Art Review: Kerry James Marshall "Mastry" at the Met Breuer
by Anastasiya Tarasenko MFA 2017
Past Times, 1997
It takes a special artist to elevate
craft store glitter to a high art and Kerry James Marshall does just that. With
not a sparkle out of place, Marshall is a master at using this embellishment as
a framing device for his paintings, bridging the gap between the fantasy world
of the icon and the reality of his subjects. Gulf Stream (2003) depicts a black family leisurely sailing all
framed with a glittery rope giving the whole painting a decidedly post-card
feel. The inspiration behind it, Winslow Homer’s Gulf Stream (1899), shows a bleak original scene, a black man in a
small boat surrounded by sharks instead of decoration.
Gulf Stream, 2003, acrylic and glitter on
canvas
Marshall is a master of decisiveness. His strong themes
communicate with the physical choices he makes with his palette, painting
language, and symbolism. A black person is literally black, and
unapologetically so. Depictions of a painters palette are often larger than
he/she is and are an abstract painting in and of themselves. A narrative of
life in housing projects is scattered with text, verse, and the lyrics and
notes of whatever tune they are listening to at the picnic. Marshall disregards
the esoteric language of most contemporary art and embraces a clarity of narrative, metaphor, and symbolism rarely seen
outside the world of illustration.
Untitled (Painter), 2008
The Kerry James Marshall retrospective spans 2 floors of the
Met Breuer and is on through January 29th 2017.
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