Afri-Cobra III : [exhibition] September 7 to September 30, 1973

AfriCOBRA (the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists) is an organization of Black artists founded in Chicago in 1968. This catalog from their third group exhibition includes an ideological history and statement of aesthetic principles, as well as artist statements from the individuals that formed the group. Barbara Jones Hugo concludes their statement, "AFRI-COBRA will not only state our problems and solutions but also state our emotions, our joys, our love, our attitude, our character, our total emotional and intellectual responses and feelings. Art can be a liberating force—a positive approach concerning our plight and the direction of our people. Visual imagery should bring us together and uplift us as a people into a common—a common unit, moving toward a common destination and a common destiny. WE IN AFRI-COBRA SHALL HELP BRING THIS ABOUT."

Edward Spriggs, Director of the Studio Museum of Harlem from 1968 to 1975, describes the common aesthetic driving the movement in the catalog introduction: "With AFRI-COBRA we are witnessing a group of artists, in this era of 'the Black Aesthetic,' who from their perspective as Afro-Americans are attempting to identify style and rhythm qualities that are expressive of black people everywhere. Theirs is a Pan-African perspective. AFRI-COBRA should be looked at more closely as an indication of the direction of black artists in the 1970s."