Legacy & Legend

November 20, 2021-January 8, 2022

The Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College and Pitzer College Art Galleries are pleased to announce the most ambitious exhibition to date of the California artist Sadie Barnette. Sadie Barnette: Legacy & Legend is a two-venue presentation of the artist’s recent work that brings together her drawings, installations, and photographs that explore intimate family narratives within global discourses on race and power. The exhibition, curated by Benton senior curator Rebecca McGrew and Pitzer director Ciara Ennis, will be on view from July 22 through December 19, 2021.

INSTALLATION VIEW

GALLERY / GRID

SELECTED WORKS

Sadie Barnette
FBI Drawings: Mug Shot, 2021
Powdered graphite and spray paint on paper
Framed, 61 1/8 x 49 1/8 inches
155.3 x 124.8 cm

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Sadie Barnette
FBI Drawings: In My Eyes, 2021
Powdered graphite and spray paint on paper
Framed, 61 1/8 x 49 1/8 inches
155.3 x 124.8 cm

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Sadie Barnette
FBI Drawings: Very Truly Yours (New Years Eve 1968), 2021
Powdered graphite and spray paint on paper
Framed, 61 1/8 x 49 1/8 inches
155.3 x 124.8 cm

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Sadie Barnette
FBI Drawings: Mug Shot, 2021
Powdered graphite and spray paint on paper
Framed, 61 1/8 x 49 1/8 inches
155.3 x 124.8 cm

INQUIRE

Sadie Barnette
FBI Drawings: In My Eyes, 2021
Powdered graphite and spray paint on paper
Framed, 61 1/8 x 49 1/8 inches
155.3 x 124.8 cm

INQUIRE

Sadie Barnette
FBI Drawings: Very Truly Yours (New Years Eve 1968), 2021
Powdered graphite and spray paint on paper
Framed, 61 1/8 x 49 1/8 inches
155.3 x 124.8 cm

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The presentation at the Benton evolved from an earlier work of Barnette’s, Dear 1968, . . . (2017), which focused on the 500-page surveillance dossier amassed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the artist’s father, Rodney Ellis Barnette. A lifelong social-justice activist, he founded the Compton chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1968. This dossier reveals the intimidation tactics that the FBI used to harass the elder Barnette and his community. In this earlier project, the artist reclaimed these files by adorning them with bright pink spray paint, glitter, and rhinestones. Her embellishments transformed symbols of oppression into emblems of a community’s strength and resilience.

Sadie Barnette
FBI Drawings: Do Not Destroy, 2021
Powdered graphite on paper
Framed, 61 1/8 x 49 1/8 inches
155.3 x 124.8 cm

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Sadie Barnette
FBI Drawings: Informants, 2021
Powdered graphite and spray paint on paper
Framed, 61 1/8 x 49 1/8 inches
155.3 x 124.8 cm

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Sadie Barnette
Princess 2, 2021
Powdered graphite
Framed, 61 1/8 x 49 1/8 inches
155.3 x 124.8 cm

INQUIRE

Sadie Barnette
FBI Drawings: Do Not Destroy, 2021
Powdered graphite on paper
Framed, 61 1/8 x 49 1/8 inches
155.3 x 124.8 cm

INQUIRE

Sadie Barnette
FBI Drawings: Informants, 2021
Powdered graphite and spray paint on paper
Framed, 61 1/8 x 49 1/8 inches
155.3 x 124.8 cm

INQUIRE

Sadie Barnette
Princess 2, 2021
Powdered graphite
Framed, 61 1/8 x 49 1/8 inches
155.3 x 124.8 cm

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Sadie Barnette
Untitled (Best wishes), 2017
Archival pigment print
38 1/2 x 45 7/8 inches, framed
97.8 x 116.5 cm, framed
Edition 3 of 3 plus 2 artist's proofs

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Sadie Barnette
Little Sadie, 2021
Archival pigment print with Swarovski crystals
37 1/2 x 30 inches / 95.3 x 76.2 cm
Edition of 5 plus 2 artist's proofs (#2/5)

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Sadie Barnette
Birthday Flowers, 2020
Archival pigment print and Swarovski crystals
36 x 45 inches / 91.4 x 114.3 cm
Edition of 5 plus 2 artist's proofs

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Sadie Barnette
Untitled (Best wishes), 2017
Archival pigment print
38 1/2 x 45 7/8 inches, framed
97.8 x 116.5 cm, framed
Edition 3 of 3 plus 2 artist's proofs

INQUIRE

Sadie Barnette
Little Sadie, 2021
Archival pigment print with Swarovski crystals
37 1/2 x 30 inches / 95.3 x 76.2 cm
Edition of 5 plus 2 artist's proofs (#2/5)

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Sadie Barnette
Birthday Flowers, 2020
Archival pigment print and Swarovski crystals
36 x 45 inches / 91.4 x 114.3 cm
Edition of 5 plus 2 artist's proofs

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Sadie Barnette
Salon Hangout: Legends, 2021
Various framed photographs
Installation dimensions variable

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“Sadie Barnette’s compelling project fulfills our curatorial vision of presenting exhibitions that challenge our audiences to think creatively and critically about social issues,” states McGrew. Ennis continues, “We are thrilled to present Barnette’s work, which commemorates historical struggles for human potential while holding space for emancipatory futures.”

Ian F. Blair interviewed Sadie Barnette and her father, Rodney Ellis Barnette for Los Angeles Times, read it here.