Reception: Not Another Black Art Show

Niza Knoll Gallery presents: Not Another Black Art Show
Curated by Tyree Jones-Evans
On view: May 30 – June 29, 2025
Artist reception: Saturday, June 7, 6:00–9:00 pm
Artist panel: Friday, June 20, 1:00–4:00 pm

The show aims to create a space that abandons imposed meanings behind black art and embraces nuance within the work. Local artists Johnny Draco, Joseph Graves, Jasmine Holmes, Tyree Jones-Evans, Angel Tirado and Devin Urioste will showcase sincere work to isolate themselves from racial expectations and show that their narratives lie far beyond what one month or one day could ever acknowledge.

“Blackness and black history are inescapable lenses for black artists; this show makes no effort to deny those truths.” explains Jones-Evans, “The show does, however, decentralize expectational ‘black’ themes and emphasizes that said themes do not need to be included in the work for them to exist in the work. Nor do they need to be included for the work to be important. In acknowledging so, the superficial take that reduces artists to two-dimensional figures is eliminated, setting free the richness of invention, narration, and culture that lives within the artist. Not Another Black Art Show thrives in miscellany, which silences the monolithic experience.”

The panel discussion will focus on the multifacetedness of black art. Artists will talk about how their black experience influences their practice, and how they navigate an industry that will always fail at keeping them in boxes.