Bill Hodges Gallery is pleased to present our annual Summer Exhibition. This group exhibitionexemplifies the variety of works and artists within our collection and within Black artistry. The Summer Exhibition will be on view at our Chelsea location until May 29th, 2021. Artists featured in this show include Lorna Simpson (Brooklyn, NY; 1960); Adam Pendleton (Richmond, VA; 1984), Willie Cole (Newark, NJ; 1955), Jacob Lawrence (Atlantic City, NJ; 1917 - Seattle, WA; 2000); Marisol Escobar (Paris, FR; 1930 – New York, NY; 2016) and many more.
Upon entering the gallery, Adam Pendleton’s Ego Tripping, 2004 is a captivating work. On a neon-green background, Pendleton strings us across a disjointed poem, whose message of love is no less profound. While Pendleton is known mostly for his black and white works that reference topics of race and inequality, his earlier, more vivid works like Ego Tripping offer delightful variety within his oeuvre. Within the main gallery are even more vibrant works that we are thrilled to debut in this gallery space. Among them are an Untitled work on paper by Neo-African abstract expressionist Danny Simmons (New York, NY; 1953), a festive watercolor by muralist and painter Marion Greenwood (Brooklyn, NY; 1909 – Woodstock, NY; 1970) and a fantastic watercolor by Richard Dempsey (Ogden, UT; 1909 – Washington, D.C.; 1987). These works particularly embody the intoxicating energy of summer.
We are also proud to feature two works by renowned painter Jacob Lawrence in this exhibition. One is an ink on vellum work titled Hotel Astor ca. 1954, after the popular Times Square hotel. For many years, Jacob Lawrence created various advertisements for an annual ball presented by the Artists Equity Fund, Inc. On the night of May 20, 1954, the Spring Fantasia Masquerade Ball was in full swing at Hotel Astor and this was one of the advertisements used to promote this wonderful evening. This work evokes elements of glamour and mystery that basked the hotel’s magnificent ballrooms, once upon a time. Lawrence draws strobes of light from artful sconces floating above the heads of two fashionable women. In front of the women, a bald man in the throes of dance gives us his profile as he dangles a patterned cloth from his finger tips. Another exquisitely dressed woman bearing sharp, black gloves clings to the man while she is held in his embrace. Also by Lawrence is And God Created All the Beasts of the Earth¸1990 from his Genesis series based off the sermons of Reverend Adam Clayton Powell of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. A poignant peace, Lawrence portrays the origin of the world using all Black figures within the shelter of the church.
This exhibition also features works by Irene Clark (Washington, D.C.; 1927-1984); Gerald Jackson (Chicago, IL; 1936); LeRone Wilson (Harlem, NY; 1968); Alvin Hollingsworth (New York, NY; 1928 – 2000); William Villalongo (Hollywood, FL; 1975); Richard Mayhew (Amityville, NY; 1924); Joseph Kersey (Chicago, IL; 1909-Chicago, IL; 1982); Marion Greenwood (Brooklyn, NY; 1909-Kingston, NY; 1970) and Merton Simpson (Charleston, SC; 1928-New York, NY; 2013 ); Nikki Lee (Geochang-gun, SK; 1970); James Barnsley (Hamilton, ONT; 1861 – Verdun, MTL; 1929); John Tarrell Scott (New Orleans, LA; 1940-Houston, TX; 2007) and Frederick D. Jones (Raleigh, NC; 1913-Chicago, IL; 1996).