Overview

In Grime, Glitter, and Glass, Nikki A. Greene examines how contemporary Black visual artists use sonic elements to refigure the formal and philosophical developments of Black art and culture. Focusing on the multimedia art of Renée Stout, Radcliffe Bailey, and María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Greene traces the intersection of the visual’s sonic possibilities with the Black body’s physical, representational, and metaphorical use in art. She employs her concept of “visual aesthetic musicality” to interpret Black visual art by examining the musical genres of jazz and rap, along with the often-overlooked innovations of funk and rumba, within art historiography. From Bailey’s use of multilayered surfaces of glitter, mud, and recycled materials to meditate on Sun Ra’s Afrofuturism to Stout’s life-size cast of her own body that recalls funk musician Betty Davis to Campos-Pons’s performative and sculptural references to sugar that resonate with the legacy of Celia Cruz, Greene outlines how these artists use mediums such as molded glass sculptures, viscous wet plaster, and dazzling mannequin heads to enhance the manifestations of Black identity. By foregrounding the sonic elements of their work, Greene demonstrates that these artists use sound to make themselves legible, recognizable, and audible.

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9781478026341

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Reviews

“Nikki A. Greene’s sonic linking of Renée Stout, Radcliffe Bailey, and María Magdalena Campos-Pons through the visual marks an important theoretical intervention and makes connections across the African diasporic world. Grime, Glitter, and Glass makes a remarkable contribution to the history of art.” -- Kellie Jones, author of * South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s * “This groundbreaking book will expand how we look at contemporary art and artists who use the archive in multiple ways. Nikki A. Greene compellingly illuminates the commitment Renée Stout, Radcliffe Bailey, and María Magdalena Campos-Pons have to African American materials, expressive, and sonic culture. Grime, Glitter, and Glass will appeal to numerous audiences, from art historians and artists to general readers. This important book will have a lasting impact.” -- Deborah Willis, author of * The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship *

Author Information

Nikki A. Greene is Associate Professor of Art History at Wellesley College.

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