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Forbes
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Mavis Pusey Receives First Major Museum Survey At ICA Philadelphia
Mavis Pusey, 'Nuvae,' mid-1960s. Oil on burlap canvas, 30 x 40 inches. Private collection. ICA Philadelphia Female. Black. Abstractionist. Three strikes and you're out. Out of art history. Patriarchy and racism explain the first two. The third strike needs extra context. In the few occasions when a Black woman broke through art history's glass ceiling, their work was figurative. Think Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012) and Lois Mailou Jones (1905–1998). African American artists working in the 20th century, and to a smaller extent since–both men and women–were expected by the art establishment–museums, curators, galleries, collectors–to make overtly representational artwork related specifically to the Black experience. Take Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) or Romare Bearden (1911-1988) for example. African American artists who broke through in a big way depicting the Black experience in America using figures. Norman Lewis (1909-1979) was a talented contemporary, a Black man; he painted in an Abstract Expressionist style to only marginal acclaim compared to Lawrence or Bearden or other white AbEx painters despite the high caliber of his work. Mavis Pusey (1928-2019) was female, Black, and an abstract painter. And massively overlooked. Nearly forgotten. Nearly. For the first time, the life and work of the Jamaica-born artist will be fully explored in a major museum survey. The Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania–ICA Philadelphia–presents 'Mavis Pusey: Mobile Images' through December 7, 2025, an extensive retrospective spanning her 50-year career featuring more than 60 works including paintings, drawings, and prints, as well as archival materials. Hallie Ringle, Interim Director and Daniel and Brett Sundheim Chief Curator of the ICA Philadelphia, curates the show. She was directed toward Pusey in 2015 by the Studio Museum in Harlem's legendary director and chief curator Thelma Golden. Golden came across Pusey in a catalog. Intrigued, Golden asked Ringle, who was serving as Assistant Curator at the Studio Museum at the time, if she'd like to research Pusey. Absolutely. 'I didn't know anything about (Pusey) before Thelma asked if I wanted to look into her,' Ringle told 'I was completely unfamiliar with her work, but now that I do know more about her, I see how many intersections her life has had with people that I'm more familiar with, and it just becomes all the more shocking that I didn't know.' Pusey studied at the famed Art Students League in Manhattan under Will Barnet (1961–1965). It was her Plan B. She wanted to be a fashion designer, but finding a professional path forward difficult, took advantage of a grant to attend classes at the League. Barnet encouraged her to keep going. She later worked at Robert Blackburn's Printmaking Workshop (1969–1972) in the City which was frequented by major figures such as Emma Amos, Lawrence, Bearden, and Melvin Edwards. 'I remember seeing these prints that she made in Paris,' Ringle said. 'I thought they were incredible. They use these kind of musical staffs in them, and to see the clash of music and color, it felt like seeing sound in a way that I don't often experience. I was immediately excited by that.' Hooked, Ringle had to find Pusey before starting the heavy lifting of examining her career. Through the artist's Massachusetts gallery, a social worker, and Pusey's caretaker family, Ringle located her in Orange, VA about 90 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. Just in time. Pusey was suffering from dementia. Between 2015 and the artist's passing in 2019, Ringle met with Pusey numerous times. Ringle acknowledges it wasn't like visiting with Pusey during her prime would have been. 'I really got a sense of what she was like through the archival materials. Hearing her give lectures, seeing the letters that she wrote, the people that she was in contact with–you get this picture of a person who was so dynamic and really brought people together,' Ringle explained. 'Her (New York) apartment was a gathering place. (She was) somebody who was able to create community around her wherever she went, and also someone who was deeply invested in a larger sense of art history and making. She had an extensive book collection. She was interested in continuing her education about art and was often going to exhibitions and really kept up with the museum and gallery scene in New York when she was there and then even after.' Ringle and the Studio Museum team painstakingly reassembled Pusey's body of work before her death. The Studio Museum acquired a large portion of her work for its collection. With Ringle's appointment at ICA, she continued advancing the research, prompting a close collaboration between ICA and the Studio Museum on comprehensive conservation and research initiatives preserving the artist's legacy. The Studio Museum will present the exhibition in spring of 2027 with a stop at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles in between. Seven newly discovered paintings debut in the presentation alongside key works through each period of Pusey's creative trajectory. Artworks are contextualized by the inclusion of photographs, notes, and ephemera from Pusey's lifetime, offering historical and personal insight into the artist's boundary-pushing body of work. A Life Of Inspiration Mavis Pusey with her work 'Within Manhattan.' Studio Museum in Harlem Born and raised in Retreat, Jamaica, Pusey would go on to live in New York from the late 50s through late 80s, with considerable time spent in London, Paris, and Philadelphia, as well as Virginia following New York through the end of her life. She created rich, abstract paintings and works on paper inspired by her wide-ranging interests in fashion and the urban environment of cities she lived in throughout her life. 'She took the influences of her life and built them into her practice,' Ringle said. 'So, while it's abstract, it's also recognizable and familiar in so many ways. Even when you're seeing her more almost figurative works, you see that they look like (clothing) pattern pieces, or they look like something related to the body that feel relatable.' Early in life, Pusey worked cutting fabric in a Kingston garment factory. She developed her own clothing line and made handbags. Examples of both appear in the show. She learned printmaking in Paris around the time of the massive 1968 student protests there. Pusey spent a lifetime thinking about the dynamics of New York City. 'She had such a unique and specific view of the world that you can see through her practice. Many of the archival materials allow us to see the world through her mind,' Ringle said. 'For example, we found film. She used to walk around New York City taking pictures and she would turn those into inspiration for her works. We saw a black and white picture of a truck that had the bed (with a) kind of barrier on it made out of wood, and the angle of the boards just so clearly showed up in one of her prints. This is how she's walking around the world, seeing it in geometries, and seeing it as her work appears. To be able to–even for that glimpse–see the world through her eyes, that made me think this is an incredibly special person that I feel honored to have been able to work on.' Through it all, Pusey resisted pressures to create figurative, overtly socio-political work, remaining committed to abstraction. A particular subgenre of the movement called 'geometric abstraction.' One look at her paintings explains the moniker. Pusey's abstraction was built on geometric shapes. That's how she saw the world. The exhibition's title, 'Mobile Images,' takes its name from one of her prints. 'It is a print that she originally made in black and white and editioned in black and white, and then later returned t –we believe she returned to it–decades later and created another version in color,' Ringle explained. 'It felt like the most appropriate title for the exhibition because it felt like her going through the city and experiencing the city through these kind of geometries. The world is constantly mobile and in motion to her, and you feel that in her work. It's like you've caught a moment in time, not a stagnant painting, it's very active.' Serendipitously to the exhibition and Ringle's promotion, Pusey taught in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts–commuting from New York–between 1974 and 1986. That school, and others where she taught simultaneously, helped Ringle piece the artist's life and archive together. Pusey had work included in the 2024 Whitney Biennial, the most prestigious survey of contemporary American art. Curators there shared what they found. When Pusey died, her obituary ran in The New York Times , bringing more leads out of the woodwork. She wasn't completely unknown. She had artwork in the collection at New York's Whitney Museum of American Art, and was included in a 1971 group show there, 'Contemporary Black Artists in America.' The Museum of Modern Art–the apex–holds her work, still, Golden was unfamiliar with her, as was Ringle, and they've dedicated their lives to this. 'It turns out, she's been here all along,' Ringle said. 'It's an all too familiar story with Black artists, especially abstractionists, and in women in particular. If she had received the recognition she deserves, we would all know about her by now.' That's one of the goals for this presentation: recognition. It's too late for the attention to do Pusey any good, but it's not too late for the historical record to be corrected. For her talent and innovation and vision to be acknowledged, included, immortalized. Not out of charity or because she was a nice lady, because her work merits that station. It helps fill out the record. It belongs. She belongs. More From Forbes Forbes 'Elizabeth Catlett: Black Revolutionary Artist' At National Gallery Of Art By Chadd Scott Forbes New York Celebrates Two Landmark Cultural Anniversaries In 2025 By Chadd Scott Forbes 19th-Century 'Afric-American Picture Gallery' Brought To Life At Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library By Chadd Scott
CNN
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
With her ‘Cowboy Carter' tour, Beyoncé is all red, white and blue. Not everyone is a fan
In the midst of a record-breaking tour in support of her landmark country album 'Cowboy Carter,' Beyoncé is on top of the world. Largely credited as Beyoncé's reclamation of her country roots, last year's 'Cowboy Carter' questions the lines of genre and highlights the ongoing contributions of Black country artists. When she announced the album's release, she said it was 'born out of an experience' where she had felt unwelcome — a likely reference to racist comments generated by her 2016 appearance at the Country Music Awards, where some country fans claimed she had no place at the event. The album and the ensuing tour, which concludes this month, is a middle finger to those detractors. The visual landscape Beyoncé creates, both within the album and on the tour, directly points to the various roles African Americans have played throughout US history. If the establishment will try to deny them a seat at the table, Beyoncé has made it her mission to bring a chair anyway — just see the thousands of Black fans donning their cowboy boots and matching wide-brimmed hats at each tour stop. It can be powerful for an artist of Beyoncé's caliber to highlight such narratives, but the fan response is more nuanced. While some appreciate the visuals that highlight Blackness within country music and American history, others wish for more explicit statements on contemporary political matters, whether that's the US support of the war in Gaza or the aggressive ICE deportations in the US. Her messaging, they suggest, falls short. 'It's very true that Beyoncé has faced really unfair critique from a lot of different sectors. She hasn't been recognized in the way that she should for her artistry,' said Stacy Lee Kong, culture critic and founder of newsletter Friday Things. 'And at the same time, we also see a superficiality to her politics.' Even before the Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin' Circuit Tour kicked off in April, the album's art and lyrics specifically emphasized the role Black people have played in country music. Beyoncé's shows underline those messages further, while referencing additional Black history and traditional patriotic imagery. She performs 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' set to Jimi Hendrix's distorted Woodstock rendition; a video screen flashes the message, 'Never ask permission for something that already belongs to you.' She embraces red, white and blue — just see her blue leotard embellished with silver stars and the accompanying floor-length American flag fur coat from her Fourth of July show in Washington, DC. While many fans feel empowered by Beyoncé's interpretation of Americana, others feel the symbolism is lacking. Even among some of her self-proclaimed fans, the ideas presented can be sticky: 'I think people's issues lie where she is silent on current injustices and issues that are happening under that flag now whilst simultaneously constantly draping herself in it,' noted one fan on X. Especially for an artist whose work is often so deeply researched and layered with meaning, Lee Kong said, the fact that Beyoncé doesn't actually say anything specifically about American politics feels fraught. Celebrating being an American, and celebrating Black people's role in America, without actually verbalizing the harm that the United States can cause feels simplistic in today's political landscape, Lee Kong said. Despite her larger artistic message, many fans simply want more from Beyoncé. 'You can't sell an idea and be wishy-washy about it,' she said. 'This is a really difficult line to walk, no matter what, and it has become more difficult as audiences have become more sophisticated and more aware of the complicated politics that are informing our lives.' The complexity of this line is perhaps best exhibited by Beyoncé's Buffalo Soldiers T-shirt, worn during her Juneteenth performance in Paris. The white shirt featured an image of the Buffalo Soldiers, Black soldiers who served in the US Army following the Civil War and were instrumental in the country's westward expansion, conducting campaigns against the Native Americans living in the West (who are credited with coining the 'Buffalo' in their name). On the back of her shirt was a block of text, which read in part: 'their antagonists were the enemies of peace, order and settlement: warring Indians, bandits, cattle thieves, murderous gunmen, bootleggers, trespassers, and Mexican revolutionaries.' The message sparked intense debate. While some praised the highlighting of the Black soldiers, others critiqued the simultaneous disparaging of Native and Mexican Americans, arguing that the shirt insinuates that these groups exist in contrast to the United States. Beyoncé has not spoken publicly about the controversy. Beyoncé is not new to this type of critique — and she hasn't been completely silent about political topics over the years. During her performance at the Super Bowl in 2016, Beyoncé and her dancers appeared in all-black costumes with fists raised, a clear nod to the Black Panthers. She went on to speak in favor of the Black Lives Matter movement in a 2020 commencement speech. In 2023, as her 'Renaissance' tour film played in Israel amid the war in Gaza, with videos surfacing of pro-IDF Israelis singing the single, 'Break My Soul,' critics argued that the artist who could incorporate explicit political messaging into her 2016 performance should also speak up about the war. 'She's a person who has curated a space, has made herself a political figure, whether she likes it or not,' said B.A. Parker, co-host of NPR's 'Code Switch,' at the time. Does an artist owe fans an explicit political statement? Swifties have long analyzed the political motives of Taylor Swift, who until recently has kept mum on political issues. At this year's Super Bowl, Kendrick Lamar seemingly rejected these notions altogether, proclaiming: 'The revolution's about to be televised. You picked the right time but the wrong guy.' 'She is one of the most powerful women in the entertainment industry,' said Melvin Williams, a professor at Pace University who studies race, gender and sexuality in celebrity culture. 'That she now has to be an expert of everything, stand up for all causes, while performing and showing up flawlessly — that is an impossible standard for any human being.' Beyoncé did endorse Kamala Harris's presidential bid last year, and she has also made more subtle political references during the tour. The Jimi Hendrix version of the national anthem — performed during the Vietnam War — has been widely interpreted as a form of protest, though the legendary guitarist's intent is still subject to debate. In one image from the Cowboy Carter tour book, Beyoncé is pictured sitting at a sewing machine while stitching the American flag, in tribute to Grace Wisher, a Black girl who helped sew the original Star-Spangled Banner. Her veiled, white dress — potentially a callback to the 'veil' analyzed by W.E.B. DuBois, a metaphor used to explain the color line between White and Black Americans — is splattered with blood. 'Cowboy Carter' was a risk, Williams said, both creatively and in its messaging around genre and race. As a celebrity, Beyoncé is adept at initiating social commentary, yet she rarely gives interviews. She speaks almost exclusively through her work. To some, her message is clear, and demands for more are taken as examples of the undue expectations society places on Black women. Despite pushes to do so, it's unlikely that she will ever 'explicitly grapple with, for example, America's history of empire building or the persistence of capitalism in America,' Williams said. But Beyoncé's work presents an entry point into thinking more deeply about the world around us, Lee Kong said. As a result of the album and the tour, those conversations are being had anyway — with or without her input.
CBC
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Lu Kala is the next big Canadian pop star
Every so often, a Canadian artist breaks through in a big way, like Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Weeknd or Shawn Mendes. Toronto singer Lu Kala just might be next. With viral hits like Pretty Girl Era and Hotter Now, Kala has amassed more than 100 million streams across the internet. Her catchy songs about loving yourself and knowing your worth have landed her two Juno nominations and Billboard Canada's Women in Music Rising Star award. In an interview with Q 's Tom Power about her new EP, No Tears On This Ride, Kala says she's dreamed of being a pop star since she was just a kid. WATCH | Lu Kala's full interview with Tom Power: "[My dream] was me on stages performing my music and everybody else screaming it back to me, me winning awards, just me being able to be a full-time musician — an artist," she says. "I'm grateful.… I'm kind of living that life right now." Though Kala always knew she had a talent for singing and songwriting, it dawned on her early on that there weren't a lot of Black pop stars for her to look up to. "I think a lot of the Black women that have done pop in the past came in, maybe, doing R&B or rap," she says. "Like they did something else and then they became so popular that they transitioned into pop. But I feel like Black women — Black people in general — have just never usually been allowed to come in straight [out of] the gate and be like, 'Hey, I make pop music.'" WATCH | Official video for Hotter Now: Now, Kala's goal is to bust down the doors of pop music not only for herself, but for others as well. And she emphasizes that everyone can enjoy feel-good pop music. "Fun is not only for women and queer people," she tells Power. "Everyone's allowed to like fun music." The rising Canadian pop star also counts some major celebrities among her fans, such as Serena Williams and SZA. "Backstage at the [Billboard Women In Music Awards], I remember SZA … yelled and she's like, 'I'm such a fan of you!'" Kala recalls. "I'm looking around, like, who's she talking to? … And then she came up to me and she was like, 'I don't care! I'm in my pretty girl era.' She sang my song to me. And that was iconic because she's someone I'm such a fan of." WATCH | Pretty Girl Era (Live):
