Kevin Beasley (born 1985

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner and Abolitionism, abolitionist John Lynch (1740–1820), J ...

) is an American artist working in sculpture,

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

, and

sound installation Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary time-based medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBell ...

. He lives and works in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Beasley was included in the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

Biennial Biennial means (an event) lasting for two years or occurring every two years. The related term biennium is used in reference to a period of two years. In particular, it can refer to: * Biennial plant, a plant which blooms in its second year and t ...

in 2014 and

MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution at 2201 Jackson Avenue in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City, United States. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...

's Greater New York exhibition in 2015.

Education and early life

Kevin Beasley was born in

. He received a BFA from the

College for Creative Studies The College for Creative Studies (CCS) is a private art school in Detroit, Michigan. It enrolls more than 1,400 students and focuses on arts education. The college is also active in offering art education to children through its Community Arts ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

in 2007 and an MFA from

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

in 2012.

Work

Beasley is known for sculpture that incorporates found materials - especially clothing - and casting materials like resin and foam. While these materials cure or set into their final state, Beasley works them with his body, a process that points to his interest in sculpture that traces of the artist's body while retaining a bodily, fleshy quality of its own. Many of his sculptures also contain audio equipment or are used in sound-based installations or performances.

Notable exhibitions

Beasley was included in the

's 2014

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

. Beasley created a site-specific installation consisting of several sculptures with embedded microphones to pick up the ambient signs of the Biennial and its visitors. The sculptures incorporated sneakers and cast plastics, common materials in Beasley's work. Beasley was also included in the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

's 2014-15 exhibition ''Cut to Swipe'', which focused on electronic and new media works. In 2015, the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

included two works by Beasley in the exhibition ''Storylines: Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim.'' ''Strange Fruit: Part I'' and ''Strange Fruit: Part II'' are assemblages of shoes and other found materials with embedded microphones and speakers that reflect ambient sound back to museum visitors. The reference to the iconic protest song "

Strange Fruit "Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol (under his pseudonym Lewis Allan) and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song Protest song, protests the Lynch ...

" and the use of

Air Jordan Air Jordan is a line of basketball and sportswear shoes produced by Nike, Inc. Related apparel and accessories are marketed under Jordan Brand. The first Air Jordan shoe was produced for basketball player Michael Jordan during his time with t ...

s in the sculpture point not only to the bodies of the visitors, but to Black bodies throughout history. ''Strange Fruit: Part I'' and ''Strange Fruit: Part II'' were commissioned by the Young Collector's Council of the

for ''Storylines'' and are now part of the museum's collection. Beasley participated in the

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 ...

's 2014 exhibition ''Material Histories'' at the culmination of an 11 month residency at the museum from 2013-14. ''Material Histories'' showcased work by Beasley and two other

artists-in-residence Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...

during the same period. Beasley's solo exhibition, "A view of a landscape", is currently on view at the

from Dec 15, 2018–Mar 10, 2019. It is his first solo exhibit at a New York museum. The exhibition features an immersive installation that centers around a

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

motor from

Maplesville, Alabama Maplesville is a town in Chilton County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 637. It is located approximately halfway between Tuscaloosa and Montgomery on U.S. Route 82. History Old Maplesville The town of Map ...

and the history of his family's land in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...

. The installation focuses on the sensorial, through the visual and auditory distillation of the cotton gin throughout the space. In addition, a series of live performances (solo and collaborative) and talks are programmed throughout the run of the exhibition.

Performances

Beasley is also known for his performance work, in which he often uses his sculptures to produce live sound. For a performance during the 2014

, Beasley "played" several of his sculptures by touching and moving them around the gallery. The sounds made by his body and the materials of the sculptures were captured by microphones embedded in the sculptures and amplified by speakers for the audience. Beasley also performs sound art without sculpture - in 2012 he performed ''I Want My Spot Back'' in the Atrium of the

- a piece consisting only of a capella clips of deceased 1990's era rappers, mixed and amplified by Beasley live. Over the course of his 2018-2019 solo exhibition, "A view of a landscape" at

the Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, Beasley features live performances with: Taja Cheek,

Eli Keszler Eli Keszler is an American percussionist, composer, and visual artist based in New York City. Known for his complex and intricate style of drumming, as well creating sound installations involving piano wire and other mechanisms to accompany his li ...

Jlin Jerrilynn Patton (born July 30, 1987), known as Jlin, is an electronic musician. She began producing music in 2008 and received early attention for her 2011 track "Erotic Heat". Jlin's debut album, ''Dark Energy'', was released in 2015 to criti ...

, and himself. The cotton gin serves an instrument in the performances, where artists are able to manipulate and process its sounds into live compositions. Commissioned by

Performa The Macintosh Performa is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1992 to 1997. The Performa brand re-used models from Apple's Quadra, Centris, LC, Classic, and Power Macintosh families ...

for Performa 21, Beasley create
''The Sound of Morning''
(2021). With sculptures made by using everyday objects and materials, performers, and mics that magnify noise, Beasley combined sculpture, sound, performance, and site specificity for this work.

Collections

Pérez Art Museum Miami Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Maurice A. Ferré Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Cent ...

* The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum *

The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, and includes over 200,000 works of arc ...

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
*

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the A ...

Albright-Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum located adjacent to Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York, United States. The museum shows modern art and contemporary art. It is directly opposite Buff ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beasley, Kevin 1985 births Living people People from Lynchburg, Virginia Artists from New York City Artists from Virginia 21st-century American male artists 21st-century African-American artists