Artist #GlennLigon with paintings from his “Door” series - a series that isolates certain phrases by important black writers (#JamesBaldwin and #ZoraNealeHurston for example) and reproduces them repeatedly with stenciled black oil stick letters on white, wooden, doors.

“Untitled (I Am Somebody)” references the title of a poem from the 1950s written by civil rights activist Reverend William Holmes Borders. It was popularized by Reverend Jesse Jackson in later speeches. Ligon intentionally smeared the repeated phrase in his work to make it harder to read. He does this so that viewers will contemplate the meaning of the words.“I’m interested in what happens when a text is difficult to read or frustrates legibility,” Ligon says, “what that says about our ability to think about each other, know each other, process each other.” View the work and learn more about it on our website, and contact us if you would like to borrow this work from the #ArtBridges collection.

You can also experience this piece in person—it’s currently on loan to our friends at the @YellowstoneArtMuseum. ...

“For me, the hand is very important in terms of how I see painting and the innovations I have made already…I think right now being smart is so easy. To make art without labor—aren’t you missing a part of it? I would be missing a part of the joy and the surprise that you can set up for yourself with your own hands.” - #McArthurBinion speaking to Inside/Within, a web archive dedicated to exploring the creative spaces of Chicago’s emerging and established artists.

Binion’s layered abstraction “DNA: Sepia : V” features a fine, grid-like pattern on the work’s surface that both proclaims the investment of the artist’s hand and prompts inspection of the revelations beneath. It is part of the #ArtBridges lending collection. View the work on our website - link in profile - and drop us a line if you want to borrow it. ...

The dramatic lighting might be the first thing that grabs your attention in this #KarlBodmer aquatint, but if you look closely at the forefront, you will notice a large herd of Bisons.

In “Herd of Bisons on the upper Missouri,” Bodmer illustrates the evening of July 14, 1833, when he traveled from Fort Union on a small keelboat and witnessed a herd of buffalo coming to the river’s edge to drink. The artist deftly combines scientific detail with dramatic composition, recording the grazing habits of the animals against the backdrop of a radiant sunset.

Visit our website to learn more about this work and the other Bodmer prints in the #ArtBridges lending collection. ...

This 1938 #MarsdenHartley painting is one of his most allusive works. Let’s take a moment to study the details and to learn more:
‣ The work’s title “Give Us This Day” is a reference to “The Lord’s prayer,” the most common prayer recited by Christians.
‣ The fish 🐟 are a nod to the common use of fish as symbols of Christ.
‣ The seagulls are a riff on traditional depictions of the Holy Spirit as a dove.

Painted near the end of his life when he returned to his native state of Maine, the work's many references, its methodical symmetry (a departure from most of the artist’s work), and its Regionalist focus seem to indicate a return to home that may be as spiritual as it was literal.

Perhaps Hartley was following his own words from 1921, when he wrote the book “Adventures in the Arts” and mused that, “Art, like life, has had to begin all over again, for the very end of the world had been made visible at last.”

Learn more about this painting and others in the #ArtBridges collection on our website—or see it in person at the @MFAStPete through June.

Image: Marsden Hartley, “Give Us This Day,” 1938, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in (76.2 x 101.6 cm), framed: 38 1/2 x 48 1/2 x 4 in. Art Bridges. Photography by Edward C. Robison III. ...

#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.”

The artist’s sculpture “Native Son (Circus)” is an arrangement of cymbals that periodically shimmers to life, generating clamorous and seemingly random music. The work’s materiality and activation were inspired by the tale of how jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker began his career. According to the story, Parker accompanied legendary drummer Jo Jones during a set, and performed so poorly that Jones threw a cymbal at him. The aspirant musician was jarred into a dedication that resulted in creative success.

The narrative of passionate investment in one’s craft reverberates with “Native Son (Circus),” which is part of the #ArtBridges lending collection.

Visit our website to view it and send us a note if you want to install it in your institution with our support.Here: Terry Adkins in his studio, image courtesy Luca Nostri. ...

Andy Warhol’s rare, self-published “Wild Raspberries” cookbook from 1959 offers one of the keys to understanding his subsequent Coca-Cola artworks. Published in 1959 and co-written with his friend/renowned interior designer Suzie Frankfurt, the book consists of made-up parody recipes such as “Omlet Greta Garbo,” which is “always to be eaten alone in a candlelit room.”

Humor was one of the signature ways Warhol’s now iconic Pop Art critiqued American culture—whether haute cuisine, elite art world trends, or advertising. The latter became the focus of Warhol’s art by 1962, jump started with the creation of his 1962 work “Coca-Cola [3],” which he considered to be the beginning of his Pop Art style.

In “Coca-Cola [3],” Warhol critiques the artificial veneer of American advertisement. Warhol has not painted a Coca-Cola bottle, but an image of a Coca-Cola bottle from a newspaper. His subject is not the object itself, but a visual presentation of it that has been manipulated for optimum desirability.

“Coca-Cola [3]” is part of the #ArtBridges lending collection—the piece is jointly owned by Art Bridges and @CrystalBridgesMuseum. Visit our website to view it and learn more. Send us a message if you are interested in borrowing it.

Image: “Pop cuisine … a recipe for Piglet in Wild Raspberries.” Photograph: Bonhams, from the @guardian’s March 2021 article on Warhol’s cookbook. ...