Episode 08: Navindren Hodges, Second Generation Black Gallerist With Newark Origins, Takes The Global Lead
My first introduction to Navindren Hodges came by way of an email from him promoting the sale of a unique print by the iconic Black abstract sculptor, Richard Hunt. I later met Navindren, in person, when I picked up the print at one of the oldest Black owned galleries in the country, the Bill Hodges Gallery, that was then located on 57th street in New York City.
Navindren Hodges is the Gallery Director for Bill Hodges Gallery, now located in the Chelsea arts district in Manhattan. The gallery was established in 1979 by his father, Bill Hodges. The gallery’s collection ranges from 19th-century Black artists Henry Ossawa Tanner to Harlem Renaissance legends James Van der Zee to modernist, abstraction icons Norman Lewis, Jacob Lawrence, and Romare Bearden and contemporaries Willie Cole, Carrie Mae Weems and Kehinde Wiley. The gallery’s practice is broad and there are many Latin American, Asian and European artists within the roster as well.
Hodges notes that the market for African American artists and women artists is strong particularly due to the deaccessioning (divesting of art) occurring at many museums that are now looking, in many instances, to replace them with these two categories of artists who have long been under-represented. The gallery has been experiencing strong demand for Edward Clark, Norman Lewis, Frank Bowling and the photographs of Roy DeCarava amongst many others.
Navindren attended the Sotheby’s Institute of Art where he received a Master’s Degree in Art Business and the University of Iowa where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology.
Bill Hodges Gallery: http://billhodgesgallery.com/
Check out the images in this episode on: What’s Newark To Do With It?
Navindren Hodges presenting Demetrius Oliver’s, Totem, 2004, from the Bill Hodges Gallery collection..
Wilie Cole, Mother and Child #2, 2020. Bronze with Red Patina. Featured in the current exhibition, Selections From The Collection, until June 11, 2021.
Bill Hodges Kavie Barnes and Navindren Hodges attend the Visual Aids 13th Annual “Postcards From The Edge” preview cocktail party, 2010.
Navindren Hodges presenting Robert Colescott’s, Lock and Key I, 1989 from the Bill Hodges Gallery collection.
Navindren Hodges presenting Norman Lewis’, Exodus, 1972. Oil on Canvas, from the Bill Hodges Gallery collection.
Navindren Hodges presenting Sam Gilliam’s, Renaissance I, 1986 from the Bill Hodges Gallery.
Bill Hodges Gallery postcard for an exhibition, 2010.
Takashi Murakami, 727, 1996. A favorite work of Navindren’s.