Howardena Pindell

Howardena Pindell is an African-American artist strongly committed to addressing contemporary social issues such as racism, sexism, politics, war, and human rights. Pindell has used various media techniques to explore these themes, and she encourages her audience to think critically about how these issues affect their daily lives. Extended periods of travel and immersion in non-Western cultures opened an aperture for Pindell to understand the global dimensions of the social and political issues addressed in her work. Her layered imagery, highly textured surfaces, and sensual use of color seduce our visual senses only to challenge us with its message that shocks us into consciousness with the overriding dichotomy of beauty and brutality that her art has come to embody.

This retrospective included approximately 55 paintings and drawings of Pindell’s work from 1972-1992, with a wide range of media from small photographic collages to large multimedia canvases.