The exhibition 'In Context' examines the multicolored threads which helped weave the complex and vibrant 50-year career of Betye Saar. Participating artists who worked before, alongside or after Saar are shown in the context of her works, responding to her signature thematics of "found object Assemblage, socially charged imagery, or works of metaphysical focus."
Part scavenger, part conjurer, part DJ, part prophet, Saar turns life into materials and materials into art. In a poem, Saar said of her work: "Symbols, images, place and cultures merge. Time slips away." Thus in this exhibition, time is irrelevant as thematics and aesthetics dictate the content and the message. Boundaries crumble and categories jumble in Saar's works as well as the exhibition.
'In Context' will feature the work of Radcliffe Bailey, Romare Bearden, Hannelore Baron, Hans Burkhardt, Joseph Cornell, Dale Brockman Davis, David Hammons, George Herms, Sola Irene, Ed Kienholz, Kyle Leeser, Maddy Leeser, Michael C. McMillen, Demetrius Oliver, John Outterbridge, Man Ray, Alison Saar, Betye Saar, Lezley Saar, Kiki Smith, Gordon Wagner and Hank Willis Thomas.
The exhibition will show at Roberts & Tilton until December 17.
Check out HuffPost Arts correspondent Andrew Reilly interviewing Bennett Roberts at Art Basel:
