Artnoir Amplifies Black And Brown Artists, Awarding Over $300,000 To More Than 160 Creatives Of Color In 2024

Three nude women share an intimate standing pose against a lush green and blue background homage to Henri Rousseau’s exotic jungle imagery, replete with banana and pineapple flowering plants. Light pours over them, the shadows of sugarcane leaves reflecting on their skin.

We encounter the life-size subjects on the monumental canvas, Three Graces (2019), which at first glance appears serene. The vibrant scene harbors a dreadful narrative about racism, predominantly in Europe. Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist Adrienne Elise Tarver borrowed from a photo she found online depicting Black women who were exhibited in ethnological expositions or human zoos. So-called race scientists, such as population geneticists and biological anthropologists, inhumanely displayed indigenous people from mostly African countries during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Tarver subverts the exploitation of the women as human curiosities by inserting them into the predominantly white male art historical cannon. The title of the painting is deeply rooted in centuries of art history, from depictions of the Charites, three sister goddesses of beauty, grace, and charm in Greek mythology (Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia) to paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1531), Raphael (circa 1503-1505), Peter Paul Rubens (1620–1623 and 1630–1635), Sandro Botticelli (late 1470s or early 1480s), as well as many sculptures and operas.

Commuters in New York, Chicago, and Boston have been acquainted with Tarver’s work through her first solo public art exhibition, She who sits, showcasing six new works that examine and amplify the Black matriarch installed at bus stops. My writer-husband Mike was immediately drawn to Tarver’s paintings of women inspired by her personal archive as well as media archives, particularly from Ebony Magazine, and he was delighted to meet her last month at Public Art Fund Talks: Adrienne Elise Tarver, hosted by ARTNOIR x Public Art Fund.

“It’s escapism into a different reality, because there is no version of American history that is interested in the world that feels like you can easily grasp as a Black woman or take all the seats that you want to take. There’s so many things that are limited for your access,” Tarver said in conversation with Public Art Fund Assistant Curator Jenée-Daria Strand.

Mike, our son Michael, and I were overjoyed last weekend when we attended ARTNOIR’s glittery Eighth Annual Holiday Brunch Fundraiser at celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson’s spectacular Hav & Mar. All proceeds benefitted ARTNOIR’s mentorship and growth opportunities for the next generation of artists and cultural workers of color.

The community-focused event celebrated ARTNOIR’s transformative achievements – the organization’s grants and fellowship programs have awarded over $300,000 to more than 160 creatives of color – including Tarver as the inaugural Awardee of the ARTNOIR Where We Going Fellowship at STONELEAF RETREAT in the Catskill Mountains.

“This year, we really focused on expanding our global reach. We helped bring John Akomfrah’s amazing video installation to the Great Britain pavilion in Venice. We partnered with the U.S. Embassy in Paris during Art Basel Paris, and we returned to Art Basel Miami,” said Melle Hock, ARTNOIR co-founder, along with Larry Ossei-Mensah, Carolyn “CC” Concepcion, Danny Báez, Isis Arias, Jane Aiello, and Nadia Nascimento. “I know many of you were there with us at the world’s largest international art fair. And Sarah (Zapata), she just left, brought her incredible installation curated by Larry (Larry Ossei-Mensah), and an interactive element where people could sit and create with the artists and with each other, and someone who went came up to us afterwards and said, ‘you know, making is the great equalizer’. When everyone has to sit together and do something they’ve never done before, that’s when people really understand what being together in community means and feels like. So art noir also, this year, continued to support emerging artists. We partnered with Sotheby’s, SR_A, and the Black British Artist Grant (Programme) to expand our Jar of Love Fund internationally.”

From the enthusiasm of artists and art lovers at the holiday brunch, it was clear that ARTNOIR’s mission to expand the global presence of Black and Brown artists has made a profound impact that will continue to inspire and enable creative energy and output that fuels humanity. Art may evoke an array of emotions, fostering empathy and building a collective consciousness.

“A decade ago, seven friends gathered together to envision a grassroots organization to support exhibitions, curatorial and cultural initiatives in support of artists of color, at a time when the focus on that area of activity was not what it is today – thus was born ARTNOIR,” said Sean Kelly, founder of an eponymous New York art gallery. “It has been truly inspirational to watch the organization grow from its modest inception, with large goals, to the force it is today, supporting exhibitions and initiatives worldwide, from meaningful community based projects, to co-sponsoring John Akomfrah’s British Pavilion at the recent Venice Biennale. The individuals who started ARTNOIR are the same, as are its objectives. What is truly remarkable is that whilst the organization has grown in stature and influence, the founders have remained grounded, humble, and the same friends who met all those years ago with a powerful objective. ARTNOIR is a huge success and a beacon of inspiration for the art community.”