Kerry James Marshall

Mastry by contemporary artist Kerry James Marshall was an outstanding solo exhibition that closed at the end of September. Marshall is a masterful and interesting painter and artist. He offers commentary on the privilege and history of formal museum exhibitions and gallery hangings. In a water-downed nutshell, he is described as reinterpreting western art history using African-American figures in traditional painting styles and position. However, his signature iconographic markers extend his art historical references into an artistic voice of his own. Some of Marshall's techniques include linear halos that evoke medieval saints and virgins, distorting illusion using trompe l'oeil, the positions of figures in specific foreground placement, as well as other techniques. Overall, I thought the exhibition was breathtaking and remarkable. I, of course, loved his use of glitter to hyperbolize certain emotions and ideas. Marshall is gaining more and more attention and due credit for his wonderful career and I hope he will continue to have a successful reception in the future.