“Growing up I did not fit in. I never knew the Slang of the day. I was always ‘other’ & ‘outside of’, even in my own community I was strange. This changed for me when I had no other choice but to listen to my soul, to trust it. The parts of myself that only quake from the inside of the inside of the inside.” ~Vanessa German
Vanessa German and her partner, Janae Brown, present an intimate exchange between Black women, a perspective absent in mainstream depictions of African-American femininity.
Vanessa German is a Los Angeles-raised, now Pittsburgh-based artist, poet and community activist. Though self-taught, her work is extremely savvy with just the right blend of artistic and political considerations. Her visually engaging and thought provoking installation $lang: Short Language in Soul consists of five large-scale figurative assemblages that German refers to as “Power Figures” or “Tar Babies” and fifteen mixed media portraits made from vintage tennis rackets. They are presented on walls decorated with pink, black and white geometric graphics.
A durational performance of exquisite tenderness.
As noted in 1001 Things Everyone Should Know about African American History (1996) by Jeffrey Stewart, Althea Gibson received her first tennis racket in 1940, being barely a teenager. She was not only the first African American to win a women’s singles at Wimbledon; but also in 1957 and 1958, she achieved status of being ranked as number one female tennis player in the world! Moonwalking forward more than six decades later, Vanessa German uses the creative tool as a weapon of agency at Gavlak Los Angeles in her exhibition, “$LANG: Short Language in Soul.” Through found tennis rackets and figurative sculpture, German honors Black femininity while simultaneously assaulting circus-mirror distorting perceptions of beauty.
Vanessa German saved her own life by making art — and breathed new life into her neighborhood by inviting local kids to make it, too.
If you’ve seen “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983,” the electrifying show at the Broad museum, you may sense a vibrant, relevant thread reaching toward Gavlak gallery, where the sculptures of Vanessa German in her first L.A. show are holding forth with commanding presence.
THE CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM of American Art announced the 2018 Don Tyson Prize has been awarded to visual and performance artist Vanessa L. German. The $200,000 biannual prize recognizes an individual artist or organization for exceptional achievement in American art. German was selected for “pushing boundaries and taking risks in the field of American art, as well as positively impacting her community through art experiences.”
b. 1976, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019 $lang: Short Language in Soul, Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
sometimes. we. cannot. be. with. our bodies., Fralin Museum of Art, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Miracles and Glory Abound, Flint Institute of Art, Flint, MI
2018 sometimes. we. cannot. be. with. our. bodies., Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
2016 de.structive dis.tillation, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
2015 i am armed. i am an army., Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY
i come to do a violence to the lie, MATRIX 174, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
Introspective: Vanessa German, The August Wilson Center for African America Culture, Pittsburgh, PA
The Ordinary Sacred,Concept Art Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Bitter Root, Northcutt Stelle Gallery, Montana State University Billings, Billings, MT
Bitter Root, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT
2014 Citizen Artist, Concept Art Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Bitter Root, Montana Museum of Art & Culture, Missoula, MT
2013 Homewood, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, New York, NY
2012 Emerging Artist of the Year,Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA
2011 Are You A Good Woman, Gallerie Chiz, Pittsburgh, PA
HOME: HOMEWOODArtist Residency, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
2010 Tar Baby, Mendelson Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Tar Baby Jane and Doo-Wop: Everything Useful For Your Modern Household, 709 Penn Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 Reclamation! Pan-African Works from the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA
2017 Female\Feminist/2017, Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, Old Lyme, CT Supernature, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY
Innovative Approaches, Honored Traditions, Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY
2016 AFRICA FORECAST: Fashioning Contemporary Life,Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Platform, Lawrence Arts Center, Lawrence, KS
Storytelling: The Georgia Review’s 70th Anniversary Art Retrospective, Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Tomorrow Never Happens, Samek Art Museum, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA
Conjurers: Artists Imbue the Ordinary, Visual Arts Center of Richmond, VA
State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now, Jepson Center for the Arts, Savannah, GA
2015 Black: Color, Material, Concept, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Re:Purposed,Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL
UNLOADED, Space, Pittsburgh, PA
Vices Peculiar to these Eclectics: Contemporary Collage,Dr. M.T. Geoffrey Art Gallery, St. John’s University, Queens, NY
Performing Blackness: Performing Whiteness, Allegheny College, Meadville, PA
Some Assembly Required, Hill Gallery, Birmingham, MI
2014 State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR
Pittsburgh Biennial, Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pittsburgh PA
SOFA: Sculpture Objects Functional Art + Design, Chicago, IL
Cabinets of Wonder, Children’s Museum of Art, New York, NY
Afrotechtopia, Samek Art Museum, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA
2013 Remix: Selections from the International Collage Center, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY
2012 To Be A Lady: Forty-five Women in the Arts, curated by Jason Andrew, 1285 Avenue of the Americas Art Gallery, New York, NY
Remix: Selections from the International Collage Center, The Duam Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO
The Art of Storytelling: Lies, Enchantment, Humor & Truth, American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD
Ill Perceived, Curated by Kristin Rogers, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Cleveland, OH
African American Art 1950-Present, Smithsonian Institution and David C. Driskell Center, College Park, MD
2011 Material Witness, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY
2010 Responding, Future Tenant Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2010, Pennsylvania State Museum, Harrisburg, PA
Art For Life, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow, I.P. Stanback Museuem, Orangeburg, SC
2009 Visionary Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
Associate Artists of Pittsburgh 99th Annual Exhibition, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
2008 Black Clay in PA: A Dialogue in Flux, August Wilson Center, Pittsburgh, PA
2007 Objectification, Callerie Chiz, Pittsburgh, PA
2005 Gestures: An Exhibition of Small Site-Specific Works, Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
PERFORMANCES
2014 Creative Summit, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, ARB.U.S. 9, Bricolage Theater, Pittsburgh, PA
2013 Homewood, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY
2011 Pittsburgh Biennale Gertrude’s/Lot, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
Too Shallow for Diving: the 21st Century is Treading Water, American Jewish Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
Material Witness, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY
2010 TEDx MIT, Cambridge, MA
Reading on Mars: American Shorts Reading Series, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
2009 Black Clay, National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (Feature performance), Erie, CO
Testify, Multiple venues (Feature performance)
Women in Politics, Chatham College (Feature Guest Performer), Pittsburgh, PA
2008 SNAP!, Science, Nature, Art and People Conference(Feature performance), Boulder, CO
Testify, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts & PFM Biennale, Pittsburg, PA
Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship International Conference (Keynote Poem and performance), Boston, MA
2007 Pittsburgh International First Voice Festival, August Wilson Center, Pittsburgh, PA
PopTech!, Camden, Maine
2005 She Said: Words by Women, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh, PA
COLLECTIONS
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, AR
David C. Driskell Center, Collage Park, MD
Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI
Franciscan University, Steubenville, OH
Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Girls Club Collection, Fort Lauderdale, FL
IP Stanback Museum, South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, SC
The Progressive Art Collection, Cleveland, OH
The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL
Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame, IN
Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Wadsworth Antheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
AWARDS
Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant
Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments
Creative Development Grant
Heinz Endowments
Sprout Fund
Ronald H Brown Leadership Award for Community Leadership
Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh
National Organization for Blacks in Law Enforcement Community Leadership Award
Women and Girls Foundation Award
Inaugural August Wilson Center Fellow
Inaugural Green For All Fellow
Center for Victims of Violence and Crime Fellow
Founding member August Wilson Center Theater Ensemble
Community Leadership Initiative Fellow
Creative Capital Flight School Fellow
