Sarah Cooper is a curator, writer, and art historian based in Los Angeles.
She is the Public Programs Specialist for performance at the J. Paul Getty Museum, where she directs the experimental performance series Ever Present, among other programs.
She has organized programs featuring artists and musicians including Kim Gordon, Simone Forti, Brendan Fernandes, Patti Smith, Lonnie Holley, Martin Creed, Midori Takada, Helado Negro, Moor Mother, David Wojnarowicz, Derek Jarman, and Solange Knowles.
In addition, Sarah has held positions at The Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Royal Academy in London, and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
She holds a Master's Degree in Art History from Hunter College, New York. Her thesis, Expanding Experimentalism: Popular Music and Art at the Kitchen in New York City, 1971-1985, explores the creative output of artists' bands and the relationship between popular music and avant-garde performance practices.
sarahannecooper [at] gmail.com
She is the Public Programs Specialist for performance at the J. Paul Getty Museum, where she directs the experimental performance series Ever Present, among other programs.
She has organized programs featuring artists and musicians including Kim Gordon, Simone Forti, Brendan Fernandes, Patti Smith, Lonnie Holley, Martin Creed, Midori Takada, Helado Negro, Moor Mother, David Wojnarowicz, Derek Jarman, and Solange Knowles.
In addition, Sarah has held positions at The Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Royal Academy in London, and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
She holds a Master's Degree in Art History from Hunter College, New York. Her thesis, Expanding Experimentalism: Popular Music and Art at the Kitchen in New York City, 1971-1985, explores the creative output of artists' bands and the relationship between popular music and avant-garde performance practices.
sarahannecooper [at] gmail.com
June 18, 2016
Off the 405
Getty Museum, Los Angeles
At just 24 years old, and only performing music since 2013, Moses Sumney is an artist emerging in a big way. Despite only a few recordings under his belt, his incomparable vocal style and dynamic live performances have already caught the attention of music luminaries like Solange, Sufjan Stevens, and Beck, and last year he was invited to open for St. Vincent and Erykah Badu at the Hollywood Bowl.
A shy son of a preacher who grew up between California and Ghana, Sumney makes a unique instrument of his voice in more than one way. By building up rhythms and beats through digitally layered and looped vocalizations, he creates a prismatic foundation for his breathy, intricately phrased singing that infuses guitar-based indie-folk with a honeyed soulfulness. SPIN magazine described him as a "soul-folk warrior," and the Pigeons & Planes blog called his voice a "breathing instrument that suggests a depth of feeling lyrics can only partially express."
Sumney appeared at the Getty as part of a highly limited set of performances in summer 2016 at select music festivals, including FORM Arcosanti, Moogfest, Primavera Sound, and the Pitchfork Music Festival.
