J Mask by Joseph “JD” Green, 2022.
What gaps exist in the modern art marketplace? Which artists are overlooked, and why? Who are these artists and where do they come from? And finally, which contemporary art venues are enabling these voices to be heard?
Join CE for a panel at Art Market SF to learn the answers to these and many more provocative questions about the artistic contributions of people with disabilities, who are rightly taking space in today’s modern art marketplace.
Beyond private folk art collections, art by people with developmental disabilities is now more commonly found in museum collections, gallery showrooms, architecture and interiors projects, collaborative commercial products, auction houses, and even large-scale public art installations. Studios like CE have been at the forefront of a movement to promote the work of disabled artists and raise their status as art world influencers, and are often described as magical laboratories for aesthetic exploration. Other artists are magnetically drawn to what happens in our studios, and as a result, the art market is increasingly taking notice!
In celebration of our 40th anniversary working in tandem with the Bay Area professional arts community, this panel will acknowledge the patrons who helped artists with developmental disabilities take their rightful space in different aspects of the art market, as well as evaluate other ways developmentally disabled people can influence society at large through their creativity. Joining the discussion will be prominent representatives from the professional arts community who will further assess how to make space for this work, and in turn, make the art marketplace more inclusive.
Note: You must have a ticket to Art Market SF in order to attend the panel. Buy tickets ▸
Panelists
Based in San Francisco, artist Alexander Hernandez, was originally born in Huajuapan de Leon Oaxaca, Mexico, and raised in Grand Junction, Colorado. His practice is mixed-media in nature with a concentration in textiles. His work explores the intersectional identities of the immigrant experience, queer sensibilities, gender expectations, and HIV+ survival. In 2007 he earned his BFA in Painting and Drawing from Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design in Denver, CO and his MFA in Studio Art in 2012 from California College of the Arts in San Francisco. He has participated in a variety of art residencies including Mass Moca in North Adams, MA; SJ Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA; Root Division in San Francisco; Elsewhere Museum in Greensboro, NC; Mark Rothko Art Center in Latvia; the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT; ACME in Steuben, Wisconsin; and recently finished a residency at the New Museum Los Gatos, Los Gatos, CA.
Jonathan Carver Moore is a contemporary art gallery that specializes in working with emerging and established artists who are BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and women. As the only openly gay Black male owned gallery in San Francisco, Jonathan is committed to amplifying the voices of the often underrepresented artists through a Black queer lens. Jonathan has a BA in Sociology with a minor in Women’s Studies, as well as a Master’s in PR from The George Washington University. He is an active member in the Bay Area arts community. He is the Development Chair at Root Division, a visual arts non-profit. Jonathan is also on the Advisory Council at Black [Space] Residency, a residency program for Black creatives, curators and writers. He has interviewed artist and social activist, Zanele Muholi for Frieze Magazine, in addition to Head of Sales, Modern & Contemporary African Art at Bonhams, Helene Love-Allotey for ARTUCATED.
Carin Adams is Curator of Art at the Oakland Museum of California. Her work at the museum is focussed on the intersection of contemporary art, craft, and the diverse cultural communities of Oakland. She led the 2016 exhibition Yo–Yos & Half Squares: Contemporary California Quilts, which featured the work of Rosie Lee Tompkins alongside other San Francisco Bay Area quilters from the Eli Leon Collection. More recent projects include the re-installation of Mildred Howard’s immersive artwork Tap: Investigation of Memory and the special exhibition Hella Feminist. Her upcoming exhibition Into the Brightness will celebrate the artists of Creative Growth Art Center, Creativity Explored, and NIAD Art Center.