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Expert Series: Curators Dr. Antonio Sergio Bessa and Dr. Leslie Cozzi
Nov 30, 2023 @ 6:15 pm
Hear about the experience of organizing Darrel Ellis: Regeneration, the first comprehensive museum exhibition of Ellis’s work, from curators Dr. Antonio Sergio Bessa and Dr. Leslie Cozzi. They will discuss Ellis’s artistic practice and the challenges of curating an exhibition focused on a relatively unknown artist whose legacy was at risk of being lost due to his AIDS-related passing at age 33 in 1992.
This drop-in experience is included with Museum admission and is free for Members. Come prepared for your visit by reserving tickets at the door or online.
The Expert Series welcomes renowned artists, scholars, and cultural activators to the Museum for expansive dialogues that dive deeper into an exhibition, artist, or theme.
About the Experts
Dr. Antonio Sergio Bessa is chief curator emeritus at The Bronx Museum, New York, where he has organized several exhibitions, including: Jamel Shabazz: Eyes on the Street (2022); Sanford Biggers: Codeswitch (2020, in collaboration with Andrea Andersson), Gordon Matta-Clark: Anarchitect (2017, in collaboration with Jessamyn Fiore); Martin Wong: Human Instamatic (2015, in collaboration with Yasmin Ramirez); Paulo Bruscky: Art Is Our Last Hope (2014), and Joan Semmel: The Lucid Eye (2012). Dr. Bessa holds a PhD from NYU Steinhardt School of Education, and in 2005 he participated in the Museum Leadership Institute at the Getty Center.
Dr. Leslie Cozzi is the curator of prints, drawings & photographs at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where she is responsible for the museum’s post-1900 works on paper and has organized numerous exhibitions, including A Modern Influence: Henri Matisse; Etta Cone and Baltimore; Omar Ba: Political Animals; and Darrel Ellis: Regeneration. She was a 2017–2018 Rome Prize Winner at the American Academy in Rome. Dr. Cozzi previously served as the curatorial associate at the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts at the Hammer Museum. She holds a PhD from the University of Virginia and a BA from Yale University.
Sponsored by:
Milwaukee Art Museum’s Contemporary Art Society and Photography Council