Malick Sidibé
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Press Release
Malick Sidibé
July 1 – August 5, 2011
It is clear from Sidibé’s photographs that what the youth in Bamako wanted most in those days was James Brown and the freedom and existential subjectivity that linked independence to the universal youth movement of the 1960s…. These photographs are speaking to me now, not only as important aesthetic documents on the culture of the 1960s, but also as documents that both problematize the narrow meaning of nationalism extent at that time, and open the door for Pan-African and diasporic aesthetics through rock and roll.
-Manthia Diawara
Jack Shainman Gallery is pleased to announce our fourth solo exhibition of photographs by Malick SIdibé. This show combines Sidibé’s vintage studio portraits with contemporary prints, including some of his most iconic images. Since first exhibiting in Europe nearly two decades ago, Sidibé has become an internationally renowned artist and documentarian, a cult figure whose studio, street and dance club photographs capture the ethos of 1960s and 70s Bamakois life. Before moving out into the streets with his camera, Sidibé’s studio was a nexus where a generation of people went to act out their aspirations, assert their independence and flaunt this moment’s major shift in habitus.
Malick Sidibé is the 2008 recipient of International Center of Photography Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2007 he was the first photographer, as well as the first African to be awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Award by the Board of La Biennale di Venezia. He also was the recipient of the Hasselblad Award in 2003.Past solo exhibitions include Think with the Senses Feel with the Mind, 52nd International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennial, 2007, Fotografiemuseum (FOAM), Amsterdam, 2008, The Cartier Foundation, Paris, 2004, African Art, African Voices, Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA, 2004, and Common Ground, Discovering Community in 150 Years of Art, Corcoran Museum of Art, Washington, DC, 2004.
Sidibé’s work is included in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA,Birmingham Museum of Art, AL, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA and the International Center of Photography, New York, NY, among numerous others.
Upcoming exhibitions at the gallery include Nick Cave,Ever-After, in collaboration with Mary Boone Gallery opening September 8, and on view through October 8, 2011.
The gallery’s summer hours are Monday through Friday from 10 am to 6 pm. For additional information and photographic material please contact the gallery at info@jackshainman.com.