Exploring and Reminding Black Identity: Joseph Kyle McKinney & Kerry James Marshall
Last week, I saw Joseph Kyle McKinney’s show " What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue?” It focused on black men’s remarkable identity as a response to public and historical ignoring. His massive canvas works captured your eyes, and you felt like you were not allowed to see anything but black men, not just black men; when you visit one of his works on colossal canvas, huge black or blue men look so powerful and somehow angry and the other objects which are 10 times smaller than the black figures. Dear McKinney, there is a heavy masculinity in the air. What he tries to say is evident in his works: folks, you cannot go far away; the artist makes a strong statement about black men from past to present. His figures stand firm because it looks like a visual war for identity. Let’s briefly walk through his work style, which reminds me of comic books and films. Also, besides the enormous figures, details can also speak loudly in his works. I saw a lot of small white men around huge, powerful black men in his works, which is so brave. I find him bold and courageous, just like an artist should be. Overall. This significant figure aims to create a new path for seeing black men and moving their fights and powers with historical and modern concepts. I would ask him about his experiences and how he decided to start this journey. What was the primary experience or reason?
When discussing black artists and their works, let’s zoom in on another good one: Kerry James Marshall. Marshall intensely focuses on his experiences and background in his works, which is a very similar starting point to McKinney. Also, there is a big generation difference between them, which makes things interesting. Today, Marshall is the best-known artist, and McKinney is coming. Two generations of representation in different ways of work.
Marshall also paints with acrylic black figures full of composition on a big canvas. He has long been a moved and inspired storyteller of the African American experience. He is known for his sizeable storyline history paintings highlighting black figures—bold claims of blackness in a medium in which African Americans have long been unseen—and his investigation of art history shelters a broad worldly wrapping reaching from the Renaissance to 20th-century American concept. "Mastery' has a breakthrough feel: the suggestion of a new normal, in art and the national consciousness."—New Yorker.
Marshall’s Bang (1194)
As the New Yorker states about Marshall’s Bang, New Normal caught my eye, and I stuck there. These two words are a summary of his works. In addition to his works, when I research Marshall, I find his calm nature affects me, unlike McKinney, who seems at peace. Let the art fascinate us again, folks, two different personalities, generations, styles, and one common idea. Wow!!! So, what are we looking at here? Not just paint on canvas, right? —but a strong call. These artists aren’t just painting black men—they’re redrawing history, regaining, and identifying them spot-on where they fit: at the focus.
As the New Yorker puts it when describing Marshall’s Bang, this is the ‘new normal’—and honestly, it’s about time.
If you haven’t seen these artist’s works, see them or read about them. Give them a chance, stand beside them, and let them gaze back at you. Then I asked myself, and I am asking you, what stories have we missed till now? And from here, what will we do with them?
