BLK Art Group

The BLK Art Group was the name chosen in 1982 by a group of four influential conceptual artists, painters, sculptors and installation artists based in the United Kingdom. Keith Piper, Marlene Smith, Eddie Chambers and Donald Rodney were initially based in the Midlands.
The group were all from the British African-Caribbean community and exhibited in a number of group exhibitions in both small and prestigious galleries throughout the country. Their work was noted for its boldly political stance, producing dynamic conceptual art that offered a series of inventive critiques on the state of inter-communal, class and gender relations in the UK. They were themselves influenced by a variety of artistic currents including ideas associated with the USA's Black Arts Movement. Donald Rodney, who suffered from sickle cell anaemia (anemia), died aged 36 in 1998.
Precursors.
In 1980 Eddie Chambers founded a group known as the Wolverhampton Young Black Art Group. In 1981 the group renamed themselves the Black Art Group.
In 1981 Chambers curated an exhibition, "Black Art Group", at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery. Participating artists included Dominic Daves, Ian Palmer, Andrew Hazel and Keith Piper.
Institutional impact.
Under their new name BLK Art Group, the group exhibited in 1982-83 at "The Pan-Afrikan Connection", touring to Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham; King Street Gallery in Bristol; and the Africa Centre in London. In 1983–84 the touring exhibition "The BLK Art Group" was held at the Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry, Battersea Arts Centre and again the Africa Centre. In 1988 Eddie Chambers curated the exhibition "Black Art: Plotting the Course".
The group's critique of the institutional racism of Britain's art world was part of the impetus that led to "The Other Story", a seminal survey of African and Asian artists at London's Hayward Gallery in 1989, as well as the founding of the Association of Black Photographers and the establishment of Iniva, the Institute of International Visual arts. Piper and Chambers themselves have both gone on to achieve veteran status as educators, writers and curators.
Critical appraisal.
Eddie Chambers has argued that despite their undoubted creativity and social relevance, the group suffered from the general lack of serious critical attention given to black artists by the British arts media. Nevertheless, their enthusiasm and commitment to making art relevant to everyday life ensured that they were a strong influence on the later generation of black British artists that included YBAs such as Chris Ofili and Steve McQueen, both of whom went on to win Turner Prizes, while maintaining a clear political element to their work.