The Wick x Ekow Eshun | 'The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure'

hi I'm Katie and welcome to the wick where this week our culturally curious hop brings us to the National Portrait Gallery here in London where we're checking out their brand new show the time is always now artists reframe the black figure a show curated by Eko asan let's take a look inside the time is always now artists reframe the black figure is a Showcase of work by 22 leading African diasporic artists working in the UK and the USA exploring the depiction of the form within portraiture this exhibition will feature contemporary Works made between the year 2000 and today those which consider and celebrate figuration as a means of Illuminating the richness and complexity of black life I one thing about the conversation that's taking place right now like a lot of these artists know each other so I wanted to think about the creative conversation that's taking place but then also the artistic questions that follow from these artists thinking about depicting the black figure with the kind of complexity and artistic ambition that they they do this exhibition includes the work of some of the world's best known leading artists Claudette Johnson Amy sherald Barbara Walker krie James Marshall leben Hamed herin Anderson Henry Taylor and Noah Davis to name but a few this is a painting by an artist called Noah Davis it's based on a photograph that his mother took when she was walking through Chicago in 1975 but let's think about the historical undertone to this work I don't think you can look at this without thinking about the history in America of segregation but this combination of innocence and pleasure contrasted that with the underst story of how black presence was prescribed was prohibited was attempted to be kept outside areas of gathering eras of pleasure I think this too is part of the story of this work this painting was actually the last work we secured for the exhibition it's a very recent work by Henry Taylor he was also close friends with no Davis is a double portrait within this space this painting looks across at Noah Davis's 1975 and looks back over here the show also features a new work as sounds turn to noise from sculptor Thomas J Price created especially for the National Portrait Gallery the scale is incredible we see here obviously the idea of the everyday in the mundane it's 8ft tall bronze with a gleaming gold patterner like you say it speaks of everydayness also speaks of beauty it also speaks of a certain nobility he kind of merges a number of different figures into create idealized version of the everyday one of Amy sherald's Works she was learning to love moments to love moments for themselves is featured within the show engaging with art historical portrait Traditions Amy cherl challenges and questions Notions of race and representation to embed black life into American art set against colorful backgrounds her life-sized portraits of subjects with clearly African-American features but with skin tones painted in Shades of Gray shift our Focus away from using the C's skin color to signify Blackness this enables them to claim their visibility which has long been denied cheral has been commissioned to paint the official portrait of Michelle Obama when the first lady of the United States using her gray scale and color technique the portrait Drew record numbers to see it and made Gerald into a household name the show is curated into three core themes double consciousness Persistence of history and kinship and connection guiding viewers through a journey of self-reflection historical examination and cultural solidarity it's been a really really good experience working in The Portrait Gallery it's a conversation with an institution and my invitation as the curator of the show is not simply to look at these words but to really look in depth with them to have an opportunity to really think both about the texture and the questions in the work

Channel: The Wick Culture

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Length: 4min 0sec (240 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 12 2024