Kori Newkirk
Recently, the young artist Kori Newkirk had a retrospective at the Studio Museum of Harlem. The Studio Museum of Harlem describes itself as "the nexus for black artists locally, nationally, and internationally, and for work that has been inspired by black culture. It is a site for the dynamic exchange of ideas about art and society."
This Museum is a fitting place for a large-scale exhibition of Newkirk's works, as Newkirk is considered to be one of the most important African-American artists working today. The show, which covers ten years of his artistic output, features self-portraits, big beaded curtains made out of fake hair and pony beans, as well as suburban cityscapes. One of the things that distinguishes Newkirk from other artists is his unusual choice of materials. He is not even afraid to use pomade in some of his works. Of course, the choice of pomade links Newkirk's work to the African-American tradition of using this waxy substance as a means for styling one's hair.
Jubilee, one of the artist's curtains from the year 1999, is a good example of Newkirk's loaded works. While the piece is decorative enough to make one want to hang it in their living room, the orange colors in the piece reminds one of fire against a blue sky. This may be a reference to the Watts Riots that took place in Los Angeles, where the artist now resides.
Newkirk is very diverse as an artist, as we see in this exhibition. He also makes videos, and these are some of the highlights of the show. In Bixel, a short video from 2005, we see the artist stumbling into an empty field wearing nothing but a silver g-string. He has a confused expression on his face. This can be taken to be symbolic of the African-American's continual confusion of where his place is in American society.
Bibliography
Mission Statement. The Studio Museum in Harlem. http://www.studiomuseum.org/mission_statement.html (Accessed March 28, 2008).
