Co-presented by The FLAG Art Foundation and The Church, Strike Fast, Dance Lightly: Artists on Boxing explores the physicality, psychology, and spectacle depicted in images of boxing throughout art history. Developed in tandem and curated independently at each institution, the exhibitions feature over 100 historical, modern, and contemporary artworks, as well as newly commissioned pieces and boxing-related ephemera, all of which underscore boxing's expansive influence on culture.
Highlights at FLAG include one of the earliest moving images, The boxing cats (Prof. Welton's), 1894, featuring trained boxing gloved cats for Henry Welton's cat circus, produced by Thomas Edison; Eadweard Muybridge's frame by frame cinematic portrait of boxers from the 19c; Jeffrey Gibson's beaded punching bags inspired by Native American powwow dancers and queer history; Vincent Valdez's painting series capturing the legacy and influence of Muhammad Ali, as seen through the eyes of a prominent range of mourners speaking at his funeral; Paul Pfeiffer's surreal video work of seemingly invisible blows pummeling a lone boxer; and Dana Hoey's video installation of a pared-down boxing match between two women focused on endurance. Portraits of boxers include Edward Hopper's watercolor and pencil image of a contemplative boxer pre-fight from 1899-1906, George Bellows's 20thc high drama action paintings focused on the physicality of the fight, Malick Sidibe's studio and boxing ring photographs of Mali's postcolonial youth culture, Curran Hatleberg's photographs of street scenes of childhood boxing pageantry in the American south, Katherine Bradford's exuberant painting depicting boxers in a tender embrace, and much more.
Artists on view at FLAG, curated by Director Jonathan Rider, include: John Ahearn, Benny Andrews, Alvin Armstrong, George Bellows, Amoako Boafo, Andrea Bowers, Katherine Bradford, Amy Bravo, Thomas Edison with William K. L. Dickson and Wilhelm Heise, Rosalyn Drexler, Angela Dufresne, Jeffrey Gibson, Chase Hall, Curran Hatleberg, Reggie Burrows Hodges, Thomas Hoepker, Dana Hoey, Edward Hopper, Justine Kurland, Kresiah Mukwazhi, Christian Marclay, Wardell Milan, Eadweard Muybridge, Paul Pfeiffer, Cheryl Pope, Elliot Purse, Caleb Hahne Quintana, Ed Ruscha, Malick Sidibe, Vincent Valdez, Carrie Mae Weems, and Yvonne Wells.
Artists on view at The Church, curated by Co-Founder Eric Fischl and Chief Curator Sara Cochran, include: Derrick Adams, Vito Acconci, Diane Arbus, Peter Blake, Miguel Rio Branco, Zoë Buckman, Jim Campbell, Gloria Carcamo, Cassils, Michael Combs, Paul Davis, Carroll Dunham, Fab 5 Freddy, Jules Feiffer, Eric Fischl, Barry Flanagan, Jeffrey Gibson, Ralph Gibson, Michael Halsband, Lyle Ashton Harris, Virva Hinnemo, Lonnie Holley, Judith Hudson, Rashid Johnson, Howard Kanowitz, William King, Martin Kippenberger, Ansel Krut, Stephen Laub, Glenn Ligon, An Te Liu, Robert Mapplethorpe, Delilah Montoya, George Negroponte, LeRoy Neiman, Ed Paschke, Howardena Pindell, Platon, Paul Pfeiffer, David Rathman, Deborah Roberts, Ellington Robinson, Carlos Rolón, Rozeal, Alison Saar, David Seltzer, Ushio Shinohara, Jeanne Silverthorne, Gary Simmons, Emily Squires, Kathy Sherman Suder, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Charles Waller, Carrie Mae Weems, Darius Yektai and Joe Zucker.
Press release courtesy The FLAG Art Foundation.
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