Jack Whitten’s “Black Monoliths” paintings embodied the artist’s way of memorializing figures who have impacted him as an artist and citizen. “I have to locate the essence of that person,” said Whitten. “That person becomes a symbol and I build that into the paint.” As institutions make efforts to showcase more artists of color, previously hidden figures are emerging throughout museum galleries, academic curriculum, and media platforms to better reflect the contemporary conversations of a multicultural community.

“What if there’s another way of considering history?” questions Stan Douglas. For Black History Month, this playlist features artists who monumentalize everyday heroes and icons alike, both embracing Black histories, while not being defined by them. From Chicago to Johannesburg, artists continue to shape a new narrative of the Black experience. For Rashid Johnson, it’s inevitable that the issues around “my Blackness have a strong effect on how my work is born,” but it doesn’t define it; his approach is rooted in “a bigger history of art.”

In discovering a new medium, artists in many ways learn a new language and a new avenue of creative expression. “The ability to draw and paint well was getting in the way of me realizing something larger,” reflected Leonardo Drew. By making the decision to step outside of the comfort zone, Drew spent years experimenting before he had a breakthrough making installations.

In this playlist, artists bounce between mediums, pulling techniques from one form and applying them to another, expanding narratives. Avery Singer promotes the philosophy that a “technique tells its own story,” and the juxtaposition of new and old “produces a new visual reality” and new meaning.

“I grew up working in a meditative way and having those love hours go into the objects,” shared Alex Da Corte. But what are “love hours” and how did that concept come about? Discovering a source of inspiration is an unparalleled feeling, often resulting in creative expression, new opinions, and perhaps a fresh outlook on life. Adds Da Corte, “I think about the Mike Kelley piece, More Love Hours that Can Never Be Repaid, and think about the unseen labor.”

In this playlist, we go under the influence and explore the network of inspiration amongst artists.  In conversation and often in admiration of each other’s approach and expression—perhaps leading to a collaboration or simply a workflow—everyone is encouraged to find guidance through an artist that speaks to their own sensibilities. “Just to see what sculpture can do,” says Liz Larner in admiration of Tony Smith’s “Smoke” (1967), “this I think is probably one of the greatest examples of that ever.”