Carl E. Hazlewood is an artist, writer, and curator currently residing in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York. Hazlewood, along with

Victor Davson Victor Davson (born 1948) is a Guyanese-born artist living and working in West Orange, New Jersey. Davson is a co-founder of Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art located in Newark, New Jersey. Davson and Carl E. Hazlewood founded Aljira togethe ...

, is a co-founder of Aljira Center for Contemporary ''Art'' in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

. Hazlewood has taught at

New Jersey City University New Jersey City University (NJCU) is a public university in Jersey City, New Jersey. Originally chartered in 1927, NJCU consists of the School of Business, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, and College of Professional Studies a ...

and other institutions. Since 1984 he has organized numerous curatorial projects for Aljira such as ''Modern Life'' (co-curated with

Okwui Enwezor Okwui Enwezor (23 October 1963 – 15 March 2019) was a Nigerian curator, art critic, writer, poet, and educator, specializing in art history. Enwezor served as artistic director of several major exhibitions, including Documenta11 (2002) and th ...

). Hazlewood's project on behalf of Aljira, ''Current Identities, Recent Painting in the United States'', was the US prize-winning representation at the Bienal International de Pintura, Cuenca, Ecuador, in 1994.

Early life and education

Carl E. Hazlewood was born in

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

, South America, and later emigrated to the United States. At the age of 13 he began attending

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

, in Brooklyn, NY, and later received a BFA with honors from Pratt Institute. Later Hazlewood received a Master of Art from

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

. In addition he received a scholarship to attend Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpting, as well as the Brooklyn Museum of Art School.

Art

Hazlewood works with a number of different mediums, including modern performance installations, mixed-media, sculpture, abstract drawing, painting, photography, and digital exhibition/performance. Describing his own work, Hazlewood says:

For a culturally complex 'black' person from the Caribbean there were, inevitably, demanding questions concerning painting's relevance. As a curator and someone interested in theoretical aspects of art, it seemed necessary to take all these polemical ideas into consideration. But working now, in photography and multimedia installations, my interest is in paring down complexities to essential practical ideas; particularly those basic ones that concern the visual and establishing an assertive abstract image. New constructions are made mostly of paper, twine, canvas, and other materials attached directly to the wall. Unframed, the bounding edges are unrestricted, left free to respond to the visual 'pressures' of what happens within the piece.

Career

Hazlewood's mother was an artist, and as such, he has been around artists and has been making art for most of his life. He is currently a member of the

Brooklyn Arts Council Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) is a Brooklyn, NY-based arts non-profit that began in 1966 and has supported Brooklyn artists through grants, festivals, arts education, cultural heritage preservation, professional development, on-demand programming, a ...

, a member of

American Abstract Artists American Abstract Artists (AAA) was founded in 1937 in New York City, to promote and foster public understanding of abstract art. American Abstract Artists exhibitions, publications, and lectures helped to establish the organization as a major f ...

, an editor for '' Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art,'' at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, a contributing writer at ''Flash Art International, ART PAPERS Magazine'', and ''NY Arts Magazine.'' Hazlewood has also worked as a curator for a number of projects including work at Aljira, the not-for-profit art center he co-founded; The

Nathan Cummings Foundation The Nathan Cummings Foundation was endowed by Nathan Cummings (1896–1985), founder of Consolidated Foods, later renamed Sara Lee. Cummings was also a prominent art collector and supporter of Jewish causes. In his lifetime, Cummings made c ...

, New York;

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an African-American art museum at 144 West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Founded in 1968, the museum collects, preserves and interprets art created by African A ...

, New York;

Hallwalls Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center (aka Hallwalls) is a non-profit art organization located in Buffalo, New York. Since 1974, Hallwalls has shown and shows the work of contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds who work in film, video, literatu ...

, New York;

Artists Space Artists Space is a non-profit art gallery and arts organization first established at 155 Wooster Street in SoHo, Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1972 by Irving Sandler and Trudie Grace and funded by the New York State Council on the Arts ...

, New York; and P.S.122, New York.

Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art

Hazlewood with

co-founded Aljira, a not-for-profit contemporary visual art center, in 1983, to promote the work of emerging and under-represented artists. Aljira is located in downtown Newark, New Jersey, and has been designated by the New Jersey Council on the Arts as a Major Arts Organization.

Honors and awards

Hazlewood has earned many accolades for his work. Listed below are some of his most significant recognitions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hazlewood, Carl E Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American art curators Brooklyn Museum Hunter College alumni Pratt Institute alumni Culture of Newark, New Jersey