From Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art on display at the Brooklyn Museum.
What does it mean to implore someone to “have several seats?”
Not to be overused or thrown around willy-nilly, the term is a directive for someone to calm down, allow more room for others, or to simply do less.
The phrase originated in Black and Latinx ballroom culture and it’s the namesake for an entire section of Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art, where portrait paintings from our American art collection are hung at seated height, so visitors are eye-level with the sitters in the paintings when viewed from the park benches in the gallery.
Victoria von Blaque, entertainer and co-founder of the House of Transcendence, is one of the ballroom and drag artists we invited to write a special gallery label and “spill the T” or tell the truth about the history of seated portraits which have been inextricably tied to nation-building, positions of power, and attempts by white Americans to exert control over the historical record.
About Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art
Black feminist and BIPOC perspectives act as through lines in this vast presentation of more than 400 works. In each of eight galleries, you’ll find a thought-provoking framework inspired by the abundant contributions of historically marginalized cultural producers. Every space is a distinct encounter with the collection, from the bloom-covered walls in “To Give Flowers” to the contemplative respite of “A Quiet Place,” to the chance to strut the runway before an audience of seated portraits in “Several Seats.”
Myriad voices—of curators, artists, Brooklyn Botanic Garden staff, and NYC drag queens, to name a few—add to the many conversations and questions that the reinstallation surfaces. While grappling with heavy histories, the display emphasizes joy, celebrating American art and artists in all their forms.
Learn more at www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/american-art.
