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| Robert Colescott, “Pygmalion, 1987, acrylic and oil on canvas, 90 x 114 inches, courtesy of the Rubell Family Collection |
Published in the Weekly Volcano, Oct. 20, 2012
I reviewed 30 Americans in this space two weeks
ago. With 45 works from 30 of the best African American artists since the
1970s, this exhibition needs more than one column. So here’s part two:
One of the more
impressive paintings I did not touch on in my first review is Robert Colescott’s
“Pygmalion,” a large painting at nine-and-a-half feet in length and seven-and-a-half
feet in height. Colescott’s interpretation of the Greek myth (upon which the
play by George Bernard Shaw was based) has an interesting twist. The sculptor,
Pygmalion, is a black man with gray hair and a heavy gray beard, identified as
a self-portrait of the artist (or it could also be a caricature of Frederick
Douglass; Colescott’s cartoon style leave a lot to the imagination). The
sculpture of the beautiful woman which the mythological sculptor created and
then fell in love with is usually depicted in white marble. Here she is
presented as a Black woman — not the alluring nude with no arms, that’s the
Venus de Milo, also depicted as a Black woman — but the woman in the
flower-patterned house dress Pygmalion is dancing with. His expression is angry
or intense, not loving. The other figures in this crowded scene all appear as
everyday people in everyday situations. Some might even be viewed as
stereotypical.
It is difficult
if not impossible to read the artist’s meaning. Nevertheless, I love this
painting. I like its exuberance and energy and bold use of color, and I am
fascinated by its ambiguity.
Speaking of
Frederick Douglass look-a-likes, Rashid
Johnson’s black-and-white photograph “The New Negro Escapist Social and
Athletic Club (Thurgood)” pictures a handsome Black man in suit and tie
surrounded by swirls of smoke. The title refers to Thurgood Marshall, the first
African-American Supreme Court justice. I’m not sure that I get the meaning,
but it is a dramatic photograph.
A striking photo
with a similar appearance is Hank Willis Thomas’s “Who Can Say No to a Gorgeous
Brunette?” — a part of his “B®randed” series, which critiques the advertising
industry by presenting twists on the types of images often seen in ads. Of this
series Thomas said, “I believe that … advertising’s success rests on its
ability to reinforce generalizations about race, gender, and ethnicity, which
can be sometimes true, and sometimes horrifying, but which at a core level
reflect the way culture views itself or its aspirations.” Pictured in this
photo is a beautiful, strong, Black woman with a sad expression and a huge Afro
that blends into the background with a strong use of chiaroscuro. The viewer is
asked to contemplate her image in light of the title and with advertising
imagery in mind.
Kara Walker asks
viewers to think about the history of slavery with her mural-size (eight-by-55
feet) frieze of silhouetted, cut-out cartoon
figures dancing. They are designed to illustrate the old Stephan Foster
minstrel song, “Camptown Ladies.” The frieze presents the style of demeaning
images of Negroes that were popular during the time of minstrel shows. The
contrast of black figures against the white wall and the rhythmical movement
draws the viewer into a deceptively lighthearted visualization of a history of
horror.
Many of the paintings, photos and sculptures in this show employ irony
and insightful references to history and the art of the past in order to
comment of the realities of racial relations then and now. It is a powerful
show that should be perused slowly, in depth, and often.
Tacoma Art Museum, Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., through Jan. 15, 2017, $15, third
Thursday free 10 a.m.-8 p.m., 1701 Pacific Ave. Tacoma,
http://www.tacomaartmuseum.org/
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