A life-size musician with large, clumsy hands, disjointed body parts, and wide, piercing eyes strums a guitar. An equally arresting head in the lower left corner is thought to be a self-portrait of the artist and a kind of visual signature for the aging Pablo Picasso
Souvenir II by Kerry James Marshall is set in Marshall’s aunt’s living room where a memorial hangs above the couch. The memorial reads “In Memory of” and features President John F. Kennedy, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and centered between the Kennedys is Martin Luther King, Jr. In clouds floating above, Marshall depicts – as angels – individuals associated with the Civil Rights Movement who were violently killed between 1959–1970. The most prominent part of the work is that of a black angel with gold wings, preparing the living room’s memorial setting, holding a vase with flowers, inviting the viewer into the scene. Souvenir II is one of four in a series, narrating the loss of leaders in politics, literature, arts and music.
Among the angels depicted in the clouds is Detroit native Viola Liuzzo, a housewife and 39-year-old mother of five. She was shot by Ku Klux Klan night riders on Highway 80 in Montgomery, Alabama making her way home to Detroit after participating in the Selma to Montgomery marches in the wake of Bloody Sunday. To this day, she is known as the only white woman killed during the Civil Rights Movement. The other angels in the artwork include Medgar Evers, Fred Hampton, Denise McNair, Addie Mae Collins, Malcolm X and others who were murdered for their work during the Civil Rights Movement.
Artist: Andy Warhol (1928-1987)
Mao (Mao Tse Tung) 1972
Screenprint printed in color ink on wove paper 36×36
Kim Bell
Hebru Brantley piece from his 2016 collection.
Mickalene Thomas (b. 1971)
“Something You Can Feel, 2008”
rhinestone, acrylic paint, and oil enamel on wood panels 96 x 120 in.
Acquired by Detroit Institute of Arts (2015-present)
photo: Kim Bell
Damien Hirst “Beautiful Artemis Thor Neptune Odin Delusional Sapphic Inspirational Hypnosis Painting” (2007) Household gloss on canvas 96 x 240 in.
photo: Kim Bell
Ed Ruscha (b. December 16, 1937) in Omaha, Nebraska.
One of the most important postwar artists, Ed Ruscha came into prominence during the 1960s pop art movement. First recognized for his associations to graphic design and commercial art, Ruscha became admired for his meditations on word and image. Working in a variety of media and taking the environment of Los Angeles as a guide, Ruscha creates candid, comic presentations of familiar ideas and locations that continue to impact contemporary art.
Like his friend Willem de Kooning, Kline used abstraction to commemorate specific people, places, or events. Dynamic line and powerful brushstrokes loaded with paint reduce his compositions to a few large forms. Both the white and black areas seem to project from the work with equal force; this dramatic surface tension releases and yet controls the energy of his process. Kline’s dialogue of black and white in Siskind evokes the abstract photographs of Aaron Siskind, his close friend, to whom this work is dedicated.
📸 Kim bell
