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A Not so Silent Scream for Compassion and... Action“Hello, I*m Your New Neighbor,” a painting by Michael Ray Charles, gives viewers an inkling of what’s in store in Re/Righting History: Countemarratives induced a nch and growing body of wori since the civil rights movement. These artists — Kara Walker, Michael RayKerry James MarAfrican-American Art, an electrifying exhi- shall, Robert Colescott, Faith Ringgoldbition that will open at the Katonah Muse- Camille Billops, Willie Cole, Deborahum of Art in Katonah, New York, onMarch 14. This provocative work confronts the viewer with the menacing face ofa black man sporting a coin-slot on top of The slave tradeWillis, Betye Saar, among themrighting” art and social histories new ways of seeing Americanare re-his head and a devilishly wide grin ofCivil Warwatermelon-seed speckled teeth. His skull suburban America, the civil rights andblack power movements, stereotypes social attitudes are all grist for the m“This is a very complicated subject currently, a bie debate in the art woris placed against crossbones and set beneath two Mickey-Mouse arms in a mock neighborly handshake.“Imagine if you’ve just bought a house and this man moves in next door and says, Bloemink says. “There ‘Hey, I’m your new neighbor!’ What goes through your mind?” asks Dr. Barbara Bloemink, curator of the exhibition which remains on view through Sunday, May 16.againstrecognizeubjectiwhat is reported, but what is left lt;What indeed! This guy is the white sub- Re/Righting History will confronturbanite’s worst nightmare. But he also represents the artist’s take on social issues bom of slavery, one of the most searing and demeaning of American experiences. Re/Righting History addresses these issuesSeeing history through the eyes temporary African-American artist will allow us to look backward so that, hopeful ly, we may begin to move forward.”The 41 works bv 19 established andthe primacy of Europe in modernist studies seems to discourage in-depth investigations of the cultural production of people who are not fully and readily associated with its urban centers. Given that Americans looked to Europe for legitimization of theirdirectly as well as some of the most critical emerging artists — paintings, quilts, draw- arts, these judgments have deeply coloredtopics under discussion today: the primacy ings, photographs, mixedof voice; history as a mutable, ever-evolving angry, shocking, humorous, wittyironic. Some are bound to cause darescholarly responses to native talents.phenomenon; the influence and “truthfulness” of media reportage; and the importance of context in all opinions.The exhibition offers powerful and thoughtful new ways of examining the events and social attitudes that have defined the African-American experience in this country. A century and a half afterfort. “Several of the artists blatantly use hurtful stereotypes,” says Bloemink, a noted scholar of 20th-century art and the director of European and American mod em art at the Hirschl Adler Gallery in New York. “But they are meant not just 1 provoke, but to inform. The idea is thatA. AnastasioA Fence Companyslavery's demise, emotions are still raw, and people will see truth and reality and underthe fear of revelation still deep. The brutality wrought has left an indelible blot on the American escutcheon and a perpetually-open wound on the African-American soul. But slavery and its aftermath are notstand them as these artists do. In the besttheir art will be seen as not beingAAAreflectiondaily expeHThe exhibition also raises the issue of thesubjects to be glossed over or wished away. neglect of and disregard for African- Amer-“To some contemporary African-Ameri- ican artists by the art establishment. Anessay by Lisa Gail Collins, adjunct assistantcan artists, this pernicious system and its aftermath have been too frequently clothed in frivolity and romantic notions; they are reclaiming their history by offering us their interpretations of the past,” Bloeminkprofessor of art at Vassar College, accompanies Bloemink’s in the 36-page exhibition catalogue. “Critics have too often implied that art by African-Americans waspoints out. “As the African proverb states, lacking,” writes Collins, who contends that‘Until the lions have their histories, tales of Eurocentrism has led to a neglect of blackhistory will always glorify the hunter.’”Re/Righting History champions the art of African-American artists who have provisual artists. “Although many formally-trained African-American artists have intently studied European art and thought,When it just hgs to be rightNo Showroom No Glossy brochureNo Thick catalogue Just a portfolio of finefencing and a list of satisfied customers.Call Now to avoid the spring rushwe work aU winter.ffNORWALK854-9814FAIRFIELD255-9612
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Greenwich Lifestyles
Greenwich, Connecticut, US
Mon, Mar 01, 1999
Page 30
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USA 11 Nov 2021
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