Ami Shah
Professor Cacoilo
Art and Women
April 23, 2020
Figurative Artists and Their Representations of Racial Injustice
Figurative art is defined as work that is clearly derived from real object sources. This sort of artwork strongly references the modern world and can be representative of various themes or ideologies. Figurative artists also oftentimes create pieces that reflect on societal issues and personal concerns. Artists such as Abney, Sherald, Khalo, Dumes, and Boyce, for instance, are just a few whose artwork makes a concrete commentary on the issue of race and racial injustice of today’s time. In several different ways, they explore the various facets of institutional racialism while generating a conversation that challenges society’s long held beliefs.
Nina Chanel Abney
Nina Chanel Abney is an African American contemporary artist and painter that is based in New York. Her colorful and distinctive work is known to touch upon a multitude of societal faults. Some issues she explores include: race, gender, homophobia, and pop culture. Her work can be defined as figurative as she has stated inspiration from current events and personal experience. In this particular painting, Abney brings to light the atrocities of military force on foreign land. The individuals with white skin and green clothing, representing the army, are in an obvious position of power; they use this upper-hand to viciously attack the brown and black bodies crouching down before them. While the whitest body, painted in the center, is completely ignored and unbothered by the armed individuals. This is a clear commentary on American society and the power dynamic between whites and minorities. Abney's painting depicts the harsh and cruel nature of the crimes that are committed by the United States military when deployed to foreign lands. The flag, for instance, is precisely placed in the center, most likely representing American nationalism and push for global democracy. However, it is too often the citizens that bear the burden and are unfairly punished and crucified in order to ignite the United States’ agenda.
Always Ready, Always There, Nina Chanel Abney.
Miss Everything, Amy Sherald.
Amy Sherald is a painter based in Baltimore, Maryland. She is most notably known for her portrait paintings, as she created the Official Portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama. Her portraits can be defined as figurative as she has voiced her interest in representing African-American stories through personal experiences and black history. In this portrait, titled Miss Everything, Sherald tackles African-American stereotypes. However, she purposely greys the skin of the young girl in order to ambiguate race so that it is not put under a subjective spotlight. From a broader lens, Sherald puts an emphasis on, "challenging the concept of color-as-race”. Sherald also drew inspiration from Alice in Wonderland with the prominent white teacup, representing a fairytale-like alternative as a response to the current narrative of black history. Through this portrait, she is ultimately combatting modern stereotypes with an addition of imagination.
First Lady of Michelle Obama, Amy Sherald.
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter whose artwork challenged many traditional beliefs and customs. She is mostly known for her self-portraits inspired by Mexican culture, folk art, and life. Kahlo can be identified as a figurative artist as her work is also representative of ideas that derived from objects and experiences from the real world. Through her art, she explores important subject matters such as race, gender, and class. One of her most famous paintings, The Two Fridas, captures multiple important phases of Kahlo’s life. After her divorce from husband Diego Rivera, Kahlo completed this painting in order to portray the two versions she sees of herself. On the right, Frida is dressed in traditional Mexican clothing while holding a picture of Rivera, but the one seated at the left is dressed in a modern, European fashion and depicted as an independent woman. The two Fridas are also seen to be connected by their hearts, however the one dressed in white is seen to be bleeding out. Not only is this telling of how Frida was feeling about her marriage and personal life at the time, but also the division between the two forms of herself through a cultural lens. Although Frida had incredibly involved her background into her art, there is an apparent theme of an identity struggle that she internalized. This is evident through The Two Fridas, as the symbolic choice of clothing points to the conflicts that the contrasting sides bring from within her. Much of Kahlo’s inspiration towards her artwork were based on the experiences she went through and she utilized this in order to also make a commentary on other societal issues throughout the entirety of her career.
Two Fridas, Frida Kahlo.
Marlene Dumas
Marlene Dumas is a South African contemporary artist and painter. Dumas is widely known for her portraits and pieces that venture into dark themes such as war, racism, and death. Much of her figurative work depicts nude bodies of the subject alongside visually displaying their emotions and expressions. In addition, Dumas utilizes her own photographs and prints for her paintings. She recreates them in dull colors, such as brown or grey, but emphasizes simple facial expressions to convey feeling and move the audience. For example, in this collection of portraits, titled Rejects, Dumas is displaying the faces of multiple individuals. Here, both controversial individuals like notorious murderers are alongside anonymous, everyday people. She merges together multiple themes including race, gender, and sexuality as a result of the different faces that are being shown. Furthermore, there is a specific significance behind the collection and its title. Dumas explains, “I really like the title Rejects because in a conceptual way if you call something a reject it’s a bit like a failure already so you can’t really fail because you’ve acknowledged that you’ve failed, so I like that play on the word reject” (TateShots, 0:20-0:35). Dumas’ work exemplifies figurative art as she merges together the human experience with modern issues in a unique style.
Rejects, Marlene Dumas.
Sonia Boyce
Sonia Boyce is a British Afro-Carribean artist that is based in London. Her thought-provoking pieces make use of various outlets such as drawing, print, photography, video, and sound to communicate her work. She is also heavily involved with collaborative art as she works closely with other artists. Boyce is known as one of the most prominent painters to have come from the 1980s’ British Black Arts Movement as she tackled many issues regarding race and multiculturalism. She can be identified as a figurative artist as a result of her work which represents the different experiences of people of color. Boyce specifically wishes to convey a message that focuses on proper black representation and a change in narrative that has existed throughout slavery and after emancipation. In this video, by Tate, Boyce explains how she wishes to change the image of black bodies and black female femininity through her work.
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