What Just Above Midtown Meant for Black Artists
Taylor Michael January 18, 2023
The long-gone art gallery afforded Black artists a space to create without having to consider the pressures of the commercial art market or the fickle nature of nonprofit art institutions.
A crucial point in Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces comes in a corridor. Between the 50 West 57th Street room and the 178–180 Franklin Street room, the curators wallpaper the area with the groundbreaking art gallery’s financial history: past-due bills, eviction notices, and other documents. Through a listening device, founder Linda Goode Bryant can be heard recounting her strategies for sustaining her gallery for more than a decade with minimal fiscal resources. Hosting fundraisers and brunches in collaboration with her
artists — for example, a Body Print-In where patrons created their own pigment and graphite prints, like David Hammons’s signature x ray-like works.
Another innovative strategy is presented on the wall of the corridor: the Business of Being an Artist professional development program, a series of courses and interviews geared toward industry hopefuls and intended to increase diversity in the contemporary art market. Perpendicular to the wallpaper of bills is a comparison of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and JAM. JAM’s first location was about three and a half blocks east of the first MoMA location (four streets down from MoMA’s current building). The exhibition is about JAM but also about what it means to build an institution for and by Black artists. ( … )