The BLK Art Group is the name associated with a group of five influential

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...

ists, painters, sculptors and

installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

ists based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Keith Piper, Marlene Smith,

Eddie Chambers Edward Chambers (born March 29, 1982) is an American former professional boxer. He challenged once for a unified world heavyweight title in 2010. He was ranked as the fourth best heavyweight in the world by '' The Ring'' at the conclusion of 20 ...

Claudette Johnson and

Donald Rodney Donald Gladstone Rodney (18 May 1961 – 4 March 1998) was a British artist. He was a leading figure in Britain's BLK Art Group of the 1980s and became recognised as "one of the most innovative and versatile artists of his generation." Rodney's w ...

were initially based in the

English Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

. The group were all from the British African-Caribbean community and exhibited in 11 group exhibitions in both small and prestigious galleries throughout the country over a four year period from 1981 to 1984. Exhibiting under the title The Pan Afrikan Connection for their shows from the second show at Africa Centre in May 1982 to the 9th show, also at Africa Centre, 12 months later, their work was noted for its boldly political stance, producing dynamic

that offered a series of inventive critiques on the state of inter-communal, class and gender relations in the UK. They were themselves influenced by a variety of artistic currents including ideas associated with the USA's Black Arts Movement. Donald Rodney, who suffered from

sickle cell anaemia Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of blood disorders typically inherited from a person's parents. The most common type is known as sickle cell anaemia. It results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin found in red b ...

(anemia), died aged 36 in 1998.

Precursors

In 1979,

founded the group under the name Wolverhampton Young Black Artists. In 1981, Chambers curated the first of the group's exhibitions, ''Black Art & Done'', at the

Wolverhampton Art Gallery Wolverhampton Art Gallery is located in the City of Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands, United Kingdom. The building was funded and constructed by local contractor Philip Horsman (1825–1890), and built on land provided by the municipal aut ...

, which gave a focus to issues concerning the black community, including racial prejudice. Participating artists were

Dominic Dawes, Ian Palmer, Andrew Hazel and Keith Piper.

Institutional impact and legacy

The group exhibited in a total of eleven exhibitions, which they organised themselves. Shows from the second exhibition at the Africa Centre in May 1982 until their 9th (which was also at the Africa Centre) were titled ''The Pan-Afrikan Connection''. The definitive list of shows for the group is as follows 1) Black Art & Done, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, June 1981 2) The Pan Afrikan Connection (TPAC), Africa Centre London 3rd May-4th Jun 1982 3)TPAC Ikon Gallery Birmingham 26 Jun - 19th Jul, 1982 4)TPAC Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham 25th-29th Oct 1982 5)TPAC King Street Gallery, Bristol 17th-28th Nov 1982 6)TPAC Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham 7th Jan-3rd Feb 1983 7)TPAC Midlands Group, Nottingham 15th Jan-12th Feb 1983 8)TPAC Herbert Gallery, Coventry 20th Feb-20th Mar 1983 9)TPAC Africa Centre, London 3rd May-2nd Jun 1983 10)The Blk Art Group, Battersea Arts Centre, London (dates not verified) 11) Radical Black Art, Winterbourne House, University of Birmingham 6th Feb-1st Mar 1984 Conferences organised by the group were: The First National Black Art Convention 26th October 1982 and Radical Black Art; a working convention 28th March 1984 Line Up; Eddie Chambers and Keith Piper met in 1979 while studying on a Foundation Course at the then Lanchester Polytechnic, now Coventry University. Chambers was already preparing what would be the first group show, Black Art & Done which as well as Chambers & Piper included the work of Dominic Dawes, Andrew Hazel and Ian Palmer. Dawes also took part in the second of the group's exhibitions at Africa Centre in 1982 but Palmer & Hazel left the group. Claudette Johnson joined in 1981. She was a student at Wolverhampton School of Art and was also recruited by Chambers. She was active until the 8th show at Herbert Art Gallery. Marlene Smith and Donald Rodney were both recruited by Keith Piper, in 1982. Rodney was a student at Nottingham Trent Polytechnic and Smith was a Foundation Student at then Birmingham Polytechnic, now Birmingham City University. Wenda Leslie and Janet Vernon were active from 1981 - 1983. Vernon was co chair of the First National Black Art Convention In 1988 Eddie Chambers curated the exhibition ''Black Art: Plotting the Course''. The group's critique of the

institutional racism Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of racism that is embedded in the laws and regulations of a society or an organization. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, health ...

of Britain's art world was part of the impetus that led to '' The Other Story'', a seminal survey of African and Asian artists curated by Rasheed Araeen at London's

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the R ...

in 1989, as well as the founding of the

Association of Black Photographers Autograph ABP, previously known as the Association of Black Photographers, is a British-based international, non-profit-making, photographic arts agency. History Autograph was originally established in London in 1988. Founders included the photog ...

and the establishment of Iniva, the Institute of International Visual Art. Piper and Chambers themselves have both gone on to achieve veteran status as educators, writers and curators. In 2011, the Blk Art Group Research Project was set up by Keith Piper, Claudette Johnson and Marlene Smith.

Critical appraisal

Eddie Chambers has argued that despite their undoubted creativity and social relevance, the group suffered from the general lack of serious critical attention given to black artists by the British arts media. Nevertheless, their enthusiasm and commitment to making art relevant to everyday life ensured that they were a strong influence on the later generation of black British artists that included

Young British Artists The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Goldsm ...

(YBA) such as

Chris Ofili Christopher Ofili, (born 10 October 1968) is a British Turner Prize-winning painter who is best known for his paintings incorporating elephant dung. He was one of the Young British Artists. Since 2005, Ofili has been living and working in T ...

and Steve McQueen, both of whom went on to win

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...

s, while maintaining a clear political element to their work.

Other artists associated with the BLK Art Group

Faisal Abdu'allah Faisal Abdu'Allah (born 1969 in London) is a British artist and barber. His work includes photography, screenprint and installations. Life and work Abdu'Allah was born Paul Duffus in 1969 and grew up in a Pentecostal family. He was educated at Wi ...

- consequent * David A. Bailey - contemporary *

Sonia Boyce Sonia Dawn Boyce, (born 1962) is a British Afro-Caribbean artist and educator, living and working in London. She is a Professor of Black Art and Design at University of the Arts London. Boyce's research interests explore art as a social pract ...

- contemporary *

Denzil Forrester Denzil Forrester (born 1956) is a Grenada-born artist who moved to England as a child in 1967.Niru Ratnam"Denzil Forrester" in Alison Donnell (ed.), ''Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture'', Routledge, 2002, p. 117. Previously based i ...

- contemporary *

Godfried Donkor Godfried Donkor (born 1964) is a Ghanaian artist, living and working in London, who has exhibited in Cuba, Mexico, the US, Europe and Africa. He is known primarily for his work in collage, and has been described as similar to Keith Piper and Isa ...

- consequent *

Lubaina Himid Lubaina Himid (born 1954) is a British artist and curator. She is a professor of contemporary art at the University of Central Lancashire.Tam Joseph Tam Joseph (born 1947) is a Dominica-born British painter, formerly known as Tom Joseph. Described as "a uniquely talented, multidimensional artist" by art historian Eddie Chambers, "Tam Joseph has contributed a number of memorable paintings th ...

Eddie Chambers
Profile of Tam Joseph
. Retrieved 13 March 2007. - forerunner/contemporary *

Virginia Nimarkoh Virginia Agyeiwah Nimarkoh (born January 1967) is a British artist and activist, based in London. Nimarkoh was born in London, and studied at Goldsmiths College London from 1986 to 1989, graduating with a PhD in Fine Art (Theory & Practice) ...

- contemporary * Pitika Ntuli - forerunner/contemporary * Eugene Palmer - contemporary *

Mark Sealy Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

- contemporary * Maud Sulter (1960–2008) - contemporary * Fowokan - contemporary

References

External links

Blk Art Group Research Project 2012
* Leah Sinclair
"The BLK Art Group: how the West Midlands collective inspired the art world"
Art UK, 12 August 2020.
"BLK Art Group In-Conversation"
Association for Art History, April 2021. * Alex Mistlin
{{"'We were the AYBs – the angry young Blacks': the art movement that rocked Thatcher's Britain"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 4 January 2022. Black British artists British artist groups and collectives