Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces

Lilia Rocio Taboada

ISBN 10: 1633451372 / ISBN 13: 9781633451377

Published by Museum Of Modern Art Nov 2022, 2022

About this Item

Neuware - Just Above Midtown, or JAM, was an art gallery and self-described laboratory led by Linda Goode Bryant that foregrounded African American artists and artists of color. Open from 1974 until 1986, it was a place where black art flourished and debate was cultivated. The gallery offered early opportunities for artists now recognized as pivotal figures in late-20th-century art, including David Hammons, Butch Morris, Senga Nengudi, Lorraine O'Grady, and Howardena Pindell. Published in conjunction with the first museum exhibition to focus on this extraordinary gallery, on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in Fall 2022, Just Above Midtown: 1974 to the Present showcases rarely seen material from the JAM archive of artworks, ephemera, and unique documentation of administrative and programmatic activities. The richly illustrated catalogue includes a conversation between Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem, and Linda Goode Bryant, a complete exhibition chronology with nearly 50 annotated entries, and excerpts from an oral history of JAM.

Seller Inventory # 9781633451377

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces
• Publisher: Museum Of Modern Art Nov 2022
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1633451372
• ISBN 13: 9781633451377
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 305W x 241H x 18D millimeters 305 millimeters width by 241 millimeters height by 18 millimeters depth
• Weight: 907 grams

About this title

Synopsis

An archival dive with fresh interpretations of the legendary New York gallery and cultural laboratory that catalyzed collaboration among Black artists and their counterparts of diverse backgrounds

Just Above Midtown, or JAM, was an art gallery and self-described laboratory for experimentation led by Linda Goode Bryant that foregrounded African American artists and artists of color. Open from 1974 to 1986, it was a place where an expansive idea of contemporary art flourished and debate was cultivated. The gallery offered early opportunities for artists recognized as pivotal figures in late-20th-century art―including David Hammons, Butch Morris, Senga Nengudi, Lorraine O’Grady and Howardena Pindell―as well as a nonhierarchical approach to art that welcomed artists without stylistic proscription.
Published in conjunction with the first museum exhibition to focus on this visionary gallery and its ongoing impact, Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces showcases rarely seen material from JAM’s history―artworks, ephemera and photographs―that collectively document the gallery’s communal and programmatic activities. This richly illustrated, jacketed paperback catalog includes essays that contextualize JAM and consider its legacy, a conversation between Goode Bryant and Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, a complete exhibition chronology written by MoMA and Studio Museum staff with nearly 50 annotated entries, and excerpts from oral histories with JAM staff and artists conducted especially for this project.
“I walked in and I was like, Yes! And I remember thinking, ‘I don’t care if I never show there, I’m so glad to know it exists.’ It was like it gave my brain another dimension. I had something to look to.” –Janet Olivia Henry, JAM volunteer and artist
”JAM has always been like a snowball on a hill, always gaining momentum. I’m still connected with all the things that happened there. Just Above Midtown―as much as it is a physical entity, it’s also a spiritual entity. It has never not been a part of my thinking as an artist, or a part of my life as an artist, or a part of my momentum as an artist.” –Randy Williams, artist and educator