‘Diversity was a key reason why London, one of the most multicultural cities in the world, was chosen to host the Games in the bidding process.’ So claimed the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG). Basking in the afterglow and the glory of the 2012 Olympics this ‘global city’ has got a lot of mileage out of and won many plaudits for presenting ‘the world in a city’, and for championing and embracing, among other things, its racial diversity. Among the many international artists to have been exhibited in London’s major galleries over the past year, three African American artists, Theaster Gates, Rashid Johnson and Ellen Gallagher, have each had solo shows in relatively quick succession, followed this October by Kara Walker’s solo exhibition at Camden Arts Centre. This spate of exhibitions is particularly significant, as African American artists have historically rarely received such a level of attention from London’s art establishment. Therefore, these shows might be viewed not only as further proof of London’s position at the centre of an international art world but also as emblematic of the art establishment’s continued commitment to a certain form of inclusivity. However,what doesthis current attention bestowed on these African American artists tell us about the curatorial agendas of these galleries? Furthermore, such attention comes at a time when black British artists appear conspicuous by their absence from the programmes of London’s major publicly funded galleries. Therefore, has the work of African American artists become the latest means by which the art establishment can seemingly bypass the work of black British artists? How can a city which claims to embrace ‘diversity’ and which is home to the majority of the UK’s black British artists, have such an abject record of promoting them?
Gates’s ‘My Labor Is My Protest’, at White Cube (Reviews AM361) and Johnson’s ‘Shelter’,at South London Gallery (Reviews AM361)), took place in 2012 and both were the artists’ first solo shows in the UK. These exhibitions were followed this year by ‘AxME’ Gallagher’s ‘first major retrospective in the UK’, at Tate Modern (Reviews AM367). In terms of their respective artistic profile, these artists are very much in the ascendancy. None were plucked from obscurity: Gates’s White Cube exhibition followed, amongst others, his much acclaimed contribution to last year’s Documenta 13; Gallagher’s retrospective extends a long list of international exhibitions, a number of which have taken place in the UK, including most notably in 2009 her solo shows, ‘An Experiment of Unusual Opportunity’,at South London Gallery and ‘Orbus’ at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh in 2004; while Johnson’s solo exhibition at MoCA, Chicago and his feature in Parkett magazine in 2012 similarly confirm his upward trajectory in the art world. These artists’ recent UK exhibitions, therefore, appear to be both warranted but also an inevitable part of being embraced by the international art world…
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Excerpt from 'Exclusion Zone' Art onthly, October 2013 No 370