Antoinette Ellis-William stated that “black women celebrated their beauty with vibrant colors, elaborate hairstyles, and u i que cultural flair”. Now in this artwork, she really captures what black is. A first glance at this will have someone just see a plain black painting. No excitement whatsoever. But black is the mixture of all colors. All flavors into one color. If you were to see this work in different angles you can see the streak marks and different textures that is layered out all over the painting. Different shapes and images can be marked out and different shades of black. It is actually really interesting and there’s so much movement in this piece. The fact that it is surrounded by a sea of plain white really highlights what black is really about. A perfect start to the exhibition. It makes a bold statement that tells the viewers that “black” is the main importance right now. Black is not something unpure or beautiful. It is the entire opposite. Just like how black women have different shapes, shades, and unique cultural flairs.
This piece “Cloudy Night” I feel captures the perspective of a slave. A slave that has escaped from her keeper and ran off to the woods in hope for freedom. One can tell by the wilderness setting and the blurry washed way that everything is painted. It’s very ominent and dark, conveying the fear that these slaves went through. Ellis-William really did an amazing job capturing this perspective and kept with the theme “burn” by adding these burn marks around the painting.
This piece of artwork reminds me of Kimberly Drew’s statement “Felt solidarity with the aritos need to highlight the shameful history of the word fair. And how more often than not, people of color are brought into arts basis to perform for white audiences.” Artist like Ellis-William took something from the past and performed it for an audience that didn’t have the capability to be aware on their own. We are visual people and sometimes words aren’t enough. Artist need to display these imageries in the audiences head to create awareness and make a statement that sometimes can’t carry on through voice.
For my selfie, I still wanted to keep that very dark, or just very black aesthetic in the picture. The importance was to emphasize black and show the uniqueness of it. Kind of like how Ellis-Williams first painting was, I wanted to have an image where a person would take a first look at it and not be affected by it at first glance. The person would just see a very dark image with nothing to really show. But what it really is, the image is asking you to come a little closer and just look. Look a little deeper and see the shapes, different forms of shades and little details that really say 100 times more than any big bold design. Very subtle and tasteful. Look to see if you can make out where I am at in this photo and see what’s around me. What are these designs and artwork on my arms? Differentiate the different shades of black to see shapes and see what is actually in the photo. In the article “Black Lives Matter Don’t Shoot”, the statement “A perfect example of the starkness of the message supported and amplified by the starkness of the design” really hits the mark of the entire work of Ellis-William. So coming back to my selfie and William’s first artwork that I explained. The beauty and effectiveness of this work comes from just how purely simple it is. The whole topic that this artist is talking about is black. The people for his color and embracing the color of black. I tried capturing it by just simply layering under a layer of black but still being a part of it and still being unique in it. Able to portray a statement. Just as simple as the destiny of William’s painting is, the effect it aims to do is just as simple. Her whole work is talking about black people and their uniqueness. This painting and my selfie is basically just embracing the straight black color and basically telling the audience to come straight ahead. Come into the black and see the amazing things it has to offer. There's no beating around the bush. The artwork tells it straight forward and leaves no guesses. In this journey of art we are talking about black and you are coming for the ride.Hopefully my selfie was able to capture the amazing message that William implemented in her artwork and serve as a unique experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment