Kerry James Marshall

Painting and Other Stuff 
@ M HKA
  4 October 2013 - 2 February 2014

A long-time resident of Chicago, Kerry James Marshall is widely regarded as one of the greatest painters of his generation. Strongly influenced by his experiences as a young man, Marshall developed a signature style as an artist, centring on the life and history of the black subject. His now-substantial body of work offers his perspective on the complexity of the African-American condition, along with its persistent issues of race politics, cultural representation and social emancipation. In an attempt to reconcile the black subject with images of Western ideals, Marshall places both in his paintings, highlighting determinations of black identity that are contextualised by history and the current social-political situation. Also addressing the history of art, Marshall strives to fill what he describes as the 'lack in the image bank' with his work, whilst raising pertinent questions about how the art system sustains itself and the related issues of legitimation, power and marginalisation. LINK M HKA