Congratulations to Betye Saar whose solo exhibition opens at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston today!
Saar is a celebrated contemporary American artist (b. 1926) and leading figure of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s. Through visual storytelling, Saar’s assemblage work often confronts American racism, colonialism, and stereotypes of Black people in this country.
Saar’s exhibition entitled Betye Saar: Heart of a Wanderer “explores Saar’s trips to Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, highlighting works influenced by her many trips and her engagement with global histories of travel. Through these profound works, the artist reflects on themes of race, colonialism, forced migration, and spiritual systems that blend religious traditions from around the world.”
If you’re in Boston, go check out Saar’s exhibition at the Gardner Museum, which will be up through May 21, 2023. While there, don’t forget to see Adam Pendleton’s “Untitled (Giant Not to Scale)” on the façade of the museum. As the Artist-in-Residence, Pendleton created a black and white image featuring “a photocopied image of a carved figure taken from a book, transferred onto a clear sheet and set against a painted surface of circle and squares.” Pendleton’s work explores the relationships between Blackness, abstraction, and the avant-garde. (from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s website)
