Shot in black and white and printed on a glittery carborundum surface, Black Hands, White Cotton both confronts and abstracts the subject of its title. As with many of his works, the artist has taken a found image and manipulated it to draw out and dramatize the formal contrast between the black hands holding white cotton. Cotton, of course is one of the most familiar fabric sources to us, and becomes incredibly soft once processed. But at the time that it was being planted and picked by slaves in the United States, was severely abrasive and would lacerate the hands of the slaves dramatically. Not to mention the physical labor involved in picking cotton out in the sweltering hot fields for inhumane periods of time, and the frequent physical abuse endured by slaves in the process. This image, culled from the archives of Jive magazine in San Francisco, and blown up to a pixelated scale therefore demands not only that we confront the history of slavery and racism in the US, but does so by presenting a formal contradiction of a material that appears seductive, glamorous, and ornamental, but of a subject that represents extreme violence and oppression.
Employing the visual language and terminology of mass media, and appropriating symbols and images from popular culture, Hank Willis Thomas’ work seeks to question and subvert established definitions and positions with regards to personal identity and the narrative of race. Working across installation, photography, video, and media work, Thomas maintains his photo conceptualist roots, primarily taking source material from found photographs and archives. These images form the basis from which the artist seeks to uncover the fallacies that history claims as truth. His work illustrates how the way history is represented and consumed reinforces generalizations surrounding identity, gender, race and ethnicity, and that as an artist he has an opportunity to expose or to revise those histories from the points of view of the oppressed.
Unraveling, or “unweaving” sections of fabric, Maria Fernanda Plata arrived at delicate and tenuous-looking forms, both ghostly and gentle...
Haendel’s series Knights (2011) is a set of impeccably drafted, nine-foot-tall pencil drawings depicting full suits of armor...
Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Time-Traveling Lens Skip to content Hiroshi Sugimoto, "Lake Superior, Cascade River" (1995), gelatin silver print (all photos AX Mina/Hyperallergic) LONDON — The first image at the Hayward Gallery’s show of work by Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto is a pair of upright apes walking through a volcanic landscape...
Jeremy Grayson obituary | Photography | The Guardian Skip to main content Skip to navigation Skip to navigation Jeremy Grayson photographed Shirley Bassey, Sammy Davis Jr and Marlon Brando Jeremy Grayson photographed Shirley Bassey, Sammy Davis Jr and Marlon Brando Obituary Jeremy Grayson obituary My father, Jeremy Grayson, who has died aged 90, was a professional photographer who worked over the years for clients including the BBC, Radio Times, Talk of the Town and the London Palladium...
Although best known as a provocateur and portraitist, Opie also photographs landscapes, cityscapes, and architecture...
This untitled ink and pencil drawing by James “Yaya” Hough is made on what the artist calls “institutional paper”, or the state-issued forms that monitor the daily activities of prisoners, of which, each detainee is generally required to fill out in triplicate...
Open Mind is a model created by Capote for a traversable public maze that, when seen from above, resembles the human brain...
In Play , the image comes from a fashion magazine from the 1950’s (USA) whose theme is costume sportswear from the 19th century...
National Academy of Design Presents “Sites of Impermanence” Skip to content Willie Cole, “Five Beauties Rising” (2012), suite of five prints, intaglio and relief (courtesy the artist) The National Academy of Design’s new exhibition , Sites of Impermanence , celebrates the contributions of the 2023 Class of National Academicians: Alice Adams, Sanford Biggers, Willie Cole, Torkwase Dyson, Richard Gluckman, Carlos Jiménez, Mel Kendrick, and Sarah Oppenheimer...
Zhang Kechun’s photographic series The Yellow River documents the effects of modernization along the eponymous Yellow River, the second longest in Asia...
Perawesi / Estómago de animal / Stomach of animal by Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe exemplify his most abstract work, where he choses particular elements of a living organism to create his renditions...
The artist describes the work as “very performative video-pieces but they take on a more sculptural feel...