The shortest and surest way to get your historical point across is to influence the young. To get the attention of the young is to win their hearts and minds... Kerry James Marshall, whose murals are now installed at the SFMOMA public space, the Haas Atrium, uses “the vernacular of coloring books” as John Zarobell, assistant curator, said at the opening last Wednesday. In his art, Marshall invariably explores the place of African slaves and their African-American descendants in American history. His two grandiose paintings for the Art in the Atrium project follow the style of activity albums, where following a maze and connecting the dots lead youthful minds to the preexisting discoveries and revelations. Addressing slavery, the artist sees his goal as “to represent things that were not represented, and uncover things that were obscured,” as he put it in his opening speech. Hence, in his depictions of Mount Vernon and Monticello, the respective homes of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Marshall indicates the omnipresence of the invisible slave corps who works the estates, by elusive means of unfinished silhouettes, shades, and dots. He pushes the figures of the founding fathers to the sides, in a distorted elongated view of half-turned cardboard cutouts freeing space for the “Visible Means of Support” of their power. In the course of the artwork’s message and appeal, the Museum’s Education Department participates in an Oakland-based youth project, in which teenagers will design and produce their own thematical mural in response to Marshall’s. Kerry James Marshall’s murals are on view until 2010. 151 Third St., SF. 415-357-4000 or visit www.sfmoma.org Photo by Emma Krasov. Kerry James Marshall at the opening.
Kerry James Marshall at SFMOMA
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The shortest and surest way to get your historical point across is to influence the young. To get the attention of the young is to win their hearts and minds... Kerry James Marshall, whose murals are now installed at the SFMOMA public space, the Haas Atrium, uses “the vernacular of coloring books” as John Zarobell, assistant curator, said at the opening last Wednesday. In his art, Marshall invariably explores the place of African slaves and their African-American descendants in American history. His two grandiose paintings for the Art in the Atrium project follow the style of activity albums, where following a maze and connecting the dots lead youthful minds to the preexisting discoveries and revelations. Addressing slavery, the artist sees his goal as “to represent things that were not represented, and uncover things that were obscured,” as he put it in his opening speech. Hence, in his depictions of Mount Vernon and Monticello, the respective homes of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Marshall indicates the omnipresence of the invisible slave corps who works the estates, by elusive means of unfinished silhouettes, shades, and dots. He pushes the figures of the founding fathers to the sides, in a distorted elongated view of half-turned cardboard cutouts freeing space for the “Visible Means of Support” of their power. In the course of the artwork’s message and appeal, the Museum’s Education Department participates in an Oakland-based youth project, in which teenagers will design and produce their own thematical mural in response to Marshall’s. Kerry James Marshall’s murals are on view until 2010. 151 Third St., SF. 415-357-4000 or visit www.sfmoma.org Photo by Emma Krasov. Kerry James Marshall at the opening.
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