SOUTHERN ACCENT SEEKING THE AMERICAN SOUTH IN CONTEMPORARY ART AVAILABLE FOR TRAVEL FROM 2017 – 2018 CO-ORGANIZED BY THE NASHER MUSEUM OF ART + SPEED ART MUSEUM SOUTHERN ACCENT AVAILABLE FOR TRAVEL EXHIBITION DESCRIPTION Southern Accent: Seeking the American South in Contemporary Art is the first contemporary art exhibition to question and explore in- depth the complex and contested space of the American South. One needs to look no further than literature, cuisine and music, to see evidence of the South’s profound influence on American culture, and consequently much of the world. This unprecedented exhibition investigates the many realities, fantasies and myths that have long captured the public’s imagination, and presents a wide range of perspectives to create a composite portrait of Southern identity through contemporary art. William Faulkner once described the South not as a “geographical place” but an “emotional idea.” Southern Accent looks at the South as an open- ended question and concept in itself. The exhibition encompasses a broad spectrum of media and approaches, demonstrating that “Southern-ness” is more of a shared sensibility than any one definable culture or style. The exhibition primarily focuses on artwork from the past 35 years, but includes earlier work from the Civil Rights Era as important foundational and historical markers. The exhibition includes work by approximately 60 artists as well as a curated music-listening library. No region in the United States has contributed more to American music than the South, and a music chronology that speaks to Southern life provides an invaluable sounding board for the artwork in the exhibition. Southern Accent is co-organized by Trevor Schoonmaker, Chief Curator and Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Curator of Contemporary Art at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and Miranda Lash, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky. The exhibition is accompanied by a full-color catalogue with scholarly essays. ARTISTS Terry Adkins, Walter Inglis Anderson, Benny Andrews, Radcliffe Bailey, Romare Bearden, Sanford Biggers, Willie Birch, Rachel Boillot, Douglas Bourgeois, Roger Brown, Beverly Buchanan, Diego Camposeco, Mel Chin, William Christenberry, Sonya Clark, Robert Colescott, William Cordova, Thorton Dial, Sam Durant, William Eggleston, Minnie Evans, Ralph Fasanella, Skylar Fein, Howard Finster, Michael Galinsky, Theaster Gates, Jeffrey Gibson, Deborah Grant, Barkley L. Hendricks, James Herbert with REM, Birney Imes III, Jessica Ingram, George Jenne, Deborah Luster, Sally Mann, Kerry James Marshall, Henry Harrison Mayes, Richard Misrach, Jing Niu, Tameka Norris, Catherine Opie, Gordon Parks, Ebony G. Patterson, Fahamu Pecou, Tom Rankin, Dario Robleto, Jim Roche, James “JP” Scott, Amy Sherald, Xaviera Simmons, Mark Steinmetz, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Bill Thelen and Jerstin Crosby, Hank Willis Thomas, Burk Uzzle, Stacy Lynn Waddell, Kara Walker, Andy Warhol, Carrie Mae Weems, and Jeff Whetstone. SOUTHERN ACCENT CURATOR BIOS & GENERAL INFORMATION GENERAL EXHIBITION INFO Contents Approximately 115 ready-to-hang sculptures, paintings, photographs, video, and installations. Venues may alter the arrangement of the works they exhibit in consultation with the organizing curators. ABOUT THE CURATORS Trevor Schoonmaker is the Chief Curator and Patsy Gallery Space R. and Raymond D. Nasher Curator of Contemporary 9,000–10,000 square feet Art at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. His traveling exhibitions at the Nasher Museum Itinerary include Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey (2013- Nasher Museum Aug. 25, 2016 – Jan. 8, 2017 14); The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl (2010- Speed Art Museum April 24, 2017 – Aug. 20, 2017 12); Barkley L. Hendricks: Birth of the Cool (2008-10); Available Fall / Winter 2017 and Street Level: Mark Bradford, William Cordova and Available Winter / Spring 2018 Available Spring / Summer 2018 Robin Rhode (2007-08). Exhibitions prior to joining the Nasher Museum include The Beautiful Game: Contemporary Art and Fútbol (2006), DTroit (2003-04), Insurance / Packing / Shipping Black President: The Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo- To be arranged by Nasher Museum of Art Kuti (2003-05), and The Magic City (2000). He is the Artistic Director of Prospect New Orleans (P.4), an Catalogue international contemporary art triennial scheduled Southern Accent will be published by the Nasher for fall 2017. Museum of Art and distributed by Duke University Press. The approximately 216-page, fully illustrated Miranda Lash is Curator of Contemporary Art at color catalogue, edited by co-curators Trevor Schoonmaker and Miranda Lash, will contain texts by the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky. She Diego Camposeco, Mel Chin, Brittney Cooper, John T. has organized numerous exhibitions, including Mel Edge, William Fagaly, Carter Foster, Brendan Greaves, Chin: Rematch Dario Robleto: the Prelives (2013-14), Harrison Haynes, Patterson Hood, Ada Limón, Mark of the Blues (2012), Swoon: Thalassa (2011), and Anthony Neal, Catherine Opie, Fahamu Pecou, Wayne Gonzales: Light to Dark / Dark to Light (2011- Richard J. Powell, Thomas S. Rankin, Dario Robleto, 12). She is a recipient of an Andy Warhol Curatorial Bradley Sumrall, Natasha Trethewey, Kara Walker, Research Grant and has been a Japan Foundation and Jeff Whetstone, among others. The catalogue Curatorial Exchange fellow. Her essays have been will also feature a selected music chronology and published in the Harvard journal, Res: Anthropology timeline of scholarship on southern art. and Aesthetics, the anthology Baroque Tendencies in Contemporary Art, and in the exhibition catalogue for the US biennial Prospect.2 New Orleans. Contacts Trevor Schoonmaker Chief Curator Previous page, image details from top to bottom: Hank Willis Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University Thomas, Black Righteous Space, 2012. DVD (playlist and video e-mail: [email protected] installation), microphone, and mac mini, approx. 60 minutes in tel: 919.684.3370 length. Beverly Buchanan, Moonshine Man’s House, 2009. Wood, 12 x 16 3/4 x18 1/2 inches (30.5 x 42.5 x 47 cm). Deborah Grant, Miranda Lash In the Land of the Blind the Blue Eye Man is King from the series By Curator of Contemporary Art the Skin of Our Teeth, 2007. Oil, archival ink, paper, Flashe paint, Speed Art Museum and enamel on five birch panels; 72 × 36 × 2 inches (182.9 × e-mail: [email protected] 91.4 × 5.1 cm). tel: 502.634.2964 SOUTHERN ACCENT IMAGE SAMPLES Birney Imes III Terry Adkins Andy Warhol William Christenberry Sam Durant Radcliffe Bailey Minnie Evans Tom Rankin Romare Bearden SOUTHERN ACCENT IMAGE SAMPLES Barkley L. Hendricks Catherine Opie Jeff Whetstone Diego Camposeco Sanford Biggers Robert Colescott Carrie Mae Weems Ebony Patterson Kara Walker.