MOCA GA / Calendar

2021/2022 Working Artist Project

This round of Working Artist Projects was curated by Jordan Carter, Curator at Dia Art Foundation in New York

About the Exhibition

“When I turned eighteen years old, my grandfather told me about a tree on his property where African American men had been lynched by their neckties on their way to vote.  The experience left a profound impression. I am personally tethered to this inescapable memory.”

-Kevin Cole

Where do we go from here? features new artwork, continuing the artist’s exploration into themes of Gerrymandering and voting rights.

Artist Talk, September 29, 2022

About Kevin Cole

Kevin Cole received his B.S. from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, an M.A. in Art Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana, and an M.F.A. from Northern Illinois University where he was a Rhoden Smith Scholar. Within the last 32 years, he has received 27 grants and fellowships, 66 awards in art, 51 teaching awards and his artwork has been featured in more than 490 exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad. Some of his more recent awards include the 2020 Governor’s Award for the Arts and Humanities in the State of Georgia and the Art Aspiration Award by the National Society Incorporation for his dedication to students’ achievements. Additionally, Cole’s artwork is included in more than 4000 public, private, and corporate collections both nationally and internationally.

Public collections in which Kevin Cole’s work can be found include: The National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC; The Georgia Museum, Athens, GA;  High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; William Jefferson Clinton Library, Little Rock, AR; Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock AR; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CN; The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA; The David C. Driskell Center University of Maryland at College Park; Dayton Institute of Art, Dayton, OH; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, PA; The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA), Atlanta, GA; Corcoran Museum, Washington, D.C.; Tampa Museum, Tampa, FL; and The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.  Some corporate and private collections include Bank of America, Charlotte, NC; IBM, New York, NY; King and Spaulding Law Firm, Atlanta, GA;  and the collections of Michael Jordan and John and Monica Pearson of Atlanta.

Kevin Cole has also created more than 45 public artworks, including the Coca-Cola Centennial Olympic Mural for the 1996 Olympic Games. His artwork has been featured in more than 125 publications, including The Guardian Magazine in Paris, France; Scholastic Art (with Dale Chihuly); The Washington Post; Sculpture Magazine; The Union Tribune in San Diego, CA; The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Atlanta; and most recently Forbes Magazine.

Above Detail: All tied up in politics, the cover up, 2021-2022, Etched Aluminum and tar paper. 84 x156 x11 inches, by Kevin Cole

Major funding provided by the Charles Loridans Foundation, the Antinori Foundation, and the AEC Trust, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts.