STANLEY WHITNEY: NO TO PRISON LIFE @ LISSON GALLERY 13 JULY- 27 JULY
In a online exhibition, Lisson Gallery presents new drawings by Stanley Whitney created during the lock down in New York. The show’s title, No To Prison Life, is a protest slogan by the artist against a system that arrests and incarcerates African Americans at ten times the rate than White Americans. In New York, African Americans are more likely to be stopped and arrested than Whites and are four times more likely to be arrested for drug possession across the country.
Mass incarceration is a civil rights problem. Police brutality is a serious issue in America. #George Floyd, an unarmed African American man had a knee pressed on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds after he was put in handcuffs. He was killed laying face down in the street.
I love that Whitney is addressing the issue. 10% of proceeds from each drawing sold will go towards the Arts for Justice fund supporting artists and activists focused on reducing prison populations, working with partners to reallocate government funding to invest in communities of color, and shortening sentences and changing the narrative through art.
No to prison life is a collaboration between Whitney and the Arts for Justice Fund. The Arts for Justice Fund pushes for criminal justice reform. Founded in 2017 by Anges Gund, a woman dubbed by the New York Times as the “last good rich person”, Gund sold her Roy Lichtenstein painting to donate $100 million dollars to start the fund.
Also published online is an interview between the artist and his son.
Lisson Gallery
