The Grace Jones Project
Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA
April 27 – September 18, 2016
The Grace Jones Project explores the influence of model, actress, and singer Grace Jones. The exhibition brings together more than twenty works by an intergenerational group of artists working primarily in photography, video, and performance. Some artists pay direct tribute to Jones while others demonstrate a Jones-like sensibility in their engagement with the black body and queer identity.
Central to the exhibition are vintage album covers and performance videos that highlight the music and stage personae that made Jones a cultural icon, and one of the most important performers to emerge in the late twentieth century. Featuring works from Rashayla Marie Brown, Gerard Gaskin, Heather Hart, Lyle Ashton Harris, Simone Leigh, Wangechi Mutu, Narcissister, Harold Offeh, Jacolby Satterwhite, Xaviera Simmons, Cauleen Smith, and Mickalene Thomas.
Press: Artforum, Bay Area Reporter, KQED, Hyperallergic, Little Magazine, SF Weekly
Top row, left: Xaviera Simmons, Warm Leatherette, 2009. Color photograph. Courtesy of the artist and David Castillo Gallery. Top row, right: Harold Offeh, Arabesque, Covers: Arabesque, After Grace Jones, 1978 (video still), 2008-2009. Courtesy of the artist. Second row, left: Simone Leigh, Cupboard III, detail, 2015. Steel, mason jar glass, hemp rope. Courtesy of the artist. Second row, right: Rashayla Marie Brown, Black Betty series. Photos on masonite. Courtesy of the artist. Third row, left: Rashayla Marie Brown, The Island Pose, 2013. From the Black Betty series. Photo on masonite, 24 x 36 inches. Courtesy of the artist. Third row (right) and Bottom row (right): Magazines and album covers from the curator’s collection.