Shade – Details, episodes & analysis

Donald Rodney (b. 1961, West Bromwich; d. 1998, London) worked across sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, and digital media, experimenting with new materials and technologies throughout his life. His work is known for being incisive, acerbic, and evocative in its analysis of the prejudices and injustices surrounding racial identity, Black masculinity, chronic illness, and Britain's colonial past. Rodney was also co-founding member of the BLK Art Group: an association of young Black artists formed in Wolverhampton in 1982.

Visceral Canker is the major survey of the artist’s work at Spike Island, bringing together all of Rodney's surviving works. This includes large-scale oil pastels on X-rays, kinetic and animatronic sculptures, and restaged installations, as well as sketchbooks and rare archive materials, spanning 1982 to 1997. Also on display is Autoicon (1997–2000), an interactive digital artwork initiated by Rodney and finalised by a group of his close friends after he died from sickle cell anaemia in 1998. The exhibition is curated by Robert Leckie, Spike Island’s former Director, and Nicole Yip - the gallery’s new director. Today, I am joined by both Nicole and Robert, to discuss the life and work of Donald Rodney, the ambitions of the exhibition and the complexities involved in interpreting an artist’s work once they are no longer with us. The exhibition will tour at Nottingham Contemporary from 28 September 2024 to 5 January 2025 and at Whitechapel Gallery from 12 February to 18 May 2025.

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Shade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou Mensah

Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson

Edit & Mix by Mae-Li Evans

Editorial support from Anne Kimunguyi

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Enjoy our special episode from the exhibition When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting at Kunstmuseum in Basel recorded by Anne Kimunguyi. Many of you know Anne from her Shade Art Review. features.

Our guest is Head of Contemporary Art at Kunstmuseum Basel, Maja Wismer. As part of her role, she specialises in art of the late 20th and early 21st century, having previously held the role of Curatorial Fellow at the Busch Reisinger Museum of the Harvard Art Museums. Based at the Kunstmuseum, her previous work has seen the realisation of the exhibition ‘Kara Walker. A Black Hole is Everything a Star Longs to be’, as well as projects involving the move of the works of Joseph Beuys from the newly created space – Museum fur Gegenwarsknust, a museum dedicated exclusively to contemporary art in 1980. 

Please help save our independent podcast by donating £5 here

Read Shade Art Review 

Shade Art Review Series 11 | 20% discount code

Shade Podcast Instagram

Shade Podcast Website

Shade Podcast is Executive produced and hosted by Lou Mensah

Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson

Edit & Mix by Mae-Li Evans

Editorial support from Anne Kimunguyi

Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the final episode in my seven part, end of year series! Inspired by the Black radical tradition of the harmony between the lyrical and visual, I am joined by friends to explore the musical influences that inspire their work. We also look to the people, real and imagined, familial and ancestral who guide them.

Cynthia is a costume designer, whose work you will have seen in successful British films, like the recent Rye Lane directed by Raine Allen-Miller. Cynthia's currently showing work at Somerset House in London as part of the exhibition Missing Thread, which charts the shifting landscape of Black British culture and the unique contribution it's made to Britain's design history. Our friendship began in the early 2000s, when we worked together in my capacity as a photographer.

It was Cynthia's generosity of ideas and her unique approach to design that inspired me and makes her one of the most revered costume designers today. Cynthia and I sneaked in a super quick, ten minute conversation whilst she was on set last week. She shares her musical influences and talks about how music is the foundation of her design for all of her characters.

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ENJOY!

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Missing Thread Exhibition Somerset House

Cynthia Lawrence John Agent

Cynthia Lawrence John Instagram

This series was produced and hosted by Lou Mensah

Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson

Mixing by Tess Davidson

Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the penultimate episode in this Christmas series of conversations. Inspired by the Black radical tradition of the harmony between the lyrical and visual, I am joined by friends artists to explore the musical influences that inspire their work. We also look to the people, real and imagined, familial and ancestral who guide them.

Rashod Taylor is a Missouri-based photographer whose photographs are a window into the Black American experience. His work uses portraiture to address themes of family, race, culture, and legacy. Rashod is most recognised for his Little Black Boy series, an ongoing project featuring his son, which earned him an Arnold Newman Prize. His work is actively collected by the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and has been featured in publications including National Geographic, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Forbes, and many more. His photographs embody a communing of influences from the past, present, and future, he says ”I tell the story of my family history and my story, in my son's story.” Our conversation begins with Rashod telling us about the influence of negro spiritual songs on his work.

ENJOY! Please share and review this independent show. Thank you!

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Rashod Taylor Website

Rashod Taylor Instagram

This series was produced and hosted by Lou Mensah

Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson

Mixing by Tess Davidson

Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to this seven part, end of year series - new episodes are released each weekday between Dec 13-21. Inspired by the Black radical tradition of the harmony between the lyrical and visual. I am joined by friends (artists, dancers, musicians) to explore the musical influences that inspire their work. We also look to the people, real and imagined, familial and ancestral who guide them.

Tyrone is a concept driven artist whose skills originate from Jazz and Hip-Hop Theatre. Working as a performer across dance and music, his practice has grown to become a mixture of Krump, contemporary dance, visual art & Jazz music. He performs in Julian Knxx's latest exhibition Chorus in Rememory of Flight, currently running at the Barbican. "There's already a musical language that is embedded in the ideas of that work because of the way Julian is working with choirs, and then I can try and translate that into movement. I have a good relationship with Julian and there's a lot of trust. So in some ways, we've established a chorus."

He recently released his debut LP, S!ck - and was called ”one to watch" by Giles Peterson this year. Commissions include a full length theatre work for the Barbican 'An Earnest Life', a duet for Dance Umbrella, Beyond Words & an international Solo work for Hayley Matthews Ensemble. He is a Steve Reid Innovation Award 2019-2020 recipient, and a 2020 Artist in Residence at Clarence Mews Space, 2021 East London Ideas Fund Awardee & 2022 Peter Whittingham Jazz recipient and a 2023 Take Five jazz awardees.

ENJOY! Please share and review this independent show. Thank you!

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Tyrone S!ck LP

Tyrone x Julian Knxx at The Barbican

Tyrone Instagram

This series was produced and hosted by Lou Mensah

Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson

Mixing by Tess Davidson

Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to this seven part, end of year series! New episodes released each weekday between Dec 13-21. Inspired by the Black radical tradition of the harmony between the lyrical and visual. I am joined by friends (artists, dancers, musicians) to explore the musical influences that inspire their work. We also look to the people, real and imagined, familial and ancestral who guide them.

Today I am joined by Jose Campos, who is also known by his artist name, Studio Lenca.

Jose considers himself to be an artist that doesn’t belong anywhere apart from the world he creates.

He says that “I have a deep longing to connect with the land of my ancestors. It’s a longing that I don’t realise is always there until it gets fulfilled.” 

Jose was forcibly displaced as a consequence of El Salvador’s civil war, he one of the first wave of child migrants moving to the USA. Travelling illegally with his mother, the family lived as ‘illegal aliens’, cleaning houses with no fixed address. 

His paintings depict regal figures that seek to decentralise the collective idea of Salvadoran identity.

The work playfully references a combination of biographical anecdotes, personal reflections and folkloric iconography.

ENJOY!

Please share and review this independent show. Thank you!

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Studio Lenca @ TKE Studios in Margate.

Studio Lenca website.

Representation Carl Freedman Gallery.

This series was produced and hosted by Lou Mensah

Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson

Mixing by Tess Davidson

Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to my seven part end of year series! New episodes will be released each weekday between Dec 13-21. Inspired by the Black radical tradition of the harmony between the lyrical and visual, I am joined by friends (artists, dancers, musicians and in today's episode an art specialist) to explore the musical influences that inspire their work. We also look to the people, real and imagined, familial and ancestral who guide them. Get ready to be inspired!

Helene is Head of Sale and a specialist in Modern and Contemporary African art at Bonhams. She travels to Ghana regularly and specializes on art from that region. Her expertise also extends to 20th century Africa. Our conversation reveals just how knowledgeable Helene also is on African music and she recommends some excellent tunes from the continent that inspire her. We start our conversation hearing about a moment where she was talking with her SOAS tutor eight years ago, which led her on the journey to her current role at Bonhams. Stay tuned until the end to hear Helene's fantastic music recommendations!

Please share this series and review! Thank you!

ENJOY!

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Shade Art Review Christmas offer code

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African Art History Instagram

Bonhams

This series was produced and hosted by Lou Mensah

Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson

Mixing by Tess Davidson

Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to my seven part end of year series! New episodes will be released each weekday between Dec 13-21. Inspired by the Black radical tradition of the harmony between the lyrical and visual, I am joined by friends (artists, dancers, musicians) to explore the musical influences that inspire their work. We also look to the people, real and imagined, familial and ancestral who guide them. Get ready to be inspired!

Today I am delighted to introduce my friend, Axel Kacoutié - the multi-award-winning creator who's been crafting sound, music, and words to challenge the familiar and revive a magic in the mundane. Previously the Creative Director of Sound at The Guardian, their work has featured on the BBC, Spotify and in physical spaces like the Barbican, Tate Modern & Sundance Film Festival. They’ve received British Podcast Awards, ARIAs, Third Coast awards and many, many more. Some of you may know Axel from our work together Black Balloons for Tate Modern, Interludes podcast series on art and healing and Wandering where we walk with creatives through art spaces. We start by hearing Axel talk about their work A Mother Tongue which is a personal essay reflecting on language, created for the BBC. They also mention Gatekeeper where Axel discovers a new sense of self in the cosmologies, concepts and realities of queer and indigenous folks. In this piece we hear Axel say "Somewhere between the narrow entry of Who I am and What I seem to be, lies a vast and nameless place.” It is this vast and nameless place that Axel and I visit in todays conversation.

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Gatekeeper by Axel Kacoutié

A Mother Tongue by Axel Kacoutié

V & A East The Music is Black Film sound designed by Axel Kacoutié

Axel Kacoutié Instagram

This series was produced and hosted by Lou Mensah

Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by Brian Jackson

Mixing by Tess Davidson

Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WELCOME TO SERIES NINE!

This is my end of year series! New episodes will be released each weekday, between Dec 13-21. Inspired by the Black radical tradition of the harmony between the lyrical and visual. I am joined by friends (artists, dancers, photographers, musicians) to explore the musical influences that inspire their work. We also look to the people, real and imagined, familial and ancestral who guide them. Get ready to be inspired!

Today I am delighted to introduce a special episode, with my friend the musician Brian Jackson. You may know Brian's work from his partnership with Gil Scott-Heron, together they made ten albums over an eight year period, including Pieces of a Man and Winter in America.

Time and time again that music has found its way onto over 100 cuts like Common's The People (from We Almost Lost Detroit) and Kendrick Lamar's Poe Mans Dreams (from Peace Go With You, Brother). Brian is still building with artists as diverse as Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (Midnight Hour, A Tribe Called Quest) to the vocalist Gregory Porter.

I started by asking Brian about Langston Hughes, and how his legacy brought he and Gil together, where they followed in the footsteps of not only Langston Hughes but also Thurgood Marshall, Kwame Nkrumah and Oscar Brown Jr. Brian says in our conversation:

”It [Lincoln] just seemed like a logical place for me to continue my journey into Afrocentricity.”

"Gil used to call our songs, our albums, survival kits on wax. And, you know, that's just another way of looking at the Griot tradition. Because, it was his responsibility to heal the community. It's spiritual work."

"I'm gonna tell you Lou, before it's all over, I'm gonna do a Christmas album. What you think about that?!"

Please share and review this independent show. Thank you!

ENJOY!

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Brian Jackson NYTimes

Pieces of a Man Podcast

This is Brian Jackson

Jazz Is Dead

This series was produced and hosted by Lou Mensah

Music King Henry IV for Shade Podcast by today's guest Brian Jackson

Mixing Tess Davidson

Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Wandering. A four part series of immersive podcast gallery walks, brought to you by Shade Podcast and Axel Kacoutié.

Today we meet the artist Harold Offeh at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London as he prepares to present work in their forthcoming exhibition, Soulscapes.

Opening on Feb 14th 2024, Soulscapes is a major exhibition of landscape art. Featuring more than 30 contemporary works, it will span painting, photography, film, tapestry and collage from leading artists including Harold Offeh, Hurvin Anderson, Phoebe Boswell, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Kimathi Donkor, Isaac Julien, Marcia Michael, Mónica de Miranda and Alberta Whittle, as well as some of the most important emerging voices working today.

Soulscapes will explore our connection with the world around us through the eyes of artists from the African Diaspora. 

Discover more episodes in this series as we meet Zakia Sewell, Nabihah Iqbal and Kayo Chingyoni, as they enjoy artworks in the National Portrait Gallery, Sir John Soane's Museum and Graves Gallery. 

Sponsored by Bloomberg Connects, the arts and culture app. The free app offers access to more than 250 cultural organizations through a single download, with new guides being added every week. 

To explore the Dulwich Picture Gallery guide, and many more, download the app today from the App Store or Google Play.

Help support the work that goes into creating Shade Podcast. https://plus.acast.com/s/shadepodcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.