This past week was spent in New York for the holidays. With all of the opportunities to visit a new selection of galleries we had to stop by the Met Breuer most importantly. Now through January 12th Kerry James Marshall's 'Mastry' is on view. This exhibition is his largest to date and the work spans his 35 year career. Marshall's large narrative paintings, depicting the African American experience, feature only black figures in a medium in which African Americans have often been invisible. Marshall's monumental work has a subtle influence from the old masters of art. He takes these influences and creates a critical revision on the historical tableau, classic landscape or formal portrait in an eye opening realization of the race issues that still exist in popular art as well as in society today. Marshall is constantly addressing themes of romance, beauty, family and community. Marshall is certainly defining contemporary painting by populating his work with contemporary black life and culture in a way that has not been view in popular art before.
See a preview from the gallery below. If you happen to be in the New York area please stop by to see this one. It is not only a breath taking exhibit but a defining moment in contemporary art as a whole.
