#JoeOverstreet started to think outside the two-dimensional box of paintings by 1970, when he began creating tent-like paintings, including “Boxes,” pictured here.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the artist created representational paintings about the history of racism in America. He saw his work from that period as a form of protest but underwent an important evolution that changed the course of his practice:

“By 1970 I had broken free from notions that paintings had to be on the wall in rectangular shapes ... I began to make paintings that were tent-like. I was making nomadic art, and I could roll it up and travel ... We had survived with our art by rolling it up and moving it all over ... I felt like a nomad myself, with all the insensitivity in America.”

We are proud to have “Boxes” in the #ArtBridges collection. Learn more about it on our website—link in profile.

Pictured: Joe Overstreet, Boxes, 1970, Acrylic on constructed canvas with metal grommets and cotton rope. AB.2018.14. Art Bridges. ...

“I had to say how my work operated in relation to various discourses, because no-one else would have done so. I’ve said this many times before: if you don’t write your own history, someone else will, and this ‘history’ will suit their purposes.”—#MikeKelley quoted in @artspace in 2017 about how he shaped his own legacy.

Celebrated as one of the most influential artists of the late 20th century, Kelley made waves in the art world by blasting the previously cherished distinctions between “high” and “low” art, often incorporating pop and folk cultural traditions into his practice.

His “Memory Ware No. 48,” part of the #ArtBridges collection, is one example of how he reinterpreted a folk art tradition: jug decorating. The artist sourced and collaged thrift store jewelry into a composition that pays respect to the practice, in the American South, of decorating jugs in memory of loved ones. ...

Our goal is to provide museums across the country access to outstanding examples of American art. For this reason, we provide financial and strategic support to get art out of storage and into communities. Visit our website to discover more about the #ArtBridges mission and find out how your organization can get involved. ...

"I know now that he who hopes to be universal in his art must plant in his own soil . . . The secret of my best work is that it is Mexican."—#DiegoRivera, whose 1931 painting “La ofrenda (The Offering)” is part of the #ArtBridges collection.

An homage to the splendor and resilience of Indigenous Mexican culture, Rivera’s painting, like many of his works from the period, was created to help revitalize Mexico after its revolution (1910 - 1920). Rivera’s scene depicts el Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a Mexican celebration in which the deceased are invited to commune with the living through an altar, called la ofrenda, set with welcoming offerings.

The work features three figures gathering at an altar and a garland of marigolds draped across a nopal cactus, which represents survival and appears on Mexico’s coat of arms. Visit our website to view this work and learn more about our collection loan process. ...

#TerryAdkins: “My quest has been to find a way to make music as physical as sculpture might be, and sculpture as ethereal as music is . . . to make both of those pursuits do what they are normally not able to do.”

Adkins’ “Native Son (Circus)” (2006/2015) is a groundbreaking sculpture made of cymbals that are played by programmed pedals underneath. Unseen by viewers, the pedals play a nonsensical melody. Though Adkins designed the work, it was constructed after he passed away, giving the piece a mystical quality that matches the artist’s desire to create art that transcends the limitations of human expression and “lives” beyond one’s life. Click on the link in our bio to learn more about his work from the #ArtBridges collection—which is currently on view at the @RiverfrontMuseum as part of the exhibition “American Verses: Terry Adkins, Mark Bradford & Kerry James Marshall.”

Photo: Terry Adkins, Blanche Bruce, and the Lone Wolf Recital Corps perform “The Last Trumpet” at the @Perfromanyc Biennial 2013. ...

#Repost from our friends at the @HudsonRiverMuseum | Just two weeks left to see Border Cantos | Sonic Border, in which photographer Richard Misrach and sculptor and composer Guillermo Galindo collaborate to explore the physical and psychological divide between the US and Mexico through images and sound.

There are about a dozen variations of the US-Mexico border fence in use today, depending on location, terrain, and foot traffic. Made of pipes filled with concrete and driven into the ground, this style of fencing stretches along the rugged badlands of the California desert, as illustrated by this photograph by Richard Misrach.

Large enough to dissuade crossers, the interconnected steel fencing serves a dual purpose for the Border Patrol. It provides separation, yet, unlike sheet-steel walls, lets agents see through to anticipate potential crossers or smugglers, prevents flooding, and allows migration of small animals.

The exhibition is organized by the @CrystalBridgesMuseum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. Support provided by #ArtBridges

Border Cantos | Sonic Border is on view through May 9, 2021. The Museum is open Thursday-Sunday from 12-5pm. Advance reservations are recommended.

Purchase tickets at hrm.org/visit

#BorderCantos #HRMBorderCantos #migration #immigration #RichardMisrach #GuillermoGalindo #Mexico #border @galin_dog

Image: Richard Misrach (b. 1949). "Wall, Tierra Del Sol Road, Boulevard, California," 2014, printed 2018. Pigment print. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. ...