“Art and Race Matters: The Career of Robert Colescott” is a retrospective exhibition co-curated by alum Matthew Weseley (M.A., ‘13) and art historian Lowery Stokes Sims. Now at the New Museum in Manhattan, “Art and Race Matters” was originally organized by the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati–this exhibition has been receiving coverage in the New York press. Read reviews from The New York Times and The New Yorker.

This show, the first comprehensive retrospective of Colescott, displays 85 works from his career, highlighting an extensive body of work that confronted diversity and racial stereotypes. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by Rizzoli Electa.  Before the New Museum, the show traveled to the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati (September, 20, 2019 – January 12, 2020), the Portland Art Museum (February 15 – May 17, 2020), Chicago Cultural Center (June 20 – September 27, 2020) and Akron Art Museum (October 25, 2020 – January 31, 2021).

Weseley earned his B.A. at Stanford before coming to UC Davis to complete his M.A. in art history on “Robert Colescott’s Search for Identity.” He is currently at work on a monograph on the art of Robert Colescott. 

Watch Matthew in a 2020 panel discussion at the Portland Art Museum discussing Colescott and the exhibition.