rendering captivity

Though English artist John Philip Simpson made a bold anti-slavery statement when he presented his painting The Captive Slave to the Royal Academy in 1827, his imagery evokes an unsettling and modern representation of the contemporary captivity of hundreds of thousands of black men today. 

Newly acquired and housed at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Captive Slave, modeled by famous American actor Ira Aldridge, is rendered heroically, and with dignity and decency. This is a peculiar visual counterpart to emboldened, urgent narratives written by former slaves like Frederick Douglass and Mary Prince, who attempted to convey the terror and inhumanity of the practice of slavery. Terror, in a sense within their literary works, is entailed with bodily and psychological torment. 

The urgency of the abolition of slavery is not so apparent within Simpson's work in this respect.  Sure we see chains, tattered clothing, and black skin, but we also see a hopeful, regal, and composed figure that complicates visceral images of captivity.  With regard to Simpson's representation of enslavement,  how can we consider the efficacy of such work in tandem with the artist's strategic decision to employ a well-known black Shakespearean actor as the sitter?

Moreover, how can we consider this image as a living memory within a historical trajectory of black men and women entrenched within socio-political institutions of postcolonial societies? Just a thought. 

You can check out The Captive Slave at the Art Institute of Chicago. Also, I have provided a link to the blog of Grammy award-winning music producer John Forte, entitled "First Day Out of Prison."

Image: John Philip Simpson, The Captive Slave, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 in, 1827

rhapsody in hue

So I've been dying to write about the breathtaking work of abstract painter Ed Clark. And now that I finally have the platform, I'm at a loss for words. His paintings are wall-sized fields of color, often inspired by sunsets in Mexico, Egyptian deserts, Moroccan architecture, and Parisian hill-top skylines. Clark is most popularly known for breaking into the art world by breaking out of the traditional four-sided canvas. His work can be found in major collections across the country, but is also conveniently available to locals at the Art Institute of Chicago and G.R. N'Namdi Gallery. According to one of my favourite scholars of all time, Robin D.G. Kelley, a little known fact about Clark is that he and other black artists were invited to- and subsequently visited Cuba in 1959 vis-à-vis Fidel Castro. Quite the visual revolutionary.

Left: Ed Clark, Untitled, 1957.