Post-black...

Freestyle, a seemingly radical show of black artists work during the 1990s, caused a lot of controversy because of its disparate nature, suggested by its title. What the show suggested about blackness was that it was in fact a style...an affiliation filled with nuanced representations of what it meant to be black. What I find most compelling about the show is that is both accepts and rejects notions of blackness simultaneously. Lori Waxman's review of the show suggests that it may have been a earmark of the Post-Black movement. The show defied a collective interpretation of blackness, and instead presented an "overwhelming sense of individuality." I tend to enjoy work that relies on a certain "truth" about stereotyping, yet drawing a critical self-awareness to stereotyping (within the viewer) and uses the stereotype to confront themes about viewing the "other." I think that Susan Smith-Pinelo's video does this. It combines the stereotypical sexualized black female (specifically her breasts) with the word "Ghetto" on a necklace.



This is the same reason I have enjoyed Kara Walker's work. The graphic, cartoon-like nature is visually appealing and often reminded me of vinyl wall decals made for children's rooms. However, her work is very disturbing and relies on the stereotypical "look" associated with blacks (big lips, big butt, "nappy" hair) yet at the same time her black characters are enforcing "slave punishments" against their white counterparts. The violent and childlike juxtaposition often drew me to her work, as it functions like a fairytale gone awry. She bridges pop-art style with a multiculturalist view. Her view bridges the past (with characters from folklore) with the present (themes of racism, violence, gender and identity).




According to Thelma Goldin, Freestyle aimed to recontextualize blackness in terms of a multicultural, or even post-ethnic, society. I see the show as attempt to reclaim a black identity and not give in to a more normative society. However, I wonder if the show reinforces the racial relavatism that occurs when there are "all black" shows, or shows during February, or all women shows. Does this reinforce ethnic diversity and awareness over artistic ability? I would say that all the artists in the Freestyle exhibition are deserving of the exhibition, but I still believe that racial relavatism skews the artworld based on a societal guilt to incorporate diversity and a disregard for artistic accomplishment.

I also think that Holland Cotter brought up a good point in questioning if the label "post-ethnic" will merely become a marketing label. There was also an evident correlation between multiculturalist art and the economic market. When the market was down, multiculturalism was up. This follows the historical trend of art, to make what is considered to be "unmarketable" art while the country is in an economic valley.

Kerry James Marshall tuned into the success of hybridity, both in the representation of race and the use of media. His works, like Walker's, are very graphic; blending high and low culture. His work also deals with the juxtaposition, as sometimes overlapment, of stereotype and reality. All of his technical choices (color, composition, etc.) relate to the conceptual framework behind his pieces. I have generally been more impressed by the figurative work he created over the more experimental, mixed-media work.

The darkness of the figures in his work almost suggests an invisibility, or a simultaneously absence and presence. The figures remind me of the mass of a black hole, which is infinite and at the same time contains nothing. Many of the figures are indistinguishable from one another, which seems to speak to the stereotype of black not have individualized sense of identity. The narrative quality of his works also go against modernist art (generally ruled by the white, middle class male). He seems to be resituating the black figure back into history, giving the blacks more power.

What seems to be the overall them of post-blackness is both the acceptance and rejection of historical assiciations with African Americans and a more individualized approach to black identity, or in some cases, a complete rejection of black identity. It is a resistance to social judgment based on historical stereotypes and visual, physical featues. On that note, I think it would be good to end with a piece from Glen Ligon, in which he simultaneously "exagerates his black features" and "exagerates his white features."