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Michael Richards: Are You Down?

March 4–July 23, 2023

Michael Richards’s visionary sculptures and drawings, created between 1990 and 2001, engage Blackness, flight, diaspora, spirituality, police brutality, and monuments in his largest retrospective to date. Michael Richards: Are You Down? takes its name from one of the last artworks the artist created.

In his sculptures and installations, Richards gestures toward both repression and reprieve from social injustices and the simultaneous possibilities of uplift and downfall, often in the context of the historic and ongoing oppression of Black people. Flight and aviation were central themes for Richards as an exploration of freedom and escape, ascendance and descent. These themes are especially evident in Richards’s engagement with the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen, including his well-known sculpture Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian (1999)—a version of which has been on continuous display at the NCMA since 2003.

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Please note: registration is not required for this exhibition. 


Participating Sponsor

 

Michael Richards: Are You Down? is co-curated by Alex Fialho and Melissa Levin, and organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami. The exhibition is made possible with lead support from Oolite Arts and major support from the Wege Foundation. We are grateful to the Green Family Foundation and Funding Arts Network. Thanks to Brooke Davis Anderson; Roberta Denning; V. Joy Simmons, MD; Miami MoCAAD; and John Shubin for their generosity. Special thanks to Michael Richards’s cousin and steward of his estate, Dawn Dale.

In Raleigh additional support is made possible, in part, by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources; the North Carolina Museum of Art Foundation, Inc.; and the William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment for Educational Exhibitions. Research for this exhibition was made possible by Ann and Jim Goodnight/The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fund for Curatorial and Conservation Research and Travel.

Plan Your Visit

Plan Your Visit

Have a question or need help? Email our visitor experience team at help@ncartmuseum.org.

Museum Hours

Wednesday–Sunday, 10 am–5 pm

Closed Monday and Tuesday

Guidelines

  • Visitors can place large bags and water bottles in Museum lockers; luggage is not permitted.
  • For accessibility questions or accommodations, email Felicia Ingram at felicia.ingram@ncdcr.gov.
  • Photography is permitted unless otherwise noted.
Become a Member

Become a member today to enjoy special savings!

BECOME A MEMBER

Enhance your experience of all special exhibitions and our world-class collection with these exclusive benefits:

  • Free admission for all special ticketed exhibitions 
  • Exclusive Member Mondays during select ticketed exhibitions
  • Invitations to exhibition openings and other celebrations
  • Discount on summer concerts in the Joseph M. Bryan, Jr., Theater in the Museum Park
  • Discount on NCMA Cinema tickets
  • Free admission to summer movies
  • 10% off purchases in the Museum Store
  • Preview, the Museum’s quarterly members publication, mailed to your home
  • Member e-newsletters
Location and Parking

Location

2110 Blue Ridge Road
Raleigh, NC 27607

Parking

Visitor parking is free and available in the Blue Ridge lots, on the right after entering the Museum drive. Overflow parking is behind West Building, on the left after entering the Museum drive. Visitor drop-off is located between West and East buildings and can be reached by turning left after entering the Museum drive and following the signs.

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