Betye Saar

Roberts Projects is thrilled to present Something Blue, an exhibition of selected artworks by Betye Saar from 1983 to 2018. All of the works on view feature the color blue as a means to explore such concepts as magic, voodoo, and the occult. In her new assemblages dating from 2018, Saar revisits the holistic inclusion of various religious objects, totems, talismans and charms in the materiality and temporality of her work. This focus on the mystic shares space with her familiar motifs including derogatory black collectibles, outlines of her hand, and personal and familial objects.

Something Blue is the artist's sixth solo show with the gallery.

Betye Saar (b.1926) is one of the most important artists of her generation, playing a seminal role in the development of Assemblage art. Since the 1960s, her work has reflected on African-American identity, spirituality and the connectedness between different cultures.

In September 2018, The Getty Research Institute announced the creation of an African American Art History Initiative with the acquisition of Saar's archives. The Betye Saar Papers ranges from 1926 to the present covering her entire career and her life as an artist.

Forthcoming exhibitions include "Betye Saar: Keepin' It Clean" New-York Historical Society Museum and Library, New York, NY, catalogue (November 2, 2018 - March 17, 2019), catalogue; "Betye Saar: Call and Response", Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (September 22, 2019 - April 5, 2020), catalogue, (traveling to the Morgan Library, New York, NY); and "By Any Means: Modern and Contemporary Drawings from The Morgan", The Morgan Library and Museum, New York, NY (January 18 - May 12, 2019).

Recent solo exhibitions include "Betye Saar: Mojotech" National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland (October 20, 2018 - April 28, 2019). Other recent exhibitions include "Outliers and American Vanguard Art" National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, (January 28 - May 13, 2018), catalogue (traveling to the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA); "We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965 - 85" Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (February 17 - May 27, 2018), catalogue; and "Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power" Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (September 7, 2018 - February 3, 2019), catalogue (traveled from Tate Modern, London, England, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Ark, and forthcoming at The Broad, Los Angeles, CA).