3 American Artists
Mobile Museum of Art presents 3 American Artists, an exhibition showcasing the work of three renowned African American artists: Mark Bradford, Barkley L. Hendricks, and Glenn Ligon. These artworks are loans from the collection of the Art Bridges Foundation.
This exhibition features artists who have defined the art world through their works that focus largely on themes of race, gender, sexual identity, class, and pop culture.
The Art Bridges Foundation is a private operating foundation whose mission is to increase access to American art across the U.S. Established by arts patron and philanthropist Alice Walton, Art Bridges supports museums of all sizes to provide collection loans, traveling exhibitions, multidisciplinary programming, and more in order to further connect museums and their local communities.
Mark Bradford is a Los Angeles-based artist best known for his large-scale abstract paintings and collages exploring the effects of class, race, and gender on urban society. On view at MMoA will be Bradford’s monumental collage Thelxiepeia, named for a mythological Greek siren and made of tissue-like endpapers used by hairdressers.
The late Barkley L. Hendricks (American, 1945-2017), an American painter and photographer, is known for his life-sized realist paintings of Black Americans. In Brenda P — thought to be Brenda Payton of the Philadelphia R&B group Brenda and the Tabulations — his subject confidently stands with hands attached to her hips, decked out in classic 1970s fashion.
Glenn Ligon uses text and light in his conceptual works to explore race, language, desire, sexuality, and identity. Untitled (I Am Somebody) references a 1950s poem written by civil rights activist Reverend William Holmes Borders and later popularized by Reverend Jesse Jackson.
May 3, 2022 - May 14, 2023
3 American Artists was made possible through the generous support from Art Bridges. Support for this, and all museum exhibitions and programs, is provided by the Alabama State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the City of Mobile.
About the Art Bridges Foundation
Art Bridges is the vision of philanthropist and arts patron Alice Walton and is dedicated to expanding access to American art in all regions across the United States. Since 2017, Art Bridges has been creating and supporting programs that bring outstanding works of American art out of storage and into communities. Art Bridges partners with a growing network of nearly 150 museums of all sizes and locations to provide financial and strategic support for exhibition development, collection loans from Art Bridges and other museums, and programs designed to educate, inspire, and deepen engagement with local audiences. The Art Bridges Collection features American masterworks of historic American art to the present day and encompasses painting, sculpture, photography, among other mediums. For more information on who we reach and how to partner with us, visit www.ArtBridgesFoundation.org and follow us @ArtBridgesFoundation.
Featured Work
Mark Bradford, Thelxiepeia, 2016, mixed media on canvas, 96 x 18 ft (243.8 x 548.6 cm). Art Bridges.
Barkley L. Hendricks, Brenda P, 1974, oil and acrylic on canvas, 72 x 50 in (182.9 x 127 cm), framed: 76 5/8 x 54 5/8 x 3 1/2 in. Art Bridges. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Glenn Ligon, Untitled (I Am Somebody), 1990, oil stick, gesso, and graphite on wood, 80 x 30 1/4 in (203.2 x 76.8 cm). Art Bridges. Photography by Edward C. Robison III.