Essay by Bridget R. Cooks
Foreword by Camille Mary Weiner
Betye Saar’s preoccupation with language — its curiosity and chaos, the slippages of its formal presentation, its use and its absence — resists convention. It informs the mystical, the spiritual, and the familiar; paradoxically, this is none more evident than in her work not featuring text. A two-part survey, Black White and Blend address how color imparts meaning dependent on social context and determined by historical moment.

This catalogue accompanies Betye Saar’s exhibitions Black White (September 10 – December 17, 2016) and Blend (October 15 – December 17, 2016) at Roberts Projects (formerly Roberts & Tilton), Los Angeles, California.