Artist Glenn Ligon has created a specially-designed tote bag, for sale to benefit Harlem’s Studio Museum.  Based on the artist’s work Untitled (I am Somebody), the bag is co-designed with MZ Wallace, and is available for $225.  “It’s always been a favorite text of mine,” Ligon sayws. “When I was approached about an image for this project, I thought the message of that image and its history, and also how it works on the bag when I saw the sketches, that this is a perfect marriage of these two things.” (more…)

2050 5th Avenue, via Art Observed

There’s something particularly fitting about the conversion of Harlem’s Mt. Moriah Church by artist Ugo Rondinone.  Long interested in conflations of the human and the spiritual through physical sculpture and architecture (particularly the artist’s ongoing Human Nature series of human rock sculptures installed last year at both Rockefeller Center and Gladstone Gallery), the space fuses its towering facade with both studio and exhibition space inside.  Last week, Rondinone opened his studio and gallery, still under construction, for a private tour, showcasing the artist’s impressive architectural project, and his new exhibition in the space, a series of monochrome paintings by artist Wesley Martin Berg.

 A work by Wesley Martin Berg, via Art Observed (more…)

Harlem’s Studio Museum has announced its 2013-2014 artists in residence.  The museum selected sculptor Kevin Beasley, chalk artist and conceptualist Bethany Collins and installation artist Abigail Deville. Each artist will receive $20,000 as part of their fellowship, an additional $1,000 for art materials, and studio space on the museum’s third floor for a full 12 months, culminating in a group show at the end of their stay. (more…)