Gone, An Historical Romance of a Civil War as it Occurred between the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart [detail], 1994
Kara Walker
Cut paper (21 paper silhouettes) original and templates w/signed certificate
180 x 600 inches
396.2 x 1524 cm
Kara Walker is a contemporary artist who uses black and white paper silhouettes to make statements on race, gender, human behavior, and power. She was greatly influenced by historic and current power struggles, shame, and kitsch in America.
REACTION
My absolute favorite aspect of this work is how the simplicity and seeming kitschiness brings out the greater issue and standpoint. From one perspective, this appears to be a paper cut out of a woman and man, silhouetted, kissing in the moonlight. But Walker's themes of race, gender, and power are evident: the African American is leaning towards the man, who has a posture of dominance. The man has a human on a leash behind him. Besides the artist's strong message, I also like the use of black and white to create the shapes and figures, with the images in black and the negative space left to the imagination. I find this especially influential and valuable since figure drawing is an important and current part of Art Class this year, and these paper cut outs are essentially filled in contour drawings.
Kara Walker
Cut paper (21 paper silhouettes) original and templates w/signed certificate
180 x 600 inches
396.2 x 1524 cm
Kara Walker is a contemporary artist who uses black and white paper silhouettes to make statements on race, gender, human behavior, and power. She was greatly influenced by historic and current power struggles, shame, and kitsch in America.
REACTION
My absolute favorite aspect of this work is how the simplicity and seeming kitschiness brings out the greater issue and standpoint. From one perspective, this appears to be a paper cut out of a woman and man, silhouetted, kissing in the moonlight. But Walker's themes of race, gender, and power are evident: the African American is leaning towards the man, who has a posture of dominance. The man has a human on a leash behind him. Besides the artist's strong message, I also like the use of black and white to create the shapes and figures, with the images in black and the negative space left to the imagination. I find this especially influential and valuable since figure drawing is an important and current part of Art Class this year, and these paper cut outs are essentially filled in contour drawings.