Saturday, March 5, 2011

If I must...I must...

Konnichi'wa minna-san! Today I read an interview that Emory Douglas did in JUXTAPOZ magazine that I found to be highly informative. Emory Douglas is a revolutionary artist who was also the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party. He designed the majority of their literature and propaganda. He also designed the iconic image of the party, The Panther. He, in the article talked about the relevance of race in our modern society. He did this piece of Obama where Obama apologized on behalf of the United States for Slavery. This was a powerful piece of revolution art in that its meaning could be viewed as quite controversial. Whereas Shepard Fairey and others were creating empowering works of art incorporating Our newly elected, Mr Douglas on the other hand took the opportunity to make you question the the state of the union as it stands now. To me this work was spot on. Its a piece that makes me look at where my work has evolved(or devolved) from. I recall being back in college and exploring race in my work and how informative and enlightening that was to me. The last few years of I have gotten away from that subject matter. Apart of that, I believe is because I questioned whether or not race is still relevant in art. I mean we still have issues of race and race identity in today's society but I wondered/wonder how deep it runs in art. How I can get away using race in my work and not come off as angry black man. Reading this interview gave me hope. It gave me that good feeling I always get when I see someone out there making work that makes you question the status quo and whether or not race still really matters. This article really has me excited about the prospects of creating work go forward. I look forward to having you guys along for the journey.


-Namaste

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