Top: Barrett Keithley, Cassandra Wilson, Patricia Andrews-Keenan and Edo; Middle: Edo; Bottom: Ruby Simmons and Gyamfuah Melisiziwe; Right: Jesse Howard. Photos by Tafari Melisiziwe The conversation continues at REVOLUTIONARY, Pigment International's thought-provoking summer exhibition at Vjosa Café & Events. Curated by P. Andrews-Keenan, the exhibition features an extraordinary roster of painters, photographers, and mixed-media artists whose work examines 250 years of Black

Commemorative artwork for this year's Martha's Vineyard Comedy Fest is by artist Paul Branton Artist Paul Branton has created a vibrant commemorative portrait celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the Martha's Vineyard Comedy Fest, honoring longtime host Damon Williams, whose wit and unmistakable stage presence have become synonymous with the festival. Commissioned by festival founder Steve Capers, the painting captures Williams in Branton's signature expressive style, using bo

The Reluctant Ribbon Merchant by Jesse Howard and Patrice Lumumba by Candace Hunter are works in Revolutionary opening July 17th at Vjosa Cafe and Events. Pigment International opens REVOLUNTARY, a bold new group exhibition on July 17 at Vjosa Cafe and Events, 1010 W. 35th Street in Bridgeport. The show runs through August 15th REVOLUNTARY is an extension of Pigment’s February 2026 exhibition Glory! Glory!, which drew national attention for its exploration of the American fl

Blooming Through It by Ingrid Mathurin and bottom work by Alexandria Eregbu. The Art of Blackness at Block 37 is a celebrated exhibition platform that continues its mission of amplifying Black artists while creating space for dialogue around identity, history, and the future. Curated by LaShun Tines, Justin Dwaun Redding, and Anefertiti Bowman, this year's exhibition asks audiences to consider what emerges when truth is honored, memory is preserved, and imagination is embrace

Photo top left - Taroue Brooks, crafted the forward for Thomas Lockhart's coffee table book Painting In the Spirit, Verlena Mooney Newell, Actor Leon, Pigment International's Patricia Andrews-Keenan, Tenia Davis, owner of Beyond the Book in Homewood, and artist Thomas Lockhart, whose work is showcased in the coffee table book. Top right - Lockhart's original work "The Past Illuminates the Future" created for the Pigmented Black Fine Art Show. Over a career spanning 25 years,

The opening of Mickalene Thomas' Beneath the Moonlight at the Shepherd in Detroit. Pigment International recently went to Detroit for the opening of Beneath the Moonlight, a solo exhibition of new work by Mickalene Thomas, presented by Library Street Collective at the Shepherd — a breathtaking arts center carved from a 1912 Romanesque Revival church in Detroit's East Village neighborhood. For more than two decades, Thomas has cultivated a signature visual language rooted in p

44th created by James Nelson. In the Land of the Free T-Shirts created by Reggie McFly honor the escaped slave Gordon, aka "Whipped Peter". Pigment International is proud to participate in the Obama Presidential Center's (OPC) Grand Opening Ceremony Official Watch Party on Thursday, June 18, at Midway Plaisance Park in Chicago's Hyde Park community. As one of a select group of local businesses, cultural organizations, and restaurants invited to be part of this historic commun

Wooden quilts by Jean-Marcel St. Jacques will be part of a fundraising auction by Blacks in Green (BIG) on Juneteenth. On Friday, June 19, 2026, the Woodlawn & South Lakefront Tourism Center in Chicago's Obama Presidential District will host a special Juneteenth Wine, Cheese & Storytelling Fundraiser celebrating history, resilience, and the transformative power of art.  The evening will feature the unveiling of three new works by renowned New Orleans artist Jean-Marcel St. J

Top row: Artist Bryant Lamont with Pigment's Patricia Andrews-Keenan, work by Roger Carter, artists Paul Branton, Gerald Griffin and Bryant Lamont, work by Lamont; second row work by Bernard Williams, work by Paul Branton, Faye Edwards of Faiè Afrikan Art with photographer Tonika Johnson, artist Roger Carter; third row Bertha Thomas, Chair of the Board the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Institute with exhibition curator Raymond A. Thomas, work by Max Sansing, Claudette Rop

Call For Art and Advertisers Two hundred and fifty years. That is the span of American history this nation is marking in 2026 — and Pigment International® is marking it on our own terms. Pigment Magazine Issue VI, our Collector's Edition, arrives this August themed America 250: We ARE The People. At a moment when the contributions of Black Americans risk being minimized or erased from the national record, this issue centers Black artists as essential narrators of where this

Six Featured Artists Bring Depth, Beauty, and Cultural Legacy to Hyde Park Pigment International will again be exhibiting at the 57th Street Art Fair, one of the city's longest-running fairs, on June 6 & 7. Now in its fourth year at this beloved Hyde Park institution, Pigment's exhibition is a celebration of the country's 250th Anniversary — a showcase of the depth and breadth of our artists. The fair runs Saturday, June 6, from 11 am–6 pm and Sunday, June 7, from 10 am–5 pm.

Designer Norman Teague When Chicago designer Norman Teague arrives in Lagos this October he carries the weight of a legendary history — and the creative fire to match. Not a stranger, but a creative heir. Teague, founder and principal of Norman Teague Design Studios, has been named curator of Design Week Lagos 2026— Africa's leading platform for design, innovation, manufacturing, and creative industry development. Running October 18–25 at the iconic National Theatre in Lagos,

Above - Robert Earl Paige; Below - Design Visionary honorees, class of 2026 Chicago artist and designer Robert Earl Paige has been named a 2026 Design Visionary honoree by the prestigious Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum as part of the National Design Awards, one of the highest recognitions in American design. The honor celebrates Paige’s decades-long influence on textile design, fine art, and the broader visual culture of Black creative expression. Born in Chicago in

From top left: Robert Lewis Paige, Monica Haslip, Janell Nelson and Blake Lenoir are the honorees at this year's Black Art Love Affair. As Chicago’s creative community continues to shape global culture, ILA Creative Studio is once again bringing artists, patrons, and advocates together for an evening centered on celebration, sustainability, and collective investment. On June 17, the organization will host the fourth annual Black Art Love Affair (BALA) at Little Black Pearl un

Left a close-up of Demond Melancon's beadwork; pictured top right with his wife, Alicia and below right with curator Koyo Kouoh. Something historic is happening in Venice right now, and we all need to take solace in how the art world can lift us up in such challenging times. For the first time, an African woman was selected as curator of the Venice Biennale, and a record number of Black artists from across the globe were invited to exhibit. For Black Americans navigating a

Work by Max Sansing, Norman Teague, and Sura Dupart The final week of I Used to Live in Chicago at Blanc Gallery in Bronzeville brings a powerful close to one of the season’s most resonant exhibitions, culminating with two special public programs before the exhibition ends May 24. An innovative dialogue In Conversation with the Work will take place on Tuesday, May 19 from 6 - 9 pm., followed by the Film Screening and Community Forum: What We Built, featuring a screening of th

When Dr. Kelli Morgan returned to Detroit in 2023 to look after aging family members, she didn't come back to build an empire. She came back to sit down and breathe. What happened instead was the founding of the Black Artists Archive and its groundbreaking learning center, the Black Curatorial Institute — an online platform that has quietly grown into one of the most radical and rigorously structured professional development programs in the arts sector today. In a May 2026 co

Nick Cave In the company of greatness. Nick Cave at the opening of In Minor Keys — the 61st Venice Biennale, conceived by the late Koyo Kouoh. Cave's Two Points in Time at Once features five works displayed in Arsenale and two of his monumental bronzes installed outdoors. Here he stands with his works Amalgam Meditation and Origin Big Chief Demond Melancon Big Chief Demond Melancon — the first Black Masking Indian to participate in the Venice Biennale — at the opening of In

Installation by A'driane Nieves Review by Ming Joi Speechlessness is seldom experienced by a woman of words like me, but what is there to say when the artworks do all the talking / take the words out of my mouth / speak for the silent moments / phrase it in a way my tongue would never try? In Unbound Narratives: Embodied Language, a group show at Atlanta Contemporary, Bethany Collins, February James, adriene nieves, and Gabi Madrid challenge the unsaid; instead, the inner tho

Top left Mother & Child (1944) by Elizabeth Catlett; top right Crowd (1988) by Lee Ungno; bottom left Exodus (1972) by Norman Lewis; bottom right Woman Pounding Grain (1957) by Park Son Keun. Standing inside the Art Institute of Chicago's landmark exhibition Korean National Treasures: 2,000 Years of Art, surrounded by 140 works spanning gilt bronze Buddhist sculpture, Joseon dynasty painting, and late 20th-century contemporary art, something unexpected happened — recognition.