Tate Visit 2: Exhibition Review preparation 8/9/17
Today we went back to the Tate modern,this time to begin researching for our Contextual studies:Exibhtion review essays. I hadn't had a chance to visit the Soul of a Nation exhibition so that is what I decided to have a look at today. The exhibition was curated by Mark Godfrey and Zoe Whiteley and followed and celebrated the work of black artists or artists that have presented members of the African-American community, in their work(e.g Andy Warhol by featuring Mohammad Ali in his work), from the peak of the American civil rights movement in 1963 all the way to 2017. The work presented is combination of paintings, collages,photography,sculpture and fashion. There was also a Spotify playlist curated by Darcus Beese,the president of Island records which we could listen to during the exhibition. The exhibition was curated in light of the recent 'Black Lives Matter' movement in America. There was a combination of pieces that presented more prominent aspects of the civil rights movements, such as issues from the Black Panther magazines and paintings of Malcom X to more mundane element of everyday life as a black American,such as hair accessories for black hair.
(America the Beautiful -Norman Lewis) Painting from Spike Lee's personal collection)
One of my favourite rooms in the exhibition, was a room that celebrated the work of Black photographers who were successful because of the merits of their work irrespective of the colour of their skin. My favourite photographer from this room was Roy Decarava. He mainly took black and white pictures on film and he used to dye the film to bring out certain greys and whites from his images. I decided not to take photos of this work as I didn't feel my phone camera would be able to do his photos any justice. This room was particularly encouraging to me because at the moment we are hearing a lot of conversations about more diverse representation of ethnicities ,especially in film and tv, and sometimes these conversations can begin to sound patronising when talk of positive discrimination are introduced, however all the photographers in this room had been praised throughout their lives and published in magazines such as 'The New Yorker',because their work had been valued and because they were seen as equals to practitioners of other races. The other artist who's work I particularly admired, for a similar reason, was Barkely L Hendricks. His self portrait 'My Man Superman' was used on the cover of the pamphlet of the exhibition.
soul-nation-art-age-black-power
I particularly loved this self portrait because he referenced a quote from Bobby Seale (We're all hip to the fact that Superman never saved any black people'. In this painting Hendricks paints himself wearing a superman T-shirt. His intention was to paint himself into the mainstream narrative that normally ignores most ethnic minorities,instead of waiting for someone else to. Another painting with a similar attitude from him was called 'What's going on'. This was another self portrait, this time he had painted himself naked as a way of satirising the western stereotype about the genitailia of African-American men. I loved how smug and confident Hendricks comes across in this painting because he embraces this perception that some people use to ridicule members of the African American community, and in a way throws it back in their faces.
(America the Beautiful -Norman Lewis) Painting from Spike Lee's personal collection)
One of my favourite rooms in the exhibition, was a room that celebrated the work of Black photographers who were successful because of the merits of their work irrespective of the colour of their skin. My favourite photographer from this room was Roy Decarava. He mainly took black and white pictures on film and he used to dye the film to bring out certain greys and whites from his images. I decided not to take photos of this work as I didn't feel my phone camera would be able to do his photos any justice. This room was particularly encouraging to me because at the moment we are hearing a lot of conversations about more diverse representation of ethnicities ,especially in film and tv, and sometimes these conversations can begin to sound patronising when talk of positive discrimination are introduced, however all the photographers in this room had been praised throughout their lives and published in magazines such as 'The New Yorker',because their work had been valued and because they were seen as equals to practitioners of other races. The other artist who's work I particularly admired, for a similar reason, was Barkely L Hendricks. His self portrait 'My Man Superman' was used on the cover of the pamphlet of the exhibition.
soul-nation-art-age-black-power
I particularly loved this self portrait because he referenced a quote from Bobby Seale (We're all hip to the fact that Superman never saved any black people'. In this painting Hendricks paints himself wearing a superman T-shirt. His intention was to paint himself into the mainstream narrative that normally ignores most ethnic minorities,instead of waiting for someone else to. Another painting with a similar attitude from him was called 'What's going on'. This was another self portrait, this time he had painted himself naked as a way of satirising the western stereotype about the genitailia of African-American men. I loved how smug and confident Hendricks comes across in this painting because he embraces this perception that some people use to ridicule members of the African American community, and in a way throws it back in their faces.
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