NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith

Radcliffe Bailey.
Storm at Sea, 2007
Piano keys, African sculpture, model boat, paper, acrylic, glitter, gold leaf
212” x 213”.
Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. © Radcliffe Bailey

Miami Art Museum - Downtown

February 22 - September 13, 2009

Although for centuries spirituality was an essential, even guiding, component of art, in the modern era artists have often distanced themselves from otherworldly concerns. This exhibition, on view at Miami Art Museum brings together an intergenerational group of artists who address ritual in the artistic process and the wider implications of spirituality in contemporary art.

“NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith” is co-organized by The Menil Collection and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center and curated by Franklin Sirmans, curator of modern and contemporary art at The Menil Collection. It encompasses 50 works by 33 artists in a variety of media including sculpture, photography, assemblage, video and performance. 

The term HooDoo, which shares the same linguistic roots as Vodun, originated in 19th-century America to describe religion and ritual originating in pre-colonial West Africa. In the 1970s poet Ishmael Reed explored what he called Neo-HooDoo, or new HooDoo, as a spiritual practice outside of any definable faith or creed. The practice allows artists to reexamine and reinterpret aspects of their cultural heritage. Challenging conceptions of “high” and “low” art and of “insider” and “outsider” practices, the artists in the exhibition frequently create work using everyday objects that resonate both within the confines of a gallery or museum and among their own local audiences.

“Several of the artists whose work is on view in ‘NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith,’ including José Bedia, William Cordova, Ana Mendieta and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, have lived or worked in Miami,” Miami Art Museum Assistant Director for Programs/Senior Curator Peter Boswell said. “Others, including Janine Antoni, Pepón Osorio and María Magdalena Campos-Pons, are familiar to local audiences through previous exhibitions at Miami Art Museum. The varied approaches to spirituality in the work of these artists are reflected in the wide range of expression that is embraced by NeoHooDoo.” 

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