August Taught Us…
March 6th, 2025 – April 6th, 2025
Benedum Gallery, 2nd floor
Renowned visual artist and cultural agitator DS Kinsel will unveil new work created as part of the August Wilson Archive Community Artist-Scholar Award program sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Library System.
The exhibition titled, August Taught Us…, presents powerful artifacts created by Kinsel inspired by the life and legacy of August Wilson. Across the paintings and collages, Kinsel merges icons from his own archive with copies of rare documents, photographs, and production materials from the August Wilson Archive, held by the Pitt Library System’s Archives & Special Collections.. The exhibition provides an abstract visual report on the vast universe created by Wilson’s American Century Cycle.
DS Kinsel is an award-winning creative entrepreneur and cultural agitator who expresses his creativity through various forms, including painting, printmaking, collage, installation, curating, performance, and public art. His work focuses on themes such as space keeping, urban tradition, hip-hop, Informalism, and cultural re-appropriation. DS is a former AmeriCorps Public Ally member and an Awardee of the Pittsburgh Courier Fab 40, Pittsburgh Magazine PUMP 40 under 40, PGH Tech Council Creative of the Year, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s “Top Ten People to Meet in 2016,”and the Incline’s “Who’s Next” for 2018.
DS is also the co-founder of BOOM Concepts, a creative hub dedicated to advancing black and brown artists representing marginalized communities. Since its establishment in 2014, BOOM Concepts, based in Pittsburgh, has curated 50 on-site exhibitions, paid over $500,000 in artists fees, and produced 200+ events across the country. BOOM serves as a space for field building, knowledge sharing, mentorship, and storytelling, continually challenging and uplifting the creative community. In 2021, BOOM Concepts was selected as one of the partners to represent the Greater Pittsburgh Region on the Google Arts & Culture platform and recognized as one of Pittsburgh’s Cultural treasures through the Heinz Endowment and The Ford Foundation.
