KJM @ Nasher

Wednesday, October 10th, I went to the Nasher Museum at Duke to hear a lecture given by Chicago-based painter, Kerry James Marshall.  One of the first slides that he showed during his presentation was this painting from 1981, "Portrait of the Artist & a Vacuum."  This piece is currently on display and is a part of the Nasher's permanent collection.  Marshall has studied the history of painting very extensively and the trajectory that he's followed as an artist reveals the extent of his studies. 

Along with tackling the history of painting, a lot of his work deals with the idea of the hierarchical value assigned to skin color in the black community.  He paints these figures that are literally black.  The paintings are remarkable, but he says that there are conflicting responses to the figures.  Some viewers claim to love that the artist's subjects are emphatically black and see them as undeniably beautiful.  Others have difficulty seeing that same blackness as representing beauty.

My personal attraction to and fascination with his work was solidified when I came across the painting above.  It belongs to The Garden Project series he completed in the mid '90s.  I lived with my mother and two sisters in Altgeld Gardens until I was 11 years old.  I often point to this place as an environment that significantly shaped my early childhood development and impacts my present worldview.  How many people have seen their own homes represented in the work of a prominent artist?  Not many, by my estimation.

The last picture that I've posted here is an image capture of a Google Map situated in an area of Altgeld Gardens.  The landscaping is very different from what I recall, but I also hadn't spent any time viewing the place from hundreds of feet above.  The image within the pink frame is a snapshot of a gathering for my sister's 4th birthday.  I like the kind of interior specificity this particular Polaroid offers compared to the architectural homogeneity presented in the map.  Marshall's painting offers another kind of specificity that I really enjoy.  No one else could have made his paintings.  How many master painters are there from Nickerson Gardens by way of Birmingham, Alabama?  I have no idea, but I imagine that that number is very small.  I suppose the ratio of "master" painters to every other kind of artist on the planet is also relatively lopsided.  Who paints nowadays?

I'm saying all that to say that the world is constantly changing, shrinking, growing, and moving all around us, so it's nice to find yourself in a place where something that feels important is happening. Right place, right time, and all that.  I had that feeling during his lecture.

Articles on KJM:
http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-03-04/art/the-black-whole/
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/exhibitions/AfricanAmerican/Many-Mansions
http://artforum.com/words/id=22098
http://blackartistnews.blogspot.com/2011/01/review-kerry-james-marshall-vancouver.html

CUR(eat)

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CUR(eat): Educate Your Mind, Feed Your Stomach

September 24, 2012 · by Mario Marzan · in Assignments, CUR(eat). ·

Can art be tasted?

In this next exercise we explore the intersection between art and ecology through the politics of food. For Monday Oct. 8th, Seminar 4- we will meet at my house in Carrboro. In the spirit of artist Elaine Tin Nyo and others such as Rirkrit Tiravanija, we will gather for a potluck. We are also going to discuss the first set of readings as lead by their respective groups (we will have a projector available if needed).

First things first…

Do you recall that old Supermarket Sweep reality show that was revived in the 90′s?? Where one races against the clock, running around a supermarket filling up their shopping carts and the value of the items determined the winning team? Well…yes, you guessed it. I can almost guarantee you that it will be a first = grocery shopping challenge.

The Challenge: A week from tomorrow, I will ask you to meet at Whole Foods in Chapel Hill @ 6:30pm. With a crisp $20 bill, you will purchase the ingredients for a recipe of the dish you will make for the potluck. But spending less than $20 at Whole Foods is a bigger challenge than the last project, you may be thinking…well yes, so the challenge will be to use the least amount of money and still have all of your ingredients.

The Dish: UNC has launched an academic theme about water for the next couple of years- issues dealing with availability around the world, health/sanitation, the economy, social development, and education. If you remember at our first seminar, I provided you with a list from UNICEF of countries around the world experiencing disasters in drought. Here is the list once again —> UNICEF.

I thought that we would combine this academic plan with some of the topics in our readings.

1. Choose one of the countries on the list and prepare a traditional meal from that country. You may borrow the recipe as you find it, or you may alter it to make it your own. Share it at the potluck.

2. In the process of researching your recipe- think about the implications of drought for the making of this dish in its native country- if not as a conversation piece then as an educational tidbit.

3. Share this recipe on the class blog for all of us to have (including an image).

The Venue: My back yard. This is probably one of the largest back yards in Carrboro and often mistaken for a public park. A small piece of history is still visible among all the development around- old barns, dinner bell- remnants of the old family farm that date back to the 1930′s even 20′s. There used to be an old white horse fence surrounding the property, which was recently removed a few years ago. I always found it interesting that even though it may look like private property, the removal of the fence has welcomed carrborites to now see it as a free public space.

We will have our potluck in the field. A sight for potential welcoming of the passerby.

image: from Elaine Tin Nyo’s “I want to Make Some Tamales”