Black Pulp! is an exhibition curated by Artists William Villalongo (Lecturer, YSA) and Mark Thomas Gibson (YSA MFA ‘13) at the Yale School of Art: 32 Edgewood Ave. Gallery. The exhibition explores the creative use of printed media — small-run magazines, fiction novels, and comic books — and artwork to challenge racist narratives and change limited notions of black experience in America.
With contributions from Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Library, Schomburg Center, Library of Congress, and Yale University Art Gallery, Black Pulp! showcases Harlem Renaissance era periodicals such as The Crisis and Opportunity Magazines, and rare art journals such as Fire!! and Ebony & Topaz. Other print culture objects include the illustrations and artworks of Aaron Douglas, Lois Mailou Jones, Laura Wheeler, E. Simms Campbell, Eleanor Paul, Gwendolyn Bennett, Miguel Covarrubias, Winold Reiss, Charles Cullen, Richard Bruce Nugent, Owen W. Middleton, Elton C. Fax, Ollie Harrington, Billy Graham, Charles White, Emory Douglas, Jackie Ormes and Jacob Lawrence. Rare comics such as Lobo #1, Negro Romance and All Negro Comics will be on view.
Contemporary artists include: Derrick Adams, Laylah Ali, Firelei Baez, Nayland Blake, Robert Colescott, Renee Cox, William Downs, Ellen Gallagher, Deborah Grant, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Lucia Hierro, Isaac Julien, William Pope L., Kerry James Marshal, Wangechi Mutu, Lamar Peterson, Kenny Rivero, Alexandria Smith, Felandus Thames, Hank Willis Thomas, Kara Walker and Fred Wilson.
Black Pulp! is an unprecedented overview of over 90 years of Black image production by Black publishers, Black artists and by non-Black artists and publishers allied with foregrounding the Black experience. Many works on view offer up windows into the darker, erotic, satirical, and more absurd recesses of the Black popular imagination; while underscoring important debates around personhood and identity.