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... the sun. Garden Party, a four-minute DVD and corresponding painting, which is considered to be a fresh interpretation of the works of Impressionists, for example, Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party. Marshall substitutes the original characters with Asians, African Americans, and Hispanics, by means of this creating new socio-political focus. The Ladder of Success, an installation of colorful Plexiglass boxes. Each of these boxes lists a traditional western virtue (for example, punctuality and honesty) and demonstrates the principles of celebration of Kwanzaa preformed by the African-Americans.
These principles included creativity and faith. Africa Restored, a three-part work, which shows importance of Africa as a source of creative inspiration by representing it as a massive sculpture with medallions. Dailies, a continuation of the artist's RYTHM MASTR comic series, it uses a combination of traditional African accoutrements and futuristic elements to create impressive stories about an urban superhero and the Chicago Housing Authority. The genius of Kerry Marshall has created many works that were highly estimated by the world critics, and the painting Our Town is one of them.
Initially, Our Town seems to be an idyllic portrait of American suburbs, with its homes of Colonial-style, two kids, and an apron-clad mother, and the family dog. This painting reminds the atmosphere of television sitcom families of the period of 1950 s and, probably, can be compared with play of the same title produced by Thornton Wilder in 1938. Yet, this depiction of peaceful suburban life is not so straightforward. The yellow ribbons which decorate the trees are the signs of some tragic events, or even war, or, maybe, violence. The road, I think, is the element which involves the viewer into the tragic world of the portrait, by spilling out the space into him / her . Also the road is an important element of the inner setting it cuts through the neighborhood and splits the space into three parts: the first, the biggest, includes the trees and ribbons on them; the second, a smaller one, has mostly the buildings, and the third the smallest part of the portrait, is comparatively bare.
The road suggests the idea that the community living in the town is not isolated from the world and additionally, it connects the image of the portrait with the neighborhood of the viewer himself, creating the feeling of our town. The title of the work appears to have slightly artificial decoration made with ribbons and carried by bluebirds, where the ribbon is in the form of question mark. The decoration of the title implies the question of whose this town really is. And the viewer himself / herself is also included into the vision of the artist. There are many identical homes in the painting, and this resembles a view of a planned community of housing units for people with low income. Finally, all these features described lend the title somewhat of an ironic twist.
There are also two children who are racing along the road. It is notable, that the skin tone of them is almost similar to the road it is extremely black. At the fist glance, the picture produces an impression of joyfulness. But this impression becomes unsteady when one notices the unsmiling faces of the children. The boy, who is riding the bike, seems to be looking at the viewer himself / herself and sizing him / her up with his sidelong glance. The young girl runs with her fists closed and the gesture of her right arm is reminiscent of "black power. " However, it is unclear the sun on the picture is rising or setting.
Therefore, the gesture of the mother becomes of an ambivalent meaning: she either is wishing her children a good day or calling them back home as they dangerously run into the night. The family dog is barking at the heels of the children. It adds some anxiety to the whole atmosphere of the portrait. The suburban life of the town stops looking peacefully and presupposes many hidden troubles and grief behind all these artificially created view of celebration. It was noted by the critics that the painting contains college pieces of paper and abstract swatches of dripping paint coexist with carefully crafted clouds and a misplaced ruby red toy ball. The though bubble that connects the head of the girl with the home, nice and picturesque like a dream.
It is important that is runs up against the home of the girl, conveying the idea of impossibility and broken dreams. It is evident that the girl faces a problem, which is closely connected with her home. However, the chance to obtain her dream becomes impossible and the girl protests. Obviously, the solid and peaceful world of the town is suddenly spitted up by a tragedy, which separates the nature from the place where people built their homes. Maybe this symbolizes peoples alienating from nature, and most probably from their origins and traditions. On the whole, I think, by painting this portrait the artist raises the issues of unhappy childhood and lack of chances for disadvantaged children, the alienating of the cyberspace society form its roots, and more generally the unstable position of Afro-Americans in contemporary society.
Another picture that obviously deals with the theme of childhood and thus can be compared with Our Town is Watts 1963, 1995. Acrylic and collage on un stretched canvas; 114 x 135 inches. The vision of Watts circa 1963 is charged with personal memories of the painter. There Marshall and his family lived for the period of two years before he moved to Los Angeles. Most likely that Watts remained in the memory of the artist as a symbol of childhood, where real and imaginary are mingled. In the painting, lemon-yellow sun shines with massive rays and stops short of the birds holding the white ribbon.
The ribbon reads something like a slogan: Here We Rest. The color scheme of the sun and the birds suggests the idea of happiness and romantic symbolism, which is sharply contrasting to the meaning of the text. The text expresses eternal resting, even some somber mood somewhere at a tomb or a mortuary. The red banner reads the following: "There's more of every... " (this is a reference to the state motto of Alabama). However, the message incomplete and it makes the viewer guess what it really promises. The flowers and palm trees just dot the major part of the painting, nevertheless, it is not difficult to notice that the garden signed by the poster "Nickerson Gardens" is not a garden at all.
Actually, the place seems to be an urban project. The children who stand in the foreground of the picture represent the artist himself and, possibly, his two siblings. The eyes of the children seem to be focused on the viewer. The critics remarked about the way the children are depicted by Marshall the following: Their clothing is simple and unadorned in contrast to the lush landscape around them, the only real spot of color being the young girl's matching pink flip-flops and hair jewelry.
It is interesting to notice that each of the young men casts a shadow in a different direction. The shadow of one of the boys looks like a carpet. The boy is clutching his stomach and curled up in a ball. This indicates that something terrible is going on in the picture. Together with the oddly arranged shadows and drips of paint all these details suggest the idea that the children are in danger and their innocence is somewhat utopian in this world. I think that the picture more sharply debates the issue of unhappy childhood, that is done in Our Town, and ties it to the problems of bad conditions of living, affordable housing and health care.
It becomes evident, that our society critically needs the improvement of housing projects, social and health-care reforms. On the whole, the analyzed drawings, style and some of the elements used, suggest the idea that Marshall worked in the frames of postmodernism. Postmodern artistic forms allow all sorts of experimentation, including the use of parody, irony, self-consciousness, fragmentation, ambiguity, simultaneity, generic mixing, and the breakdown between low and high forms of expression. In this way, postmodernism is seen as the extension of the experimentation widely used by modernism. The term postmodern was introduced by Arnold Toynbee, and most of the critics date postmodernism from the sixties of the twentieth century. Postmodern aesthetics has some distinguishing features that can be traced in the philosophy of many modern artists, including Kerry James Marshall.
These features are: irony and parody; irony was observed in the drawing Our Town, a breakdown between high and low cultural forms; it can seen in the wide range of artistic forms used by Kerry James Marshall. Retro, Marshall borrowed much from medieval and early renaissance art, a questioning of grand narratives; Kerry James Marshall questioned politics and social order. vitality and the simulacrum vs. temporarily, the predominance of visual media can be observed in Marshalls using cartoons. Thus, I have estimated the contribution of Kerry James Marshall to the contemporary art. I have found out that Marshall renewed the concept of blackness and developed his own views on the basis of it.
Blackness has become the core of the artists works: all the figures are painted black in Marshalls drawings. This, and other features of the artists style can be seen in the analyses of his drawings: Our Town and Watts 1963. I have also observed the historical background that favored the appearance of Kerry James Marshalls aesthetics. Bibliography: Biography. Kerry James Marshall. Arts 21 /pbs. 2003; available from web > Charles Rowell, An Interview with Kerry James Marshall, Callaloo, Vol. 21 No. 1, p. 263 - 272 Dino Felluga.
Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. Purdue Research Foundation. Nov. 28, 2003; available from web Our Town. Arts 21 /pbs. 2003; available from web Kerry James Marshall: One True Thing, Meditations on Black Aesthetics, Resource Library Magazine, Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc. 2004, available from web
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Research essay sample on Kerry James Marshall Our Town Part 2
