American painter Kerry James Marshall talks about his strategy to raise his aesthetic into mainstream art, to paint the things he values in the world. What we focus on as artists challenges or reinforces the perspective of those around us. This is why a healthy art scene requires diversity to encourage growth and innovation. Marshall re-imagines art in a way that normalizes, idealizes and celebrates blackness and black bodies, while painting at the highest level.
Born in Alabama and raised in Los Angeles, Kerry James Marshall is a former professor at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His wife is acclaimed actress Cheryl Lynn Bruce.
“This video featuring Kerry James Marshall talking about his practice and the ideas driving it accompanied the exhibition Kerry James Marshall: Mastry, organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The exhibition is cocurated by Dieter Roelstraete, former Manilow Senior Curator at the MCA; Helen Molesworth, Chief Curator at MOCA; and Ian Alteveer, Associate Curator at The Met. At the MCA, the exhibition was realized with the assistance of former Curatorial Assistant Karsten Lund and former Research Associate Abigail Winograd.”
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