Artists on the Future: Amy Sherald and Calida Rawles

Stanford University is the home of interdisciplinary thinking that catalyzes innovation. Artists on the Future, The Komal Shah and Gaurav Garg Artist Conversation Series pairs renowned artists with cultural thought leaders to talk about issues vital to our society.
Born in Columbus, Georgia, and now based in the New York City area, AMY SHERALD documents contemporary African American experience in the United States through arresting, otherworldly figurative paintings. Sherald engages with the history of photography and portraiture, inviting viewers to participate in a more complex debate about accepted notions of race and representation, and to situate Black heritage centrally in American art. Sherald received her MFA in painting from Maryland Institute College of Art and BA in painting from Clark-Atlanta University. Sherald was the first woman and first African-American to ever receive the grand prize in the 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C.; she also received the 2017 Anonymous Was A Woman award and the 2019 Smithsonian Ingenuity Award. In 2018, Sherald was selected by First Lady Michelle Obama to paint her portrait as an official commission for the National Portrait Gallery.
The paintings of CALIDA RAWLES merge hyper-realism with poetic abstraction. Situating her subjects in dynamic spaces, her recent work employs water as a vital, organic, and historically charged space. For Rawles, water signifies both physical and spiritual healing as well as historical trauma and racial exclusion. She uses this complicated duality as a means to envision a new space for Black healing and to reimagine her subjects beyond racialized tropes. Rawles received a B.A. from Spelman College, Atlanta, GA (1998) and an M.A. from New York University, New York, NY (2000). Solo exhibitions have been organized at Lehmann Maupin, New York, NY (2021); Various Small Fires, Los Angeles, CA (2020). Rawles created the cover art for Ta-Nehisi Coates’s novel, “The Water Dancer,” and her work is in numerous public and private collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Perez Art Museum Miami, Dallas Museum of Art, and the Studio Museum in Harlem.
The conversation between Amy and Calida is moderated by Matthew Tiews, Associate Vice President for Campus Engagement.

[@jessicamonette9641]

Cant wait I absolutely love these two artists! As a member of the fall 2023 MFA Art Practice Cohort these talks are not only informative but they help me shape my own art practice and help affirm my passion as a Black female artist. Thank you to the speakers and to everyone involved in creating the space for talks like this!

[@EmiciaYvette]

This is SOOOO goodT! Many thanks to these brilliant women! 💕