"Miss Pipi's Blue Tale", Image Courtesy of Kara Walker and Lehmann Maupin Gallery.
Lehmann Maupin Gallery and Sikkema Jenkins & Co. joined forces this spring (through June 4) to present the work of Kara Walker. A California native, Walker’s family relocated to Georgia when she was 13, a move that ultimately influenced her career. After receiving her MFA from RISD, her work has since garnered accolades both nationally and internationally. She is a multi-media artist and is perhaps known best for her unprecedented use of silhouetting (a technique popularized in the 18th and 19th centuries) to question and challenge issues of power, race, and sexuality. While her particular focus is on the antebellum south, Walker’s work has nevertheless raised contemporary controversy and speaks to issues that remain relevant in American socio-politics.
Lehmanm Maupin Gallery (201 Chrystie Street, New York, NY) is hosting a series of three video works, includingLevee (a landscape study of a levee at Friars Point, Mississippi) and Bad Blues (a short focusing on the role of the blues in the Delta region). The center-piece of this exhibit is Fall Frum Grace, Miss Pipi’s Blue Tale. This raw, visceral narrative uses silhouette puppets to tell the story of women’s roles in the antebellum south. Set against a backdrop of archival photos and raw delta blues, this piece captures the cruel nature of that life, even in moments of supposed tenderness.
Sikkema Jenkins & Co. is showcasing Dust Jackets for the Niggerati - and Supporting Dissertations, Drawings Submitted Ruefully by Dr. Kara E. Walker. This series of drawings, primarily graphite on paper and hand-printed texts, forms a study of changing racial identities in the face of geopolitics, particularly as it relates to the move from country to city. These bold, unabashed pieces focus primarily on the role and perception of black women in the early 20th century. They include abstract statements, such as a piece entitled, ...(And Modern Black Identity), which is simply a black square with the aforementioned text below, and poems about notorious personalities, such as Dinah Washington.
While Ms. Walker’s work has been on view worldwide from the Sao Paolo Biennale to New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art, Lehmann Maupin and Sikkema Jenkins are presenting a rare opportunity to experience the full extent of Walker’s carefully practiced craft and social study.
