Kerry James Marshall’s over 70 iconic works conducted a major survey in the UK – Huge
Kerry James Marshall’s vibrant paintings, with the help of art historical materials, contemporary culture and comics, boldly challenge the past. The Chicago-based artist (formerly) often studies the themes of race, identity, heritage and representation, as well as bridges history and present through monumental portraits of black people and imagines a better future.
In the largest survey of artists’ works presented outside the United States, Royal Academy of Arts host Kerry James Marshall: History. The exhibition, in collaboration with Kunsthaus Zurich and Musée D’Art Moderne, will open next month and offer over 70 works that cover the artist’s career so far. The show also includes a huge oil painting commissioned for the Chicago Public Library, titled “Knowledge and Miracle,” which was borrowed for the first time.
history 11 groups of works created by the audience are invited through a journey of theme and style. The exhibition opens with the “Academy” drawn in 2012. The male model in the Life Drawing Class is located in front of the pattern background, looking directly at the audience, providing the iconic fist of the Black Power Movement.
Marshall has long been instructors of European art in museums and books, where he recognizes the lack of black figures. By the 1980s, he focused on the idea of visibility and created the groundbreaking work “The artist’s portrait is a shadow of his former self”, which emphasized his interest in facing stereotypes.
Marshall usually works in a tandem or cycle manner, often involving epoch-making societal and political paradigms of the past, such as slavery and the middle passage, the black power and civil rights movement, and the historical omissions of people of color in the Western painting tradition. His work often highlights African-American experiences and enhances daily activities and interactions, such as gathering in a barber shop, relaxing in the park, and hanging out on the porch. Marshall believes that the past can be a tool for the future.
Kerry James Marshall: History Opened on September 20 and lasts until January 18 in London. Plan your visit on the RA website.
