Kevin Beasley

Description

Kevin Beasley, artist. Kevin Beasley (b. Lynchburg, Virginia, 1985) creates sculptures and performances out of found objects of cultural and personal significance?anything from housedresses and do-rags to Air Jordan sneakers and football helmets. He combines these with polyurethane foam and resin, mashing, squeezing, or ripping them to create new, sometimes haunting forms. Sometimes he embeds audio equipment in his sculptures, making them listen or speak. Through clothing or sound, performance or sculpture, Beasley?s practice identifies the point at which concepts in apparent conflict?like past and present, sports and politics, or play and violence?begin to blur. Since earning his BFA from the College for Creative Studies, Detroit, in 2007, and his MFA from Yale University in 2012, Beasley?s work has been featured at the 2014 Whitney Biennial and in exhibitions in New York at the Museum of Modern Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; in Cleveland at the Museum of Contemporary Art; and in Los Angeles at the Hammer Museum. Beasley lives and works in Queens, New York. He is a cocreator of ALLGOLD, an artist/designer group that facilitates community and enables exploration and exchange in New York City and abroad. Beasley shares his practice in this multimedia presentation held on September 17, 2017, at the National Gallery of Art. This program is proposed and made possible by Darryl Atwell.