https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2 My top 10 contemporary artists I would like to learn more about and teach about en-us 2022-01-18 14:28:48 UTC 2026-01-22 23:56:51 UTC hello@padlet.com bellcaro1 https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998063704 About the artist: Nick Cave was born in Fulton, Missouri in 1959. He creates “Soundsuits”—surreally majestic objects blending fashion and sculpture—that originated as metaphorical suits of armor in response to the Rodney King beatings and have evolved into vehicles for empowerment. Fully concealing the body, the “Soundsuits” serve as an alien second skin that obscures race, gender, and class, allowing viewers to look without bias towards the wearer’s identity. 

Themes: (un)common materials, black American experiences, community, race in America, sensory sensations, the body 

Mediums: found objects, installation, performance, photography, sculpture, textile]]> 2022-01-18 14:34:04 UTC https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998063704 bellcaro1 https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998076065 About the Artist: Weems’s vibrant explorations of photography, video, and verse breathe new life into traditional narrative forms: social documentary, tableaux, self-portrait, and oral history. Eliciting epic contexts from individually framed moments, Weems debunks racist and sexist labels, examines the relationship between power and aesthetics, and uses personal biography to articulate broader truths. 

Themes: black American experiences, history, race in America, the body

Mediums: performance, photography, video]]> 2022-01-18 14:38:14 UTC https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998076065 bellcaro1 https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998080862 About the Artist: Working in site-specific installation and sculpture, Yin uses second-hand or recycled items like clothing and domestic objects to create works that preserve personal memories in a rapidly globalizing and homogenizing world.

Themes: (un)common materials

Mediums: found objects, installation, sculpture]]> 2022-01-18 14:39:47 UTC https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998080862 bellcaro1 https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998084694 About the Artist: Turrell’s work involves explorations in light and space that speak to viewers without words, impacting the eye, body, and mind with the force of a spiritual awakening.

Themes: larger than life, sensory sensations

Mediums: installation, land, sculpture ]]> 2022-01-18 14:41:05 UTC https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998084694 bellcaro1 https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998090009 About the artist: Deeply symbolic, her work uses her relationship with her parents and the role sexuality played in her early family life as a vocabulary in which to understand and remake that history. The anthropomorphic shapes her pieces take—the female and male bodies are continually referenced and remade—are charged with sexuality and innocence and the interplay between the two. 

Themes:  feminisms, history, the body

Mediums: drawing, installation, painting, printmaking, sculpture, textile]]> 2022-01-18 14:42:49 UTC https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998090009 bellcaro1 https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998094463 About the artist: Using film, drawing, sculpture, animation, and performance, he transmutes sobering political events into powerful poetic allegories. In a now-signature technique, Kentridge photographs his charcoal drawings and paper collages over time, recording scenes as they evolve. Working without a script or storyboard, he plots out each animated film, preserving every addition and erasure.

Themes:  history, migration and displacement, world building

Mediums: animation, drawing, installation, performance, projection, sculpture, textile, video]]> 2022-01-18 14:44:21 UTC https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998094463 bellcaro1 https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998098472 About the artist: Kruger layers found photographs from existing sources with pithy and aggressive text that involves the viewer in the struggle for power and control that her captions speak to. In their trademark black letters against a slash of red background, some of her instantly recognizable slogans read “I shop, therefore I am,” and “Your body is a battleground.” Much of her text questions the viewer about feminism, classicism, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire, although her black-and-white images are culled from the mainstream magazines that sell the very ideas she is disputing.

Themes: consumer culture, language and text, money money money

Mediums: collage, installation, language, printmaking]]> 2022-01-18 14:45:46 UTC https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998098472 bellcaro1 https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998102290 About the artist: The subject matter of his paintings, installations, and public projects is often drawn from African American popular culture, and is rooted in the geography of his upbringing: “You can’t be born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1955 and grow up in South Central [Los Angeles] near the Black Panthers headquarters, and not feel like you’ve got some kind of social responsibility. You can’t move to Watts in 1963 and not speak about it. That determined a lot of where my work was going to go,” says Marshall.

Themes: black American experience, history, pop culture, race in America

Mediums: painting]]> 2022-01-18 14:47:02 UTC https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998102290 bellcaro1 https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998105206 About the artist: Schorr’s images not only call into question the fractured role of soldiering in today’s society, but also examine the way nationality, gender, and sexuality influence an individual’s identity. 

Themes: the body

Mediums: photography]]> 2022-01-18 14:48:04 UTC https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998105206 bellcaro1 https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998108396 About the artist: Her work is energetic, cacophonous, and idiosyncratic, but close observation reveals formal decisions about color and composition, and a tempering of chaos with control. In a single work, Stockholder deploys a myriad of materials that might include bales of hay, fruit, toys, laundry baskets, curtains, heat lamps, fans, yarn, newspaper, bowling balls, automobiles, and construction materials: bricks, concrete, plywood, and sheetrock.

Themes: (un)common materials, larger than life

Mediums: found objects, installation, sculpture]]> 2022-01-18 14:49:09 UTC https://padlet.com/bellcaro1/8x5uzid3h016y1x2/wish/1998108396