and then ballistically ‘resculpted’.
“The need for open dialogue on art, race and politics felt timely and something that we believe the community at large was looking for. The response to that first talk was truly inspiring and we plan to continue this series of conversations next year and leading up to the 2023 Summer exhibition.” noted Christina Strassfield, Museum Director/Chief Curator.
