Academy Award-winning filmmaker and noteworthy art collector Spike Lee will be this year’s keynote speaker for the Gibbes Museum of Art’s annual program, the Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS).
The announcement comes on the heels of Lee’s recent exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, Spike Lee: Creative Sources, offering a rare glimpse into Lee’s personal art collection, which includes Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett and photographers like Gordon Parks, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus, James Van Der Zee and more.
Charleston audiences will have the opportunity to hear from Lee about his vast collection, what informs his collecting choices and the many inspirations behind his work as an auteur.
“Spike Lee has been at the forefront of visual culture for over four decades,” Gibbes president and CEO Angela Mack said in a press release. “We look forward to a compelling discussion about the role visual art has played in shaping his vision and how his filmmaking has in turn shaped visual art and culture as we know it today.”
The DLS, led by the Gibbes education department, was founded in 2012 by philanthropist and former Gibbes Museum board member Esther Ferguson to bring dynamic cultural leaders to Charleston.
Past speakers include artists Jeff Koons, Maya Lin and Fred Wilson; art critics, like 2022’s speaker Jerry Saltz; as well as collectors, including Martin Marguiles and Pablo Picasso’s grandson, Olivier Picasso. Last year, the series saw its first art historian, Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Lewis.
With Spike Lee as this year’s speaker, the Terrace Theater, Charleston’s only independent movie theater, will sponsor the event. In collaboration with the Gibbes, the Terrace will host the museum’s limited engagement film series, Gibbes Film in Focus, in anticipation of the October lecture.
This series will showcase three one-night-only screenings of some of Spike Lee’s most esteemed films: Do the Right Thing at 7 p.m. Sept. 12, Malcolm X at 6 p.m. Sept. 19 and BlacKkKlansman at 7 p.m. Sept. 26.
Spike Lee’s lecture will be held at Charleston Music Hall on October 22. Tickets will go on sale to Gibbes members for an early bird presale window on Aug. 1, and sales will open to the public on Aug. 19. Pricing will range from $50 to $125.
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