Mastry, a retrospective of works of art by Kerry James Marshall, features more than 75 paintings and photographs. Marshall's work depicts men and women painted in various shades of black (Marshall has created seven separate tones). Vibrant color and gold glitter enhance the beauty and power of his subjects. During our recent visit to the exhibit, Chloe pointed out that many of the paintings almost look 3-D, owing to Marshall's skill at creating the illusion of depth in his work.
Marshall's paintings tell the story of blacks in America, focusing on less well known aspects of that history: instead of depicting cotton fields, he focuses on slave rebellion. Instead of painting overt racial violence he illustrates restrictive housing covenants. His work shows the private and public spaces in which blacks operate where whites exist on the periphery, if at all. Ironically, there were very few people of color at the exhibit on the Sunday Chloe, my mother, and I visited. Stepping off the elevator and being greeted with floor to ceiling blackness is worth the price of the ticket. Go see it!
Kerry James Marshall: Mastry
The MET Breuer
October 25th-January 29th 2017
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