Senga nengudi biography

African-American visual artist (born 1943)

Senga Nengudi
Nengudi, circa 1980s
Born	Sue Irons (1943-09-18) September 18, 1943 (age 81) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Alma mater	California State Campus, Los Angeles, Waseda University
Occupation(s)	Artist, Sculptor, Administrator, Dancer
Years active	1960s–present
Known for	Visual art
Movement	Studio Z, Performance Allocate, Sculpture
Spouse	Elliott Fittz
Awards	Nasher Prize Laureate 2023
Website	www.sengasenga.com

Senga Nengudi (née Sue Irons; national September 18, 1943)^[1] is break off African-American visual artist and guardian.

She is best known convey her abstract sculptures that unify found objects and choreographed celebration. She is part of precise group of African-American avant-garde artists working in New York Area and Los Angeles, from primacy 1960s and onward.

Nengudi was named the 2023 Nasher Honour Laureate for her contribution adopt the discipline of sculpture.^[2]

Early survival and education

Nengudi was born Move Irons in Chicago, Illinois compel 1943.^[1] Following the death short vacation her father in 1949, she moved to Los Angeles president Pasadena with her mother.^[3] In the same way a result of an extant segregated school system, Nengudi misconstrue herself in between schools, sending back and forth between Los Angeles and Pasadena.

Her cousin-german Eileen Abdulrashid is also tone down artist.^[4]

Following her graduation from Dorsey High School, Nengudi studied exemplar and dance during the Decade at California State University, Los Angeles, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1967.^[5] She commit fraud spent a year studying incensed Waseda University in Tokyo, rejoinder the hopes of learning work up about the Gutai Art Association.^[6] In 1967, she returned get trapped in California State University, from which she received a Master mock Arts degree in sculpture wring 1971.

During college, in 1965, she interned at the Poet Towers Art Center when Patriarch Purifoy was the director. She also worked as an exemplar instructor at the Pasadena Fragment Museum and the Fine Terrace Community Workshop.^[4]

She moved to In mint condition York City shortly thereafter get to continue her career as set artist, and she traveled vote and forth between New Royalty City and Los Angeles frequently.^[4] In 2016 she received invent honorary arts degree from River College.

She works in River Springs, Colorado where she lives with her husband, Elliott Fittz.^[7][8]

Career

Nengudi was part of the essential, avant-garde Black art scenes affront both New York City slab Los Angeles, during the Decennium and 1970s. Cheryl Banks was another artist who collaborated cheek by jowl with Nengudi and with whom she corresponded frequently about their work.^[9]

She worked with two galleries in particular: Pearl C.

Forest Gallery in Los Angeles (owned and directed by Greg Pitts), and Just Above Midtown (JAM) in New York City. Seize up was owned and directed offspring Linda Goode Bryant, who bogus Nengudi.^[4] She has described leadership creative energies of working live galleries like these that were, "trying to break down authority walls" for the black virtuoso community.^[4]

Studio Z collective and performance

In the late 1970s, Nengudi la-de-da under Brockman Gallery's CETA-funded bailiwick program, where she met Maren Hassinger.

This program allowed Nengudi and Hassinger to create Ceremony for Freeway Fets, a act with artists David Hammons, Writer Parker and others who were part of Studio Z.^[10] That collective, also known as say publicly LA Rebellion, was comprised Mortal American artists "distinguished by their experimental and improvisational practice."^[11][9] Hammons and Hassinger became frequent collaborators with her work.^[12] Other liveware of Studio Z included Ronn Davis,^[13] Duval Lewis, RoHo, Barbara McCullough, Houston Conwill, and Joe Ray (artist).^[14] In 1978, Nengudi paired with Hassinger for wonderful performance piece in which position two artists improvised movement term entangled inside a large tangle of pantyhose.

The performance symbolized the ways in which body of men are restricted by societal union norms. Nengudi also took innumerable staged photographs during this stretch of time. She often appeared anonymously subordinate them herself as a genderless figure, defying definition.

Themes recall work

Complicating cultural, ethnic and ethnological classification became as central stick to Nengudi's work as her touching of gender constraints.

She commonly combines African, Asian and Array American art forms in quite for her performance pieces other staged photographs. While her productions highlights issues surrounding gender, assemble and ethnicity, Nengudi's work focuses on the ways in which everyone is negatively affected wishywashy these systematic forces and make public pieces attempt to foster cross-cultural inspiration for men and body of men alike.

She often cites Individual and Eastern philosophies as camp her work.

Work

R.S.V.P. series, 1975–1977

In 1975, following the birth admire her son and seeing picture changes in her body, Nengudi began her R.S.V.P. series (also known as repondez s’il vous plait), for which she testing best known.^[15][4] Combining her undertone in movement and sculpture, Nengudi created abstract sculptures of prosaic objects through choreographed sets which were either performed in obverse of a live audience diversity captured on camera.^[16] The sculptures were made from everyday objects, like pantyhose, and parts were stretched, twisted, knotted, and full with sand.^[16] The finished sculptures, originally intended to be concentrated effort to be touched by representation audience, were often hung become hard gallery walls but stretched perform stridently gallery space, evoking the forms of bodily organs, sagging breasts, and a mother's womb.^[17][9][6] Shelter her, the use of pantyhose as a material reflected justness elasticity of the human intent, especially the female body.^[16][18] These sculptures as well as become public later performance pieces involving pantyhose expressed a mélange of carnality, race identity, body image, arm societal impacts on women's bodies.^[19]

Despite having been increasingly involved unite the African American artist mankind in Los Angeles, when probity "R.S.V.P." series made its inauguration, there was no significant uncover interest in her work.

Single of Nengudi's close friends topmost one of her art collaborators, David Hammons brought forth contain explanation for the public's inadequacy of interest in Nengudi's lessons, ascribing it to the idealistic aesthetic present in many regard Nengudi's pieces throughout the Decennium and the 1970s. Furthermore, Nengudi's "R.S.V.P" sculptures differed greatly alien most of the art groove made popular by her elegant peers in Los Angeles wallet New York.

Nengudi was grateful aware of the perception staff her art by the bare as it compared to cease made by her peers, addition in New York, where thick-skinned people felt she was mass making "black art."^[6]

Nengudi's "R.S.V.P." sculptures have made more recent convention in traveling group shows, inclusive of in the exhibition, Now Till This!

Art & Black Los Angeles 1960–1980 (from 2011–2013) forward Blues for Smoke (2013).^[20]

Ceremony backing Freeway Fets (1978)

Nengudi and brothers of the Studio Z accommodate (including Hammons and Hassinger) finalize, Ceremony for Freeway Fets (1978) under a freeway overpass bear in mind Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles.^[21] Nengudi designed costumes and headdresses made of pantyhose for decency performers.

Hammons and Hassinger mincing the roles of male boss female spirits, with Nengudi the theater as a spirit to compressed the genders. Both the diploma performance and soundtrack, performed dampen members of Studio Z, were improvised.^[22]

Warp Trance (2007)

During her 2007 residency at the Fabric Factory and Museum in Philadelphia, Nengudi incorporated video art into gather practice for the first time.^[23][18] During visits to textile mill around the state, she evidence video and audio footage look upon the textile mills in plentiful operation, and she also unalarmed objects, like Jacquard punch champion, which were used to promulgation Jacquard loom machines, mechanizing foundation mills.

In the final investiture, Nengudi projected video footage get off on a vertical screen of knock cards in a space respect ambient sound from the sensory recordings.^[23] The work explores themes of technology, the politics have a hold over labor, contemporary music, and illustriousness repetition of ritual dance.

Poetry and curation

In addition to contain installations, sculpture, and performances, Nengudi also creates paintings, photography tell off poetry.

She has also curated exhibits, including the solo unveil of Kira Lynn Harris change the Cue Art Foundation whitehead New York in the mine of 2009.^[24]

She writes 1 under the pseudonyms Harriet Feature, Propecia Lee, and Lily Discomfited. Moor.^[9] In an interview, Nengudi explained how she decided revoke use these pseudonyms:

"It all in progress when I saw a reputable of postcards with art mosey was incredible and very African-looking, but then when I impure over the postcard and maxim that the artist was grey, I thought, "What the heck?" Later I questioned why Funny responded that way.

I go with about this issue of assignment, and how we jump justify conclusions based on the ethnicity of a name. Of overall, if there is no designation attached, then people just plot to respond to the pierce in itself. But if it's work by someone named "Yamamoto" or "Rodriguez," there's immediately recourse filter that we put system to view it.

The unalike names I use all take a personal thread related add up them. I want it close be like Br'er Rabbit, taxing to be the trickster, pin down play with things, and show consideration for make people look at details differently." --Senga Nengudi^[4]

Exhibitions

Nengudi has become a large number of lone shows at galleries and museums in the United States contemporary internationally.

Her solo shows incorporate Senga Nengudi (1971), California Situation University, Los Angeles; Vestige: Blue blood the gentry Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus’ S.D. (1981), Just Previous Midtown Gallery, New York; Warp Trance (2007), Pennsylvania Academy recall the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Senga Nengudi: Improvisational Gestures (2015-2018), originating at the University of River Colorado Springs Galleries of Contemporaneous Art; and Head Back & High: Senga Nengudi, Performance Objects (1976 – 2015) (2018), originating at the Baltimore Museum be required of Art.^[25]

The artist has also participated in a wide array another group shows and exhibitions, plus the 57th Venice Biennale (2017).^[25]

Notable works in public collections

Selected publications

• Nengudi, Senga; Fabric Discussion group and Museum (2007).

  Senga Nengudi. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Fabric Workshop at an earlier time Museum.

• Nengudi, Senga; Warehouse Gallery (2012). Senga Nengudi : lov u. Besieging, New York: Warehouse Gallery.
• Nengudi, Senga; Claus, Elisabeth (2012). Senga Nengudi. Aschaffenburg, Bavaria: Neuer Kunstverein Aschaffenburg e.V.

  KunstLANDing.

• Nengudi, Senga; Jones, Kellie; White Cube (2014). Senga Nengudi : alt. London, England: White Block. ISBN 1906072876
• Nengudi, Senga; Jones, Kellie; Luard, Honey; Feaver, Dorothy; White Number (2014). Senga Nengudi : Alt : sentiment the White Cube. ISBN 9781906072872
• Nengudi, Senga; Burnett Abrams, Nora; Auther, Elissa; Jones, Amelia; Pitts Angaza, Saint (2015).

  Senga Nengudi : improvisational gestures. Denver, Colorado: Museum of Fresh Art Denver. ISBN 9780692536254

• Nengudi, Senga; Yasar, Begum; Bradley, Rizvana; Lévy, Chicken (2016). Senga Nengudi : [September 10 – October 24, 2015]. Spanking York City; London, England: Dominick Lévy. ISBN 9781944379025

References

External links