"A Fever Within: The Art of Ronald Lockett" at the American Folk Art Museum

FAIN: GA-250964-16

American Folk Art Museum (Long Island City, NY 11101-2409)
Valerie Rousseau (Project Director: February 2016 to November 2016)

To support an exhibition of the works of Ronald Lockett at the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM), the first major monographic exhibition of this self-taught African-American artist whose life was cut short at the age of 33 by AIDS related illness in 1998. His work evolved from small sculptures and paintings to richly textured and powerfully affecting compositions constructed from distressed metal and found materials. His subject matter remained broadly consistent over time, addressing themes of struggle, survival, and injustice.
 
Organized by the Ackland Art Museum and curated by Bernard L. Herman, the presentation at AFAM will be augmented with additional works from our collection and a publication of the transcription of the only in-depth interview Lockett gave shortly before his death. This exhibition of more than 50 painting, collage, and mixed media constructions will engage broad and diverse audiences and present new scholarship on this most important and previously overlooked artist.