Jae Jarrell American, b. 1935
Jae Jarrell (b. 1935), is and American artist and fashion designer, and a cofounder of AFRICOBRA. Jae was raised in Cleveland, Ohio, in a family steeped in fashion knowledge. Her grandfather was a professional tailor, and her uncle was a haberdasher, selling the notions needed for sewing. Jae and her mother would frequent vintage clothing stores together and admire the way the outfits were made. Jae taught herself how to make her own clothing, and reveled in the fact that her fashion was unique, and had a secret, vintage past.
AFRICOBRA’s goal was to understand and express the visual principals that defined black culture. As an artist adept at fashion design, Jae created groundbreaking wearable artworks that interpreted the core ideas of the group. She also expanded on those ideas, developing abstract, idiosyncratic methods of translating black positivity into fashion objects.
-
Celebrating AFRICOBRA
Kavi Gupta celebrates the one-year anniversary of AFRICOBRA: Nation Time at the Venice Biennalle May 21, 2020Kavi Gupta celebrates the one-year anniversary of AFRICOBRA: Nation Time at the Venice Biennalle, the two-year anniversary of AFRICOBRA 50 at Kavi Gupta in Chicago,...Read more -
EXPO CHICAGO 2018 /Dialogues: AfriCOBRA: Chicago in the Age of Black Power
September 28, 2018Moderated by Franklin Sirmans (Pérez Art Museum Miami), this panel focused on the art of AfriCOBRA members Jae Jarrell, Wadsworth Jarrell, and Gerald Williams. Presented...Read more
-
Jae JarrellBrothers Surrounding Sis, 1970Acrylic paint on suedeDimensions variable - currently on tour "Soul of a Nation, Art in the Age of Black Power" Tate Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Crystal Bridges and upcoming the Broad LA.
-
Jae JarrellFrock You, 1994Wool, wood, mixed media73 1/4 x 48 3/8 x 6 in
185.9 x 122.9 x 15.2 cm -
Jae JarrellJazz Scramble Jacket, 2015Silkscreened cowhide splitsDimensions variable
-
Jae JarrellUrban Wall Vest, c. 1995Dyed and painted suedeVariable dimensions
-
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power
Museum of Fine Arts | Houston, TX 27 Jun - 30 Aug 2020The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, presents Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, featuring work by more than 60 Black artists that was created over...Read more -
Duro Olowu: Seeing Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art | Chicago, IL 29 Feb - 27 Sep 2020DURO OLOWU: SEEING CHICAGORead more
Featuring Jeffrey Gibson, Jae Jarrell,
Wadsworth Jarrell, and Gerald Williams -
Soul of A Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power
deYoung Museum | San Francisco, CA 9 Nov 2019 - 15 Mar 2020Kavi Gupta congratulates gallery artists Jae Jarrell, Wadsworth Jarrell, and Gerald Williams on their participation in Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, which recently opened at the de Young Museum, San Francisco, after traveling from the the Broad Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, London’s Tate Modern, and Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, AR.Read more -
AFRICOBRA NATION TIME
Venice Biennale 2019 | La Biennale di Venezia 2019 in Venice, Italy. 11 May - 24 Nov 2019Kavi Gupta is honored to sponsor AFRICOBRA: Nation Time as an official Collateral Event of La Biennale di Venezia 2019 (May 11th – November 24th 2019), in Venice, Italy.Read more -
Idea Sale
Kavi Gupta | 219 N. Elizabeth St. Chicago, IL, 60607 13 Apr - 1 Jun 2019Kavi Gupta is pleased to present Idea Sale, a group exhibition of original works by Glenn Kaino, Jae Jarrell, Wadsworth Jarrell, Manish Nai, Scott Reeder, Tony Tasset, José Lerma, Jessica Stockholder, and Angel Otero.Read more -
AFRICOBRA Messages to the People
Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami | Miami, FL 27 Nov 2018 - 24 Mar 2019MOCA presents a groundbreaking exhibition celebrating the founding of AFRICOBRA – the Black artist collective that helped define the visual aesthetic of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the collective, which came out of Chicago.Read more
November 27, 2018 – March 24, 2019 -
AFRICOBRA 50
Kavi Gupta | 219 N. Elizabeth St. Chicago, IL, 60607 29 Sep - 27 Oct 2018Kavi Gupta is pleased to present AFRICOBRA 50, a landmark exhibition of original works by the five founding members of AFRICOBRA—Gerald Williams, Wadsworth Jarrell, Jae Jarrell, Jeff Donaldson, and Barbara Jones-Hogu—as well as a select group of peers who influenced or were influenced by AFRICOBRA, including Basil Kincaid, Carolyn Lawrence, Bernard Williams, Sherman Beck, Shahar Caren Weaver, Robert Paige, and James Phillips.Read more -
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power
Brooklyn Museum | NY 14 Sep 2018 - 3 Feb 2019Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power shines light on a broad spectrum of Black artistic practice from 1963 to 1983, one of the most politically, socially, and aesthetically revolutionary periods in American history. Black artists across the country worked in communities, in collectives, and individually to create a range of art responsive to the moment—including figurative and abstract painting, prints, and photography; assemblage and sculpture; and performance.Read more -
The Time Is NOW! Art Worlds of Chicago’s South Side, 1960–1980
Smart Museum of Art | Chicago, IL 13 Sep - 30 Dec 2018The Time Is Now! examines this watershed cultural moment—brimming with change and conflict—and the figures who defined it.Read more -
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art | Bentonville, AR 3 Feb - 23 Apr 2018Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power shines a bright light on the vital contribution of Black artists to an important period in American history and...Read more -
Heritage: Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell
Cleveland Museum of Art | Cleveland, OH 19 Nov 2017 - 25 Feb 2018Inspired by the Cleveland Museum of Art’s recent acquisition of Wadsworth Jarrell’s Heritage (1973), a painting of great significance, the exhibition Heritage: Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell examines the work and...Read more -
The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now
ICA | Philadelphia, PA 14 Sep - 19 Mar 2017The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now links the vibrant legacy of the 1960s African American avant-garde to current art and culture. It is occasioned in...Read more -
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power
Tate Modern | London, UK 12 Jul - 22 Oct 2017Gerald Williams Wadsworth Jarrell and Jae Jarrell's work will be featured in the Tate Modern’s current exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power.Read more -
We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85
Brooklyn Museum | Brooklyn, NYC 21 Apr - 17 Sep 2017This exhibition presents the work of more than forty artists and activists who built their careers—and committed themselves to political change—during a time of social tumult in the United States....Read more -
The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music
MCA | Chicago, IL 11 Jul - 22 Nov 2015The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now links the vibrant legacy of the 1960s African American avant-garde to current art and culture. It is occasioned in...Read more -
AFRICOBRA: Philosophy
Logan Center Gallery | Chicago, IL 28 Jun - 11 Aug 2013AFRICOBRA in Chicago is a linked series of exhibitions and public programs scheduled May–September 2013 focusing on the Chicago artist group AFRICOBRA (African Commune Of Bad Relevant Artists), founded in...Read more
-
AFRICOBRA ARTISTS HONORED AT SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO 2020 VIRTUAL COMMENCEMENT, OFFER ADVICE TO GRADUATES
Victoria L. Valentine, CultureType, May 29, 2020 -
CHICAGO ART HEIST: FASHION DESIGNER DURO OLOWU RAIDS CITY’S WALLS TO CREATE EXUBERANT ‘SEEING CHICAGO’ AT MCA — CHICAGO
Steve Johnson, Chicago Tribune, March 24, 2020 -
THE BROAD BRINGS ‘SOUL OF A NATION’ EXHIBITION TO WEST COAST
Enrique Menendez, HYPEBEAST, March 13, 2019 -
STILL THE MAIN ATTRACTION, ART BASEL RETURNS TO MIAMI BEACH
Paul Laster, Galerie, December 1, 2018 -
FROM A JUDY CHICAGO RETROSPECTIVE TO A CELEBRATION OF AFRICOBRA, HERE ARE 11 SHOWS TO SEE IN MIAMI DURING ART BASEL
Caroline Goldstein, Artnet News, November 27, 2018 -
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART NORTH MIAMI SHINES NEW LIGHT ON AFRICOBRA
Chadd Scott, Forbes, November 25, 2018 -
50 YEARS LATER, CHICAGO ARTISTS ARE GETTING THEIR DUE
Tarrio Mzezewa, New York Times, November 8, 2018 -
CHICAGO ROUNDUP (EXCERPT)
Orti Gat, Art Agenda, October 5, 2018 -
MIAMI’S MOCA PRESENTS CHICAGO-BASED AFRICOBRA COLLECTIVE DURING ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2018
Art Fix Daily, Art Fix Daily, October 4, 2018 -
WHAT NOT TO MISS AT FRIEZE LONDON (EXCERPT)
Adam Heardman, Mutual Art, September 26, 2018 -
‘ART WORLDS OF CHICAGO’S SOUTH SIDE’ SHEDS LIGHT ON OVERLOOKED ART, DESIGN
Kyle Macmillan, Chicago Sun TImes, September 14, 2018 -
RADIANT AND RADICAL: 20 YEARS OF DEFINING THE SOUL OF BLACK ART
Holland Cotter, New York Times, September 13, 2018 -
CHICAGO AND THE AGE OF BLACK POWER: AN INTERVIEW WITH AFRICOBRA FOUNDING MEMBER GERALD WILLIAMS
Vasia Rigou, New City Art, September 6, 2018 -
‘SOUL OF A NATION,’ CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED EXHIBIT CELEBRATING BLACK POWER, COMES TO BROOKLYN
Andrea Leonhardt, BK reader, May 30, 2018 -
SOULFUL: ‘ART IN THE AGE OF BLACK POWER’ AT CRYSTAL BRIDGES
Leslie Newell Peacock, Arkansas Times, January 31, 2018 -
Notes on Freedom
Jessica Bell Brown, ICA Philadelphia, November 28, 2016
-
INSIDE LOOK AT AFRICOBRA: NATION TIME IN VENICE
05.14.2019INSIDE LOOK AT AFRICOBRA: NATION TIME IN VENICERead more -
SNEAK PEEK: AFRICOBRA: NATION TIME @BIENNALEARTE2019
05.05.19Sneak peak at preparations for AFRICOBRA: Nation Time at the Venice BiennaleRead more -
AFRICOBRA IS GOING TO VENICE!
03.07.2019Africobra included in the 2019 Venice BiennaleRead more -
AFRICOBRA AMAZES ART BASEL AUDIENCES WITH NORTH MIAMI MOCA RETROSPECTIVE
12.11.18AFRICOBRA: Messages to the People opened to enthusiastically delighted crowds during Miami Art Week. On opening night, all of the surviving co-founders of the influential Black Arts collective were on hand.Read more -
AFRICOBRA 50 OPENING
09.03.2018AFRICOBRA 50 opened last week at our Elizabeth Street location!Read more -
THE TIME IS NOW! FALL OPENINGS
09.19.2018Last week, "The Time Is Now! Art Worlds of Chicago's South Side, 1960-1980" opened at the Smart Museum of Art.Read more -
FIFTY YEARS OF AFRICOBRA!
09.11.18FIFTY YEARS OF AFRICOBRA! Fall 2018Read more