With summer drawing to a close, the art world is looking ahead to The Armory Show, an art fair that brings leading international contemporary and modern art galleries to New York each year.
The Armory Show, which typically attracts around 65,000 people, is a significant platform for artists to exhibit and market their work to an international audience.
Although the art world is making strides in diversity, inclusion, and equity, there is still work to be done. According to a 2014 census report by BFAMFAPhD, 8% of working artists in the United States are Black. Still, Black artists only made up 2.2% of acquisitions and 6.3% of exhibitions in a period surveyed between 2008 and 2020.
Although Black artists are still underrepresented in the industry, Black artists, particularly Black queer artists, have had an outsized influence on culture. If you’re looking for evidence of that impact, look no further than the streets of any major global city, where the stylings of Jean-Michel Basquiat routinely influence graffiti and street art.
Or look to the halls of the Smithsonian to Kehinde Wiley’s official portraits of former President Obama.
Ahead of Armory week, and in celebration of the groundbreaking impact of Black queer artists like Basquiat and Wiley, we’ve compiled a list of 8 Black queer visual artists changing the way we see ourselves and others.
Kangol2
Great article, Queerty. Martiel’s performances are compelling and worth catching.