Chisenhale Gallery launches the second title in its Chisenhale Books series, Nikita Gale: IN A DREAM YOU CLIMB THE STAIRS. Marking the finale of Gale's Chisenhale exhibition, Gale's first artist's book contains an intergenerational conversation with conceptual artist Barbara Kruger and a short meditation by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Hilton Als. These feature alongside contributions by artist and Chisenhale Gallery alum P. Staff and Dr. Benedicte Boisseron, author of Afro-Dog: Blackness and the Animal Question. Through the lens of a multifaceted practice, Gale examines themes of invisibility and audibility, interrogating the dynamic between performer and spectator, structure, and decay. Produced with great care, this extraordinary book is reflective of the artist's practice. Four visual essays, hand-annotated by Gale -- Absence, Ruin, Silence, Dog -- explore themes central to the work. Nikita Gale: IN A DREAM YOU CLIMB THE STAIRS deploys throw-outs, gatefolds, five different types of papers, and a subtly disruptive design to delve into Nikita Gale's art.

Presenting new work by American artist Kehinde Wiley, as he explores the European landscape tradition through film and painting The American artist Kehinde Wiley (b. 1977) is best known for his spectacular portraits of African Americans with knowing references to the grand European tradition of painting. He was commissioned in 2017 to paint Barack Obama, becoming the first Black artist to paint an official portrait of a president of the United States. His work makes reference to old master paintings by positioning contemporary Black sitters in the pose of the original historical figures, raising issues of power and identity, and the absence or relegation of Black and minority-ethnic figures within European art. For his first collaboration with a major UK gallery, Wiley will depart from portraiture to explore the European landscape tradition through the medium of film and painting, casting Black Londoners from the streets of Soho. His new works will explore European Romanticism and its focus on epic scenes of oceans and mountains, drawing inspiration from the National Gallery's masterpieces in landscape and seascape. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The National Gallery, London (December 10, 2021-April 18, 2022)

Elijah Pierce (1892-1984) was born the youngest son of a former slave on a Mississippi farm. He began carving at an early age when his father gave him his first pocketknife. Pierce became known for his wood carvings nationally and then internationally for the first time in the 1970s. Accompanying a major exhibition at the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, this publication seeks to revisit the art of Elijah Pierce and see it in its own right, not simply as 'naive'. Elijah Pierce made his living as a barber; he was also a qualified preacher. Just as his barber shop was a place for gossip and meeting, so his art reflects his own and his community's concerns, but also universal themes. Through his carvings Pierce told his own life story and chronicled the African-American experience. His subjects ranged from politics to religious stories but he seldom distinguished the race of his figures - he thought of them as everyman. His secular carvings show his love of baseball, boxing, comics and the movies, and also reflect his appreciation for American heroes who fought for justice and liberty. In 1932, Pierce completed 'the Book of Wood', which he considered his best work. Originally carved as individual scenes, the completed 'Book' tells the story of Jesus carved in bas-relief. He and his wife Cornelia held "sacred art demonstrations" to explain the meaning of the Book of Wood. Pierce's work was first appreciated in the art world thanks to a fellow sculptor, Boris Gruenwald, who saw the expressive power of his work. As a later critic wrote, "There are 500 woodcarvers working today in the United States who are technically as proficient as Pierce, but none can equal the power of Pierce's personal vision". Pierce became known primarily in circles promoting 'naive' art, winning first prize at the International Meeting of Naive Art in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, in 1973. The vast majority of his work is now held in Columbus, Ohio, which had become his home town. This book revisits Pierce's art seeking to see it in its own right, and not simply as 'naive'. Another critic wrote: "He reduces what he wants to say to the simplest forms and compositions. They are decorative, direct, bold and amusing. He uses glitter and all kinds of devices to make his message clear. It gives his work an immediacy that's very appealing" - an appeal arising from a sophisticated art with its own particular voice.

* Featuring quirky, delightful illustrations by Lesley Barnes and fun, engaging text by Zoe Whitley. * New title in the popular Tate Meet the Artist series. Enter into the vivid world of Sophie Taeuber-Arp and create your own original art along the way! Meet the Artist: Sophie Taeuber-Arp is packed with make-and-dos and inspiring activities for budding young artists. Experiment with puppet making and papier-mache, make your own abstract stained glass tealight and be design a dada necklace or even become an abstract poet! The revised and expanded Meet the Artist series of activity books introduces children to renowned artists in a fun and engaging way. Every book includes an introduction to the artist's life followed by a series of activities that explore prominent themes and ideas in the artist's work. Featuring beautiful reproductions of key artworks, and illustrated by a leading contemporary illustrator, every book in the Meet the Artist series encourages children to use art to explore ideas and express their own experiences through art-making.

Soul of a Nation shines a bright light on the vital contribution of Black artists to a dramatic period in American art and history. In the period of radical change that was 1963 to 1983, young Black artists at the beginning of their careers in the USA confronted key questions and pressures. How could they make art that would stand as innovative, original, formally and materially complex, while also making work that reflected their concerns and experience as African Americans? This significant new publication surveys this crucial period in American art history, bringing to light previously neglected histories of twentieth-century Black artists, including Frank Bowling, Sam Gilliam, Melvin Edwards, Bettye Saar, Jack Whitten and William T. Williams. This book presents era-defining artworks that changed the face of art in America, and features substantial essays from curators Mark Godfrey and Zoe Whitley, writing on abstraction and figuration respectively. It also explores art historical and social contexts with subjects including black feminism; AfriCOBRA and other artist-run groups; the role of museums in the debates of the period; and where visual art sat in relation to the Black Arts Movement.

Belfast-born British artist Cathy Wilkes will be representing Great Britain at the 58th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2019. Wilkes will present a major new solo exhibition at the British Pavilion between 11 May and 24 November. Renowned for her distinctive and highly personal sculptural installations featuring humanoid figures that highlight the tender intimacy of everyday life, Wilkes' exhibition will feature new paintings and sculptures that will provoke a strong emotional response in viewers, set against the backdrop of the grand architecture of the British Pavilion. Narratives and histories which often evoke interiors and places of loss or solitude are suggested through her evocative objects but never explicitly expressed, and indeed Wilkes resists written descriptions and explanations of her work, intentionally not naming her installations, assemblages and exhibitions in a bid to keep open the viewer's perceptions. This publication, one of the only books

Print has always been an art form for everyone - relatively cheap to produce and easy to distribute, and intended to be accessible to all. It links to painting, and creative autographic expression, as well as to a tradition of satire and protest, both social and political. Above all, prints are a means of communication and cultural exchange and, in the context of Africa and the African diaspora, these qualities have had a particular resonance. The book covers the period from 1960, presenting and interpreting a variety of visual images from the V&A collections in terms of their political and social context, while also addressing their identity as art and design. It includes prints by Uzo Egonu, Carrie Mae Weems and Chris Ofili among others, as well as overtly political work, such as posters attacking the Apartheid policies of South Africa and material produced by American Black Power organizations.