Brenna Youngblood: abstracted realities

SEATTLE ART MUSEUM PRESENTS PRIZE-WINNER BRENNA YOUNGBLOOD’S SOLO EXHIBITION
Held for the winner of the 2015 Gwendolyn Knight | Jacob Lawrence Prize

November 13, 2015–April 17, 2016

SEATTLE, WA – Seattle Art Museum presents abstracted realities, the solo exhibition of Brenna Youngblood, winner of the 2015 Gwendolyn Knight | Jacob Lawrence Prize. Featuring eight works using photo-based collage, painting, assemblage, and sculpture, the show explores the iconography of public and private suburban experience; issues of identity, ethics, and representation; and the politics of abstraction.

“Since its inauguration in 2009, the Gwendolyn Knight | Jacob Lawrence Prize has been recognizing black artists at the forefront of contemporary art,” says Kimberly Rorschach, SAM’s Illsley Ball Nordstrom Director and CEO. “In 2013, it went to the visionary LaToya Ruby Frazier, who recently won a MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant; incredible artists such as Theaster Gates and Titus Kaphar have also received the prize. I’m thrilled to show Youngblood’s work at SAM, carrying on the legacy of the Lawrences.”

The exhibition is curated by Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chairman of Education at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Formerly, she was SAM’s Deputy Director for Education and Public Programs/Kayla Skinner Adjunct Curator for Modern and Contemporary Art.

"I selected these works by Brenna to represent her subversively critical approach to content and because of their compelling compositions,”says Jackson-Dumont. “The work is refreshingly process-based and rooted in a deep interest in abstraction, formalism, and contemporary issues.”

In addition to this solo exhibition, staged in the museum’s Gwendolyn Knight | Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Youngblood was honored with a $10,000 award to further her artistic practice. Funding for the fellowship and exhibition is provided by the Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence and Jacob Lawrence Endowment and generous support from the Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation. The exhibition is organized by the Seattle Art Museum. Additional support provided by contributors to the SAM Fund.