HYPERALLERGIC Names Mark Steven Greenfield a top 10 show to see in October

Mark Steven Greenfield, “Saartjie Baartman” (2020), gold leaf and acrylic on wood panel, 24 x 24 inches (~61 x 61 cm) (photo by Rob Brander, courtesy William Turner Gallery)

Auras features two bodies of paintings by Mark Steven Greenfield — Black Madonna (2020) and HALO (2022) — that reconsider the breadth of the Black experience in the Americas by excavating and reframing contested histories. HALO comprises portraits of influential Black figures, from the revered to the lesser-known, including Haitian Revolution leader Toussaint Louverture, famed magician Black Herman, and silhouette artist Moses Williams — formerly enslaved by Charles Willson Peale — portrayed as saintly icons surrounded by gold leaf. Black Madonna depicts a beatific ebony Madonna and child, while Ku Klux Klan members and monuments to white supremacy are vanquished and toppled in the background.

Mark Steven Greenfield Opening Tomorrow at the Ronald H. Silverman Gallery at Cal State LA

AURAS: New Icons by Mark Steven Greenfield
in collaboration with William Turner Gallery
curated by Mika M. Cho
 
August 19 – October 22, 2024
Artist Reception:
Saturday, August 24, 2024, 5 - 8 PM

Ronald H. Silverman Fine Arts Gallery
5151 State University Dr, Los Angeles CA 90032
MAP

Francisco Manicongo, 2024, Acrylic and Gold Leaf on Wood Panel, 20 x 16 in.

“My work concerns itself with the complexities of the African American experience, both historically and in contemporary society. The work often revolves around a number of themes which include subjects as diverse as African American stereotypes, spiritual practices, social justice, meditative practices and abstraction based on my interpretation of the process by which images are formed in the subconscious.” – Mark Steven Greenfield
 
Mark Steven Greenfield is a painter of phenomenal insight, exemplified by his upcoming exhibition “AURAS: New Icons by Mark Steven Greenfield.” The majority of his paintings in this exhibition are presented for the first time at the Ronald H. Silverman Fine Arts Gallery. These images draw upon issues that have been at play regarding the black identity and black history in the United States. These two series are reflective of the spirituality that permeates the black psyche and reach back into the earliest of experiences of their presence on the American continent or even before, as well as their exposure to the European narratives and their appropriations by the Christianized Blacks. Haloconveys the black spiritual experience through various social, political, and religious signs and symbols by appropriating the icons of the colonizing Europeans.

AURAS, 2024, Acrylic and Gold Leaf on Wood Panel, 30 x 40 in

AURAS: New Icons by Mark Steven Greenfield

ARTIST RECEPTION
Saturday, August 24, 2024, 5 - 8 PM

Conversation between Artist, Mark Steven Greenfield and Art Critic, Shana Nys Dambrot
September 28, 2024, 2 - 4 PM

5151 State University Dr, Los Angeles CA 90032
MAP

Mark Steven Greenfield - The LA Metro Project - Red Car Requiem

For L.A.'s newest underground art experience, head down to the Metro Regional Connector

For your next art outing, head underground.

The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority debuted its Regional Connector Transit Project yesterday, a $1.8 billion undertaking that’s been more than a decade in the making. It includes three new downtown L.A. subway stations — theGrand Ave. Arts/Bunker Hill, Historic Broadway and Little Tokyo/Arts District stops — and each are filled with ambitious new works of art.

Eight artists were commissioned by Metro Art to create permanent, site-specific installations for the stations: Andrea Bowers, Clare Rojas, Audrey Chan, Mark Steven Greenfield, Ann Hamilton, Clarence Williams, Mungo Thomson and Pearl C. Hsiung.There are also two wall-mounted light box installations in the Broadway and Grand Avenue stations, part of a rotating art program. The inaugural artists for those spaces are Ralph Gilbert and Samira Yamin.

Mark Steven Greenfield with his glass mosaic, “Red Car Requiem,” at the new Historic Broadway Station. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

“These are significant pieces, by established artists, that are integrated into the overall architecture of the project but also will attract people on their own,” says Metro Art program Senior Director Zipporah Yamamoto. “People will stop and look at these artworks. It’s a major part of the transit experience — and the Los Angeles experience. It extends the downtown L.A. arts and culture experience into the station.”

By Deborah Vankin (Read the rest of the piece on LATimes.com)

ABOUT THE PROJECT
Piecing together parts of a large-scale glass mosaic mural in for the Historic Broadway Station. Created by Mark Steven Greenfield, “Red Car Requiem” is a site-specific mural spanning a 171-foot wide. The artwork is the largest glass mosaic artwork in Metro’s system. Each element of the artwork was matched in the dynamic colors and the placement of over 1 million hand-cut glass pieces during the mosaic’s fabrication process. The Regional Connector is a 1.9-mile light rail project connecting the A Line (Blue), E Line (Expo) and L Line (Gold) in downtown Los Angeles. The project features artwork integrated into three new stations: Little Tokyo/Arts District Station, Historic Broadway Station, and Grand Ave Arts/Bunker Hill Station. For more information on the Regional Connector Transit Project artworks, visit: https://metro.net/moredtlaart