For this year’s edition of Art Basel Miami Beach 2018, Peter Blum Gallery is pleased to present a solo booth of early and rare sculptural works by Joyce J. Scott.
Joyce J. Scott is best known for her figurative sculptures using free form bead weaving. She came into her own artistically in the late 1970’s when glass beadwork, a very labor and time intensive technique, became her primary medium. Scott’s work bridges the gap between craft aesthetics and contemporary sculpture. Her visual lexicon integrates elements from a wide variety of cultures and spiritual traditions, including influences from West African Yoruba weaving techniques, Native American and transcendent Buddhist belief systems, and perhaps most importantly, American Southern traditions of quilting and beadwork which are deeply rooted in her own family history.
This installation focuses on rarely seen early works that incorporate her trademark beadwork with blown glass, found objects, weaving, and mixed-media. The works explore issues of class, race, gender, and violence, often mining history and embedding cultural critique within the pleasurable experience of viewing a pristinely crafted object. Scott’s works delve into the extremes of human nature—conflating humor and horror, beauty and brutality—all the while infusing a deep sense of humanity into the complex conversations of the day.
In 2016, Scott received the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship.
Joyce J. Scott (b. 1948, Baltimore) received a BFA (1970) from the Maryland Institute College of Art, an MFA (1971) from Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Scott was named a MacArthur fellow in 2016. Recent solo museum exhibitions include: Grounds for Sculpture, NJ (2017), Fuller Craft Museum, MA (2016), MOCA Cleveland (2015), Museum of Art and Design, NYC (2014), Houston Center for Contemporary Art, (2007), Baltimore Museum of Art, MD (2000). Group museum exhibitions include: African American Museum in Philadelphia (2017), Delaware Art Museum (2016), Philadelphia Museum of Art (2015), MFA Boston (2015), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2014), among others. Public collections include: Baltimore Museum of Art, MD; Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY; Detroit Institute of the Arts, MI; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, Museum of Art and Design, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; The Smithsonian, Washington, DC; Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA; Speed Museum, Louisville, KY; Yale University, New Haven, CT, among others.
For additional information and photographic material please contact David Blum or Vlad Smolkin at [email protected], Gallery hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10am-6pm; Saturday, 11am-6pm.
