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02/21/2025
BELLAGIO GALLERY’S ‘AMERICAN DUET: JAZZ & ABSTRACT ART’ STRIKES A CHORD
FINE ART
BELLAGIO GALLERY’S ‘AMERICAN DUET: JAZZ & ABSTRACT ART’ STRIKES A CHORDImage Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art / Courtesy
Amber SampsonThu, Feb 20, 2025 (2 a.m.)
The late African-American abstract painter Sam Gilliam shared one of his greatest sources of inspiration with W magazine in 2014: “Before painting, there was jazz. I mean cool jazz. Coltrane. Ornette Coleman, the Ayler brothers, Miles Davis. It’s something that was important to my work, it was a constant. You listened while you were painting. It made you think that being young wasn’t so bad. All the young painters were into jazz.”
That sentiment is shared by countless other contemporaries in the art realm. Many have owned jazz dens and performed in bebop bands when they weren’t creating on canvas, and American Duet: Jazz & Abstract Art, the current exhibit at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, seeks to explore that connection.
Pulling from the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art, American Duet demonstrates how jazz has played a significant role in 34 modern and contemporary artists’ lives. As the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s moved the needle through activism and artistry, jazz musicians joined the cause, giving the movement a profoundly louder voice.
Prior to stepping into the gallery, you’ll be shown a QR code to scan, which unlocks a playlist of jazz tracks curated specifically for the exhibit. As you peruse the works of prominent abstractionists like Herbert Gentry, Anthony Smith Jr., John E. Dowell Jr. and others, the swinging harmonies of John Coltrane and Miles Davis fill the room. The prolific bandleader Herbie Hancock introduces a fusion of funk into his rhythm section. And then you start to notice the overlaps.
Gilliam’s piece, “Purple Antelope Squeeze Space II,” is like that of improvisational jazz: loud, loose and fast. It’s a map of embossed texture, viciously etched with colors as bold as the horn section of a band. By contrast, Richard Mayhew’s jazz influence manifests through soft, hand-pulled silkscreen on “Summation,” a work that recalls the dreamlike “mindscapes” associated with spirituality and transcendentally smooth melodies. “Springtime Again” by Sun Ra & His Arkestra should be essential listening with this piece.
Adger Cowans is another artist fluent in the language of both sound and color. The photographer and painter’s 1970s piece, “Untitled (gold on green vinyl),” appears absolutely alive. By dragging a horse comb through metallic powders and pigment, Cowans achieves an illusion of vibration and movement, a clear ripple across a sea of sound.
That ability to hear the artwork is a common theme throughout American Duet. The stark lines of Mavis Pusey’s “Frozen Vibration” almost seem to pierce out, shrilling with the temperament of an angry trumpet. Meanwhile, Xenobia Bailey’s “Think” features a record-shaped tapestry of hand-crocheted cotton and yarn, and a physical copy of the eponymous 1968 single by Aretha Franklin.
Through this lens of jazz, we’re able to experience how other artists experience their work. It’s a visual harmony of sorts, and American Duet hits all the right notes.
American Duet: Jazz & Abstract Art Thru June 1; daily, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; $19. Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, bellagio.mgmresorts.com.
