Dreamscapes
I have been having very vivid dreams. My art class has actually been more interesting than pretentious as well. Did you know that there are people knitting reef formations? AND there's someone making sculpture for reefs to grow off of: http://scribol.com/art-and-design/an-interview-with-underwater-sculptor-jason-decaires-taylor
Here's another essay- I promise to give you original information soon.
Kerry James Marshall
Many Mansions
“When I talk to other artists I’m interested in hearing how they read their subjectivity and how it drives and motivates what they do,” says Marshall. “We [all] come from different positions at different times and we mean to make work for different purposes.”
Kerry James Marshall is a black artist who produces black art. He is also an artist that appreciates art and highly reveres his predecessors. This is clearly visible in his work Many Mansions which draws from classical composition as a way of highlighting what has been missing from those compositions: “blackness.”
As an artist Mr. Marshall very closely identifies with his race and brings that into the subject matter across his range of works. I believe the extreme values of colors he uses to represent black skin also ties into expressing black identity and the absence of it in an art-historical context. Classical paintings typically feature very pale figures as the standard of beauty. Mr. Marshall’s works highlight that very dark figures can be beautiful, too. His painting asserts that black culture has a place in history; black culture deserves to be recognized in a way that is not derogatory, so he uses a type of pigment typically associated with derogatory and stereotypical rhetoric.
The way he has mapped the finished work speaks to his admiration of other artists as well. He says that he speaks to his students regarding the “thought process” of the artist. It is clear that his identity as an artist is very important to him and he wants his knowledge of art to be present in the piece as much as the issue of race. The hierarchy of thought is evident- he is a black person concerned with black culture first and then a well educated black artist.
His role as a black artist is very important because as he says, “there are artists that are running as fast as they can away from that (role as a black artist)” He pushes himself towards it to refine the genre that is commonly considered “uncritical.” In this way he is further expressing his identity as a black person and helping to redefine the identity of black people.
Here's another essay- I promise to give you original information soon.
Kerry James Marshall
Many Mansions
“When I talk to other artists I’m interested in hearing how they read their subjectivity and how it drives and motivates what they do,” says Marshall. “We [all] come from different positions at different times and we mean to make work for different purposes.”
Kerry James Marshall is a black artist who produces black art. He is also an artist that appreciates art and highly reveres his predecessors. This is clearly visible in his work Many Mansions which draws from classical composition as a way of highlighting what has been missing from those compositions: “blackness.”
As an artist Mr. Marshall very closely identifies with his race and brings that into the subject matter across his range of works. I believe the extreme values of colors he uses to represent black skin also ties into expressing black identity and the absence of it in an art-historical context. Classical paintings typically feature very pale figures as the standard of beauty. Mr. Marshall’s works highlight that very dark figures can be beautiful, too. His painting asserts that black culture has a place in history; black culture deserves to be recognized in a way that is not derogatory, so he uses a type of pigment typically associated with derogatory and stereotypical rhetoric.
The way he has mapped the finished work speaks to his admiration of other artists as well. He says that he speaks to his students regarding the “thought process” of the artist. It is clear that his identity as an artist is very important to him and he wants his knowledge of art to be present in the piece as much as the issue of race. The hierarchy of thought is evident- he is a black person concerned with black culture first and then a well educated black artist.
His role as a black artist is very important because as he says, “there are artists that are running as fast as they can away from that (role as a black artist)” He pushes himself towards it to refine the genre that is commonly considered “uncritical.” In this way he is further expressing his identity as a black person and helping to redefine the identity of black people.
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