Celebrate Tommie Smith’s life of advocacy as Glenn Kaino captures this momentous return of the Olympic athlete to San José. Join Smith on Friday, Nov 1, as he arrives in style to the opening reception of With Drawn Arms: Glenn Kaino and Tommie Smith, following his induction ceremony into the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, CO. Kaino will complete his documentary of Smith’s life by filming the athlete’s homecoming to San José. Cheer Tommie on as he arrives to SJMA between 9–10pm. Galleries open until 11pm!
Note: By attending this event you consent to be filmed.
Featuring music by The C.M.E. + resident DJ Chale Brown.
For faster check-in, print your FREE tickets in advance.
Friday, November 1, 2019–Sunday, April 5, 2020
The exhibition will open to the public at 5pm on Friday, November 1
In 1968, at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City, San José State University runner Tommie Smith raised a gloved fist during the medal ceremony to protest human rights abuses around the world, and to bring international attention to the struggle for civil rights in the United States. This act of protest, which still reverberates today, is explored in a series of collaborations between Smith and Los Angeles–based conceptual artist Glenn Kaino. The exhibition includes monumental sculpture, print-based projects, and memorabilia from Smith’s personal collection that reflect his time as an athlete and civil rights activist.
Friday, November 1, 2019–Sunday, April 5, 2020
The exhibition will open to the public at 5pm on Friday, November 1
Oakland-based artist Woody De Othello creates anthropomorphized household objects in ceramic. Belying their cheery and colorful veneers is a darkly comedic sense of exhaustion. Born in Miami to a family of Haitian descent, Othello is interested in the nature of many African objects, which offer both ritual and utilitarian functions and possess a spirit of their own. His sculptures express a tension between the animate and inanimate and draw humor from a place of pain. For his project at the SJMA—the artist’s first solo museum presentation—Othello is creating a new body of work based around his Defeated, depleted (2018), a sculpture recently acquired by San José Museum of Art.
Facebook First Fridays This sponsorship initiative is led by the Facebook Art Department, which provides opportunities for artists to create new, large-scale, site-specific installations on Facebook campuses nation-wide, with the goal of fostering creative experimentation and supporting neighboring artistic communities. For more information, visit fb.com/artistinresidence or go to Instagram @fbairprogram.
With Drawn Arms: Glenn Kaino and Tommie Smith With Drawn Arms: Glenn Kaino and Tommie Smith is sponsored by the San José Museum of Art's Exhibitions Fund with generous grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Applied Materials Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and contributions from McManis Faulkner and Tad Freese and Brook Hartzell.
Programs at the San José Museum of Art are made possible by generous support from the Museum's Board of Trustees, a Cultural Affairs Grant from the City of San José, the Lipman Family Foundation, Yvonne and Mike Nevens, Facebook Art Department, the Richard A. Karp Charitable Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Yellow Chair Foundation, the SJMA Director's Council and Council of 100, the San José Museum of Art Endowment Fund established by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and The William Randolph Hearst Foundation.
Image: Glenn Kaino, Bridge (detail), 2014. Installation view of With Drawn Arms: Glenn Kaino and Tommie Smith, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2018. Photo by Mike Jensen.
Woody De Othello: Breathing Room Woody De Othello: Breathing Room is supported by the San José Museum of Art's exhibitions fund, with contributions from Tad Freese and Brook Hartzell, the Lipman Family Foundation, and Donna and Marvin C. Schwartz. Programs at SJMA are made possible by generous support from the Museum's Board of Trustees, a Cultural Affairs Grant from the City of San José, the Lipman Family Foundation, Yvonne and Mike Nevens, Facebook Art Department, the Richard A. Karp Charitable Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Yellow Chair Foundation, the SJMA Director's Council and Council of 100, the SJMA Endowment Fund established by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and The William Randolph Hearst Foundation.
Image: Woody De Othello, Defeated, depleted, 2018. Ceramic, underglaze, and glaze; 38 × 22 × 19 inches; San José Museum of Art. Gift of Tad Freese and the Lipman Family Foundation; 2018.13.
