COLLECTIVE CONSTELLATION: SELECTIONS FROM THE EILEEN HARRIS NORTON COLLECTION

Art + Practice and the Hammer Museum present Collective Constellation: Selections from The Eileen Harris Norton Collection.

Collective Constellation features a selection of artworks by women of color from the personal art collection of philanthropist, art collector and Art + Practice co-founder, Eileen Harris Norton. With an initial emphasis on young, Los Angeles-based artists, Harris Norton has been collecting contemporary art and supporting artists for more than three decades. Her interest in collecting was sparked after encountering and acquiring a self-portrait by artist and arts advocate Ruth Waddy in 1986.

Collective Constellation seeks to highlight an intergenerational, multi-ethnic and transnational group of trailblazing artists who have profoundly impacted the landscape of contemporary art. A constellation is a gathering of individual stars whose shared mass forms a shape. Collective Constellation brings together a unique group of artworks in order to display the critical contributions women of color have made within the ever-evolving landscape of contemporary art.

The exhibition highlights a range of works, shared feminist practices, art techniques and movements, political and social issues and the notion of diaspora and addresses topics such as spirituality, domestic life, memory and historical trauma, the body, intimacy, power dynamics and violence towards women.

With works ranging from painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, video, and installation, artists include Belkis Ayón, Sadie Barnette, Carolyn Castaño, Nzuji De Magalhaes, Renée Green, Mona Hatoum, Varnette Honeywood, Samella Lewis, Julie Mehretu, Ana Mendieta, Beatriz Milhazes, Wangechi Mutu, Shirin Neshat, Lorraine O’Grady, Adrian Piper, Betye Saar, Alison Saar, Doris Salcedo, Amy Sherald, Lorna Simpson, Ruth Waddy, Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and Brenna Youngblood.

Each of the artworks are powerful on their own as bold statements of artistic identity. Together they reveal a biography of their collector and offer a deeper look into the vast creative production of women of color.

The exhibition extends into the A+P Project Room with an interactive installation entitled FAMILY STYLE by exhibiting artist Sadie Barnette.

Collective Constellation: Selections from The Eileen Harris Norton Collection will be on view at Art + Practice February 8 through January 2, 2021. This exhibition is co-organized by Art + Practice and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. The exhibition is organized by the Hammer Museum associate curator Erin Christovale.