Tag: Kara Walker

Kara Walker at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

The U.S.’s dark and violent past continues to inspire Kara Walker’s new paintings and drawings; here, Walker presents a portrait of Grandison Harris, a 19th century man enslaved and assigned to rob graves to supply the classrooms of anatomy students at a Georgia medical college. After the Civil War, financial constraints forced his decision to return to the college and continue to supply bodies until his eventual death and burial in the same cemetery that he revisited in his working life. (On view in Chelsea at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. through Sept 16th).

Kara Walker, detail of Paradox of the Negro Burial Ground, oil stick, collage, and mixed media on paper, 30.25 x 22.75 inches, 2017.

Kara Walker at Sikkema Jenkins

Kara Walker’s monumental installation of an eroticized, African-American sphinx last summer at Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar Factory was a run-away hit for its sheer size and painful exaggeration of an American stereotype. At Sikkema Jenkins in Chelsea, Walker presents work surrounding the project, including watercolors and the sphinx’s severed hand, preserved for the time being in its defiantly rude gesture. (Through Jan 17th.)

Kara Walker, installation view of Afterword at Sikkema Jenkins, Dec 2014.

Kara Walker at Sikkema Jenkins

Over the past few years, Kara Walker has moved away from her signature antebellum figures seen in silhouette enacting various barbarisms on each other.  In the back galleries of Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins, they return with vigor and malice, begging the question of what’s changed since they made Walker’s name in the mid-90s.  (Through May 22nd).  

Kara Walker, Wall Sampler 1, cut paper and paint on wall, dimensions variable, 2013.

Chuck Close at Pace Gallery

Chuck Close, Kara/Felt Hand Stamp, oil paint on handmade, Twinrocker/Hot Press paper with Feature Decal, 2012.
Chuck Close, Kara/Felt Hand Stamp, oil paint on handmade, Twinrocker/Hot Press paper with Feature Decal, 2012.

With over 200 solo shows to his credit, Chuck Close is one of America’s best known artists, and he’s still pushing the boundaries of his craft.  His latest solo show at Pace Gallery’s 534 W. 25th Street space features oil paintings, watercolors made with a printer and other works, including this portrait of artist Kara Walker made with oil and a felt hand stamp. (Through Dec 22nd.)