Includes essay by Robert Storr and an interview by Angela Choon. Catalog of an exhibition held at David Zwirner, London, October 11 - November 22, 2014. Includes bibliographical references.
Contents:
Chromophilia and the interaction of color / Robert Storr -- Paintings -- Works on paper -- Kerry James Marshall in conversation with Angela Choon -- Selected exhibitions, awards & collections.
Summary:
With a career spanning almost three decades, Kerry James Marshall is well known for his complex and multilayered portrayals of youths, interiors, nudes, housing estate gardens, land- and seascapes, all of which synthesize different traditions and genres while seeking to counter stereotypical representations of black people in society. Working across various mediums, from paintings to comic-style drawings to sculptural installations, photographs, and videos, the artist conflates actual and imagined events from African-American history, integrating a range of stylistic influences to address the limited historiography of black art. Produced on the occasion of Marshall's first exhibition at David Zwirner in London and designed by JNL Design in Chicago, 'Look See' features beautiful reproductions of every painting on view in the show, all of them brand-new compositions, as well as numerous details and preparatory drawings, installation photographs, and new scholarship by Robert Storr and Hamza Walker. As suggested by the show's title, these portraits use the etymological differences between looking and seeing as their point of departure, featuring subjects whose dissociated stares seem as defiant as they are mystifying. In keeping with his signature approach, Marshall has painted his figures in strikingly opaque black pigments, both fashioning and abstracting their presences in order to assimilate the limitations and contradictions of style, subject, and chronology inherent in art-historical narratives written from a white, Western perspective. Taken all together, the range of materials included in 'Look See' constitutes a vibrant and comprehensive portrait of Marshall's original and ever-evolving practice.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.