According to artist Amy Sherald (b. 1973), she paints “Black people doing stuff.” Her committment to uplifting the everyday experiences of Black communities can be seen in Deliverance(2022), in which she paints Baltimore-based figures on dirt bikes in the manner of lofty equestrian portraits. Sherald appropriates the style of portraiture historically reserved for elite white sitters to glorify the bike culture of her chosen home. Caught in mid-air, her subjects lean back as if on a rearing horse, defying the laws of physics.
Photographed in the Brooklyn Museum as Part of the Exhibit Giants: Art From The Dean Collection.
Artist Vaughn Spann’s figurative compositions are vivid in their palette and imagination. Brilliantly saturated canvases such as this painting reflect the artist’s careful study of color, form, line and shape. His painted narratives, while dreamlike, are grounded in the complex realities of navigating life as a Black person. Basking in the Wind (2019) evokes the duality of this experience with a two-headed Black figure seated next to a pair of black and white rabbits.
Photographed in The Brooklyn Museum as Part of the Exhibit Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys
African American designer Ann Lowe (1898 – 1981) learned to sew from her dressmaker mother, Janie Cole, and her grandmother, Georgia Thompkins. One of her earliest pleasures was crafting fabric flowers, a skill that became one of the defining characteristics of her beautifully constructed occasion gowns for debutante and brides. This Evening Dress designed by Lowe for A. F Chantilly (1968) presents a terrific example of this skill.
Christopher John Rogers (b. 1994) created his eponymous Brooklyn-based brand in 2016, designing elegant pieces for the effortlessly chic individual. The designer draws inspiration from a variety of sources, from the vintage atmosphere of built spaces of the mid-to-late 20th century to modern artists, including John Chamberlain and David Hammons. Continue reading Eye On Design: Christopher John Rogers, Look 39 Knit Dress→
