Just Above Midtown : changing spaces / edited by Thomas (T.) Jean Lax and Lilia Rocio Taboada ; in collaboration with Linda Goode Bryant ; contributions by Eric Booker, Brandon Eng, Thelma Golden, Linda Goode Bryant, Marielle Ingram, Kellie Jones, Yelena Keller, Thomas (T.) Jean Lax, Legacy Russell, Lilia Rocio Taboada.
Catalog of an exhibition of the same name held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, October 9, 2022-February 18, 2023. Artists include: Bimal Banerjee ; Dawoud Bey ; Cathey Billian ; Camille Billops ; Willie Birch ; Sydney Blum ; Rolando Briseno ; Vivian Browne ; Barbara Chase-Riboud ; Albert Chong ; Martin Cohen ; Dan Concholar ; Houston Conwill ; Blondell Cummings (with Senga Nengudi and Yasunao Tone) ; Charles Daniel Dawson ; Marcy R. Edelstein ; Wendy Ward Ehlers ; Peter Feldstein ; Tom Finkelpearl ; Howard Finster ; Susan Fitzsimmons ; David Hammons ; Maren Hassinger ; Cynthia Hawkins ; Palmer Hayden ; Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds ; Janet Olivia Henry ; Suzanne Jackson ; Walter C. Jackson ; Noah Jemison ; G. Peter Jemison ; Jasper Johns ; Nina Kuo ; Norman Lewis ; Rosemary Mayer ; Valerie Maynard ; George Mingo ; Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe ; Senga Nengudi ; Senga Nengudi (with Cheryl Banks-Smith and Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris) ; Lorraine O'Grady ; Sandra Payne ; Howardena Pindell ; Liliana Porter ; Robert Rauschenberg ; Mallica "Kapo" Reynolds ; Jorge Luis Rodriguez ; Betye Saar ; Raymond Saunders ; Coreen Simpson ; Lorna Simpson ; Russ Thompson ; Randy Williams. Includes oral histories by Horace Brockington, Gylbert Coker, Pat Cummings, Kathleen Goncharov, Maren Hassinger, Janet Olivia Henry, AC Hudgins, Senga Nengudi, Lowery Stokes Sims, Kaylynn Sullivan TwoTrees, Faythe Weaver, Tony Whitfield, and Randy Williams and chronologies by Eric Booker, Brandon Eng, Marielle Ingram, Yelena Keller, Thomas (T.) Jean Lax, Legacy Russell, Lilia Rocio Taboada.
Contents:
Director's foreword / Thelma Golden and Glenn D. Lowry -- Can JAM be JAM at MoMA?: a conversation between Linda Goode Bryant and Thelma Golden -- Up in the air / Thomas (T.) Jean Lax -- The world according to Linda Goode Bryant / Kellie Jones -- Checklist of the exhibition -- Contributors.
Summary:
Just Above Midtown, or JAM, was an art gallery and self-described laboratory for experimentation led by Linda Goode Bryant that foregrounded African American artists and artists of color. Open from 1974 to 1986, it was a place where an expansive idea of contemporary art flourished and debate was cultivated. The gallery offered early opportunities for artists recognized as pivotal figures in late-20th-century art--including David Hammons, Butch Morris, Senga Nengudi, Lorraine O'Grady and Howardena Pindell--as well as a nonhierarchical approach to art that welcomed artists without stylistic proscription. Published in conjunction with the first museum exhibition to focus on this gallery and its ongoing impact, this book showcases rarely seen material from JAM's history--artworks, ephemera and photographs--that collectively document the gallery's communal and programmatic activities. It includes essays that contextualize JAM and consider its legacy, a conversation between Goode Bryant and Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, a complete exhibition chronology written by MoMA and Studio Museum staff with nearly 50 annotated entries, and excerpts from oral histories with JAM staff and artists conducted especially for this project.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.