For Immediate Release
MEDIA CONTACT:
Samantha Santos, Communications & PR Manager
602.257.2117 | [email protected]
The artist’s work is currently on view in two exhibitions at PhxArt
PHOENIX (January 21, 2024) – This February, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) will present its Spring Lenhardt Lecture featuring renowned multimedia artist Charles Gaines in conversation with Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem. Following the presentation, attendees will enjoy a performance of Gaines’ multi-sensory work Manifestos 3 (2018) produced by Mads Falcone and performed by pianist richard valitutto. Tickets to the Lenhardt Lecture on February 5 at 6 pm are free for Museum Members and $5 for the public. They are now live here.
“We are pleased to welcome back Charles Gaines to Phoenix Art Museum, along with Thelma Golden, this spring as part of our ongoing Lenhardt Lecture series, made possible through the generosity of the Arizona-based Lenhardt family,” said Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Sybil Harrington Director and CEO of Phoenix Art Museum. “Over the past three months, PhxArt guests have had the chance to discover two incredible exhibitions of Gaines’ work—Charles Gaines: Numbers and Trees (Arizona Series) and Charles Gaines: 1992-2023—and this season’s Lenhardt Lecture is a unique opportunity to hear directly from the artist, as well as experience a special performance from his Manifestos series that is rarely seen live.”
Charles Gaines (b. 1944, Charleston SC), who lives and works in Los Angeles, is a preeminent figure in conceptual art, widely known for converting images and text-based documents into numerical structures, musical notations, and other sign systems through rigorous translation mechanisms. His work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions in the United States and around the world, most notably at Dia Beacon; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York NY; and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles CA. It is also included in prominent public collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and Tate, London, UK, among others.
Gaines will appear in dialogue with Thelma Golden, the Director and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, considered the world’s leading institution devoted to visual arts by artists of African descent. Golden began her career in 1987 as an intern at the Studio Museum, then joined the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1988. While at the Whitney, she organized numerous innovative exhibitions, including the groundbreaking 1993 Whitney Biennial and landmark exhibition Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in American Art in 1994. Golden returned to the Studio Museum in 2000 as the Deputy Director for exhibitions and programs and was named the Director and Chief Curator in 2005, succeeding Dr. Lowery Stokes Sims. Golden’s curation at the Studio Museum includes the inauguration of the five-part “F” series that began with Freestyle in 2001, which highlighted emerging Black artists. Other exhibitions include Chris Ofili: Afro Muses 1995–2005 and Black Romantic: The Figurative in Contemporary African-American Art. Under her leadership, the Museum has gained increased renown as a global leader in the exhibition of contemporary art, a center for innovative education, and a cultural anchor in the Harlem community.
Following Gaines and Golden’s conversation, visitors will experience Gaines’ multi-sensory work Manifestos 3 (2018). The multimedia performance functions as a systematic transliteration of three revolutionary manifestos into musical notation: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech from 1967, Terry Adkins’s Visionary Recital (1993), and James Baldwin’s essay Princes and Powers (1957). The musical notations, as written and arranged for piano by Gaines, will be produced by Mads Falcone and performed by pianist richard valitutto.
“Dawn and I are pleased to welcome Charles Gaines and Thelma Golden as this Spring’s Lenhardt Lecture speakers,” said David Lenhardt, vice chair of the Museum’s Board of Trustees. “In conversation, Gaines and Golden will provide meaningful insight into Gaines’ career and practice, including its ongoing evolution and its impact on the larger field of conceptual art.”
In addition to his presentation at Phoenix Art Museum, Gaines will visit with local artists and creatives to provide mentorship. This educational and community-based work is another component of the Lenhardt Lectures and enables lecture speakers to give back and engage with Arizona-based creatives in various capacities.
For more information about the Lenhardt Lecture series, contact the Communications Office of Phoenix Art Museum at 602.257.2117 or [email protected]. For high-resolution images, click here.
About Phoenix Art Museum
Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) has engaged millions of visitors with the art of our region and world. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, PhxArt creates spaces of exchange and belonging for all audiences through dynamic exhibitions, collections, and experiences with art. Each year, 300,000 guests on average engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of more than 21,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern, and contemporary art and fashion design, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson. PhxArt also presents live performances, outstanding examples of global cinema, arts-education programs and workshops, an art+music festival, and more for the community. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.