BLACK HISTORY MONTH: KARA WALKER

We've mentioned Kara Walker a bit before when we did a post about Cutting Paper as an art form. But now is the chance to really dive into what her artwork is really about.

The major themes that fill Walker's work with meaning are conversations of race, gender, sexuality, and fantasy. She hits upon the power struggle in these subjects such as what is real or fiction in history, what we desire verse what we shame through her minimalistic narrative scenes.

http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/kara-walker

Race: Even though all of her figures are cut out of black paper she purposefully exaggerates features and clothing of a person to make them a certain ethnicity. This only further pushes the sense of humor within her pieces because of the exaggerations, but it also creates a statement of the fact that us as the viewer knows what she is referring to because of stereotype and caricature.

Installation view of Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2007) Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/KaraWalker

Desire and Shame: Walker has described America's national pastime as "loving to hate what we hate to love" (Do You Like Creme in your Coffee or Chocolate In Your Milk? 1997) which perfectly sums up how society has viewed certain situations and events. In reaction, Walker's work leads to controversy over the combination of violence, humor, and sexuality in whether what she is portraying is taboo in relation to theme of history and slavery. Her work also doesn't necessarily portray the characters as right or wrong, leading to viewer to create their own moral decision.

http://www.alanaveryartcompany.com/kara-walker/

Historic? or Fantasy?: Although her characters are depicted in the South pre- Civil War, she never depicts anything specific to history. However, Walker's work is a comment on what we are taught and then twists in fantasy and an exaggerated truth to create her own historic stories. A combination of "southern romance novels, historical fiction, slave narratives, and contemporary novels" creates her version of storytelling.

Kara Walker, The Renaissance Society, 1997  http://gallery400.uic.edu/blog/from-the-archive-kara-walkers-voices-lecture-at-gallery-400-1997

Kara Walker, Gone, An Historical Romance of a Civic War as It Occurred Between the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart, 1994

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: KEHINDE WILEY

Similar to Barkley L. Hendricks, Kehinde Wiley is a contemporary portrait painter. Wiley is a New York based artist whose work is in museums around the world. His work rivals great masters of portraiture from Titian and Ingres to Reynolds and Gainsborough. Wiley combines aspects of traditional portraits which we know well with contemporary twists. On his website is explains that he "engages the signs and visual rhetoric of the heroic, powerful, majestic and the sublime in his representation of urban, black and brown men found throughout the world."

Kehinde Wiley in his Beijing studio in 2012. http://nymag.com/arts/art/rules/kehinde-wiley-2012-4/

Kehinde Wiley's collections are separated into places around the world. He finds his models on the streets of New York. Because his models are always African American, Wiley will use his models to express whatever he has been influenced from travelling ie. when Wiley went to China and was researching historic propaganda posters from China's Cultural Revolution he will use what he has learned and combine it with African American Identity.

Kehinde Wiley, Two Heroic Sisters of the Grassland, 2007, oil and enamel on canvas, 96x72 inches.

A lot of the time he will copy images from history and reenact in his style what is going on. For instance with the painting above he is copying a Chinese propaganda poster printed in 1965.

http://www.maopost.com:8000/wcat=mao&wlan=en&wreq=posterpage&posterid=1239-001M&srcname=c_child&selected=161&total=216&srcreq=http:%2F%2Fwww.maopost.com:8000%2Fwcat=mao%26wlan=en%26wreq=postercat%26catref=c_child%26displistindex=9

His continuing combination of History and Style has made him a truly unique and magnificent artist who should be known and studied by all. Below is more of his work with the pieces they are inspired by.

Kehinde Wiley, The Three Graces, 2012, oil on canvas, 84x111 inches

Raphael, Les Trois Graces, 1504, oil on panel, 6.7x6.7 inches

Kehinde Wiley, Naomi and her Daughters, 2013, oil on canvas, 108x90 inches

George Dawe, Naomi and her Daughters, 1804, oil paint on canvas, Tate Museum

All Kehinde's work and information can be found at kehindewiley.com

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: BARKLEY L. HENDRICKS

Barkley Leonnard Hendricks was born in 1945 in Philadelphia. His work can be found in the National Gallery of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and many more.

http://www.wwd.com/eye/people/barkley-l-hendricks-talks-latest-exhibit-hearts-hands-eyes-mind-6812153/slideshow#/slideshow/article/6812153/6812251

Throughout his career Hendricks has experiemented with many different mediums and genres of art, although his portraits stand out the most. Hendricks' work was considered a huge jump for black portraiture and conceptualism. His portraits are life sized and really show pride through the subject. Hendricks' work touches upon many themes, style, attitude, realism through his straightforward portraits with a great sense of energy.

Barkley L. Hendricks, Triple Portrait from the Yard, oil on canvas, 2013

Focusing on the subtleties that bring out the sense of reality of these subjects is what makes these portraits strong. These works are not to show the realism of what is pop culture in a documentary sense but in a showing the viewer what is cool just from the attitude his paintings have. From a Portraiture stance, Hendricks' work shows the realism through purposefully showing you certain aspects of the person to give you their personality. Hendricks' knowledge of portraiture is strong and natural allowing his work to seem seamless in its meaning. While his work isn't widely known, he is one of those amazing artists that is wildly acknowledged and loved in the art world.

There is a wonderful interview of his show at Duke here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=darxeJzn4WI

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT

One of the leaders during the emergence of the Neo-Expressionism Movement is Jean-Michel Basquiat, a self-taught and very talented artist. He originally started as a graffiti artist around New York City under the name "SAMO". Because of his talent and passion his work was picked up in 1980 and he became loved by the public for his style.

About this time was when the Neo- Expressionist Movement began and in the mid 1980s Basquiat collaborated with Andy Warhol. Basquiat's work often touches upon the relations between the Egyptian slaves and African Americans with his use of text, symbols.
"Like a DJ, Basquiat adeptly reworked Neo-expressionism's cliched language of gesture, freedom, and angst and redirected Pop art's strategy of appropriation to produce a body of work that at times celebrated black culture and history but also revealed its complexity and contradictions" -Lydia Lee

Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Arm and Hammer II, Acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, 76 x 112 inches, 1985.

During this time, when his work was showcased throughout the world, his life began to be pulled down with drug use leading to his early death at the age of 27. His brief but influential art career brought Latin and African American life into the art world. If he had lived longer his influence and experiences would have only further changed the art world for the better.

References:
http://www.biography.com/people/jean-michel-basquiat-185851#commercial-success
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_Basquiat#cite_note-Sirmans-3