Cynthia Hawkins: Art Notes, Art

A scintillating record of Cynthia Hawkins’ work and the Black gallery scene of 1970s and 1980s New York

Since the 1970s, Cynthia Hawkins (born 1950) has investigated the potentials of abstract painting. Her process-oriented practice embraces the improvisational to create a space for her continually evolving vocabulary. From 1979 to 1981, Hawkins documented these developments in a journal. A record of routine and the everyday, the journal also gathers sketches, notes for new and in-progress works, and responses to contemporary art and criticism, bringing the artist’s reflections into relief. Art Notes, Art also offers a picture of the burgeoning Black-owned gallery scene in New York that Hawkins was an important participant in—including Just Above Midtown, where she had her first solo exhibition in 1981—as well as the women artists’ circle she was an active member of. Art Notes, Art is richly illustrated with works by the artist produced during this key period, photographs and ephemera, and a visual archive of contemporaneous work by her peers.