KEVIN BEASLEY's guest appearances

KEVIN BEASLEY

Hood Grown Aesthetic

Time Sensitive

Kingdom Effect

Siri Hustvedt

Jancis Robinson

Eddie Stern

Rosanne Cash

David Broza

Eileen Fisher

Daniel Boulud

Nathan Myhrvold

Dan Barber

Tony Fadell

Michael Murphy

Sophia Chang

Debbie Millman

Maira Kalman

Paola Antonelli

OwlTail

Every man has the question deep in his heart, "Do I have what it takes?" Adventure is one of the keys to unlock the answer to that question.On this episode, Glen and Kevin discuss why both adventure and solitude are important for men. 

Every man has the question deep in his heart, "Do I have what it takes?"  Adventure is one of the keys to unlock the answer to that question. On this episode, Glen and Kevin discuss why both adventure and solitude are important for men.

Why Adventure is Important to Manhood with Kevin Beasley

Kevin Beasley thinks a lot about objects. In particular, specific objects that relate to notions of American-ness and Blackness—and ones that are often linked, subtly or not, with violence. Whether with a Cadillac Escalade, a pair of Air Jordans, or an N.F.L. helmet, Beasley finds deep connections to each item he chooses to work with, rigorously studying their multifarious contexts, meanings, and histories. Happy to let artifacts sit in his New York studio for long periods of time, the 36-year-old artist allows them to slowly gestate in his mind until he feels ready to express whatever he has deciphered out of their nature. From there, he turns them into exquisite, alchemical works of art, from tightly packed “slab” sculptures—large, flat resin blocks that embody the density of the symbolic articles that comprise them—to evocative sound installations and performances. Beasley’s prolonged approach isn’t mere research; it’s his way of making space to reflect, to pay more attention, and to grapple with the nuances of the complex, loaded subject matter that’s embedded in many of the things that permeate our everyday lives. For Beasley, unpacking subjects charged with underlying connotations is a necessary means for transformation. “You don’t have to fully understand what it is you’re dealing with,” he says. “It takes time. It takes a revisitation. And that’s okay, because that speaks very specifically to a process of learning and understanding.”Beasley’s work often draws from his personal history, which has included growing up in admiration of the handiwork of his mechanic father, deejaying at house parties at Yale University, and attending annual family reunions in rural Virginia. It was at one such reunion, in 2011, when Beasley came across a cotton field and picked the plant for the first time—an eerie experience that was, as he considered his ancestors and enslaved peoples who once performed the act, all at once distressing, pleasurable, haunting, and illuminating. The following year, Beasley took his fascination with cotton further—and into the deep South. After finding and purchasing a mid-20th-century cotton gin motor on eBay, he drove from New Haven, Connecticut, to a farm in rural Alabama to collect the object. Beginning as part of an M.F.A. project at Yale, the motor would later evolve into an encased artwork, whirling and surrounded by microphones, inside a pristine, clear, soundproof box at the Whitney Museum of American Art—the potent centerpiece of the artist’s breakout exhibition “A View of a Landscape” (2018–2019). (The raw, rancorous noises the motor produced were pumped into an adjacent room that served as a listening gallery.) Later this year, Beasley will extend the project further with a monograph and double LP of the same name, which features sound contributions from artists, musicians, and writers such as Kelsey Lu, Jason Moran, and Fred Moten, whose tracks sample recordings that Beasley made of the churning machine.On this episode, Beasley talks with Spencer about contemplating these particular objects, sound as a means for greater understanding, and the role of repetition in reshaping history.

Kevin Beasley thinks a lot about objects. In particular, specific objects that relate to notions of American-ness and Blackness—and ones that are often linked, subtly or not, with violence. Whether with a Cadillac Escalade, a pair of Air Jordans, or an N.F.L. helmet, Beasley finds deep connections to each item he chooses to work with, rigorously studying their multifarious contexts, meanings, and histories. Happy to let artifacts sit in his New York studio for long periods of time, the 36-year-old artist allows them to slowly gestate in his mind until he feels ready to express whatever he has deciphered out of their nature. From there, he turns them into exquisite, alchemical works of art, from tightly packed “slab” sculptures—large, flat resin blocks that embody the density of the symbolic articles that comprise them—to evocative sound installations and performances. Beasley’s prolonged approach isn’t mere research; it’s his way of making space to reflect, to pay more attention, and to grapple with the nuances of the complex, loaded subject matter that’s embedded in many of the things that permeate our everyday lives. For Beasley, unpacking subjects charged with underlying connotations is a necessary means for transformation. “You don’t have to fully understand what it is you’re dealing with,” he says. “It takes time. It takes a revisitation. And that’s okay, because that speaks very specifically to a process of learning and understanding.”Beasley’s work often draws from his personal history, which has included growing up in admiration of the handiwork of his mechanic father, deejaying at house parties at Yale University, and attending annual family reunions in rural Virginia. It was at one such reunion, in 2011, when Beasley came across a cotton field and picked the plant for the first time—an eerie experience that was, as he considered his ancestors and enslaved peoples who once performed the act, all at once distressing, pleasurable, haunting, and illuminating. The following year, Beasley took his fascination with cotton further—and into the deep South. After finding and purchasing a mid-20th-century cotton gin motor on eBay, he drove from New Haven, Connecticut, to a farm in rural Alabama to collect the object. Beginning as part of an M.F.A. project at Yale, the motor would later evolve into an encased artwork, whirling and surrounded by microphones, inside a pristine, clear, soundproof box at the Whitney Museum of American Art—the potent centerpiece of the artist’s breakout exhibition “A View of a Landscape” (2018–2019). (The raw, rancorous noises the motor produced were pumped into an adjacent room that served as a listening gallery.) Later this year, Beasley will extend the project further with a monograph and double LP of the same name, which features sound contributions from artists, musicians, and writers such as Kelsey Lu, Jason Moran, and Fred Moten, whose tracks sample recordings that Beasley made of the churning machine.On this episode, Beasley talks with Spencer about contemplating these particular objects, sound as a means for greater understanding, and the role of repetition in reshaping history.

Kevin Beasley on Confronting the Social and Cultural Underlayers of Objects

KEVIN BEASLEYInstitute of Contemporary ArtMAY 9 – AUG 26, 2018http://www.artbook.com/blog-kevin-beasley.html http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2018/05/22/ica-kevin-beasley-alchemizes-dark-histories/B63n1MyuPohQUsc5tpYgcK/story.html https://hyperallergic.com/373119/st-peters-basilica-meets-the-black-panthers-in-a-contemporary-altarpiece/One of the most exciting artists to emerge in recent years, New York–based Kevin Beasley (b. 1985, Lynchburg, VA) uniquely combines sound and clothing—his core artistic materials—in stunning, densely packed sculptures and immersive acoustic experiences. This exhibition, his first in Boston, will present a selection of the artist’s sculptures made over the past five years.Beasley’s early works harnessed the physical qualities of sound, deploying vibrations and echoes that penetrate the bodies of both performers and audience. He has embedded microphones and other electronic musical equipment in sculptures made of sneakers and foam, manipulating their sonic possibilities in his live performances. Found objects and clothing, often the artist’s own, are central in Beasley’s diverse sculptural work, ranging from compositions of shredded t-shirts and hoodies to fitted hats, do-rags, and basketball jerseys. More recent works are constructed from colorfully patterned housedresses stiffened with resin that stand on the floor and protrude from the walls, at times hardened over sound-baffling foam panels or concave forms that Beasley refers to as “acoustic mirrors.” Appearing like satellite dishes or clusters of ghostly figures, these works become conduits for absent bodies and histories that the artist evokes through color, pattern, and texture. Rather than contrasting the materiality of objects to the immateriality of music and performance, as is so often the case, Beasley forges strong affinities between the physical and the aural in his multidisciplinary practice.In the spirit of artists Noah Purifoy and David Hammons, Beasley improvises upon the legacy of their work to highlight the importance of personal memory and to explore how lived experience intersects with broader examinations of power and race in America. In a recent installation at The Renaissance Society in Chicago, Your Face Is/Is Not Enough, 2016, the artist transformed police-issue riot gear into a carnivalesque installation that was activated by the breath of performers. His 2017 exhibition at Los Angeles’s Hammer Museum featured a single, large-scale installation, Chair of the Ministers of Defense, 2016, that merged imagery from a Baroque altar and an iconic photograph of Black Panther Party cofounder Huey P. Newton to consider—and reformulate—expressions of power for today. Through such multifaceted and visually commanding works, Beasley has proved himself to be among the most significant young artists working today.ICA INFO 25 Harbor Shore DriveBoston MA 02210 ICA HOURS Tuesday + Wednesday: 10 AM – 5 PMThursday + Friday*: 10 AM – 9 PM*First Friday of every month: 10 AM – 5 PMSaturday + Sunday: 10 AM – 5 PMGeneral Admission: $15Seniors (60+): $13Students with ID: $10Youth 17 and under: FREEAdmission is FREE for all every Thursday from 5 to 9 PM during ICA Free Thursday Nights. The last Saturday of the month (except December), admission is FREE for up to two adults accompanied by children 12 and under during Play Dates.*The first Friday of every month, the ICA is open to First Fridays ticket-holders only from 5 to 10 PM. Admission to First Fridays is free for members/$15 for non members and includes gallery access. This event is 21+. Additional discounted rates:American Federation of Teachers: $8EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer): FREE for one person – please note children 17 and under are always freeMTA (Massachusetts Teachers Association): $8Discount passes also available at select area libraries

KEVIN BEASLEY Institute of Contemporary Art MAY 9 – AUG 26, 2018 <a href="http://www.artbook.com/blog-kevin-beasley.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.artbook.com/blog-kevin-beasley.html</a> <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2018/05/22/ica-kevin-beasley-alchemizes-dark-histories/B63n1MyuPohQUsc5tpYgcK/story.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2018/05/22/ica-kevin-beasley-alchemizes-dark-histories/B63n1MyuPohQUsc5tpYgcK/story.html</a> <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/373119/st-peters-basilica-meets-the-black-panthers-in-a-contemporary-altarpiece/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://hyperallergic.com/373119/st-peters-basilica-meets-the-black-panthers-in-a-contemporary-altarpiece/</a> One of the most exciting artists to emerge in recent years, New York–based Kevin Beasley (b. 1985, Lynchburg, VA) uniquely combines sound and clothing—his core artistic materials—in stunning, densely packed sculptures and immersive acoustic experiences. This exhibition, his first in Boston, will present a selection of the artist’s sculptures made over the past five years. Beasley’s early works harnessed the physical qualities of sound, deploying vibrations and echoes that penetrate the bodies of both performers and audience. He has embedded microphones and other electronic musical equipment in sculptures made of sneakers and foam, manipulating their sonic possibilities in his live performances. Found objects and clothing, often the artist’s own, are central in Beasley’s diverse sculptural work, ranging from compositions of shredded t-shirts and hoodies to fitted hats, do-rags, and basketball jerseys. More recent works are constructed from colorfully patterned housedresses stiffened with resin that stand on the floor and protrude from the walls, at times hardened over sound-baffling foam panels or concave forms that Beasley refers to as “acoustic mirrors.” Appearing like satellite dishes or clusters of ghostly figures, these works become conduits for absent bodies and histories that the artist evokes through color, pattern, and texture. Rather than contrasting the materiality of objects to the immateriality of music and performance, as is so often the case, Beasley forges strong affinities between the physical and the aural in his multidisciplinary practice. In the spirit of artists Noah Purifoy and David Hammons, Beasley improvises upon the legacy of their work to highlight the importance of personal memory and to explore how lived experience intersects with broader examinations of power and race in America. In a recent installation at The Renaissance Society in Chicago, Your Face Is/Is Not Enough, 2016, the artist transformed police-issue riot gear into a carnivalesque installation that was activated by the breath of performers. His 2017 exhibition at Los Angeles’s Hammer Museum featured a single, large-scale installation, Chair of the Ministers of Defense, 2016, that merged imagery from a Baroque altar and an iconic photograph of Black Panther Party cofounder Huey P. Newton to consider—and reformulate—expressions of power for today. Through such multifaceted and visually commanding works, Beasley has proved himself to be among the most significant young artists working today. ICA INFO 25 Harbor Shore Drive Boston MA 02210 ICA HOURS Tuesday + Wednesday: 10 AM – 5 PM Thursday + Friday*: 10 AM – 9 PM *First Friday of every month: 10 AM – 5 PM Saturday + Sunday: 10 AM – 5 PM General Admission: $15 Seniors (60+): $13 Students with ID: $10 Youth 17 and under: FREE Admission is FREE for all every Thursday from 5 to 9 PM during ICA Free Thursday Nights. The last Saturday of the month (except December), admission is FREE for up to two adults accompanied by children 12 and under during Play Dates.* The first Friday of every month, the ICA is open to First Fridays ticket-holders only from 5 to 10 PM. Admission to First Fridays is free for members/$15 for non members and includes gallery access. This event is 21+. Additional discounted rates: American Federation of Teachers: $8 EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer): FREE for one person – please note children 17 and under are always free MTA (Massachusetts Teachers Association): $8 Discount passes also available at select area libraries

white wall review: KEVIN BEASLEY