Issues of identity in contemporary art

Issues of identity in contemporary art

Works of art are generally defined as painting, poetry-related art, creative drawings that in most cases, usually imaginative. Usually, if it is a painting or a painting, it could be either two or three dimensional depending on the message the artist wishes to communicate using the same. Typically, a person who deals or comes up with a work of art or rather a painting is known as an artist. In history, there have been different artists that have created sculptures with different items as a way of communicating a particular message to a target group or society at large. Among the most famous works of art in history include; Mona Lisa, starry night, the thinker, the last supper, and the scream.

Many mansions are among the arts of work that are recognized in history; the art is dated back to the mid 90’s where it was started in 1994 and completed in 1995. Kerry James Marshall is the artist to work; he was born in 1955 in Birmingham, Alabama. Additionally, he has taught in an arts and design school in Chicago and has had his work recognized and preserved in a museum in 2016. Generally, Kerry’s work of art was boosted by his classwork, where he studied in the Otis art institute and later acquired an honorary doctorate in the same area in that same institute. On the other hand, an art known as the strange fruit was authored by Kevin Beasley, who is an American artist up to date; the art was created in 2015. Kevin was born in 1985 in Lynchburg, Virginia. He studied his bachelor’s in arts in the college of creative arts in Detroit and furthered it to a master’s degree in the same area at the Yale University. His art is quite different from others in that he mainly incorporates found materials such as clothing, resins, and foam.

The two works of art have their unique way of communicating a particular message, as earlier mentioned, that painting or sculpture is designed with a specific aim, and most of them usually have a hidden meaning. Looking at many mansions, by Kerry James, it is filled with irony from how he has come up with the whole painting. The red ribbon located above the picture is an essential part of the art for it carries the meaning of the sculpture and has a relationship to biblical scripture in the book of john 14:2; ”in my father’s house, there are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you.”

Kerry’s many mansions’ representation has a noticeable aspect of flat black color in his figures which in an interview he explains that the color symbolically represents the stereotypes about black people that was common during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The color in the painting further aims at showing power in a black person instead of the typical way in which black people are seen as an image of ridicule in society. The work of Marshall entirely revolves around black people and their lifestyle in the United States, and for the art on many mansions, he features Chicago Illinois.

On Kevin Beasley’s strange fruit, he links two aspects in culture; objects and sound. His work is a combination of many objects that we interact within our day to day activities. Kevin’s use of such items in his work is symbolic and communicates a particular message. His work displays the difference in race and social classes among different people in the United States.it further displays the various problems faced by blacks in history against the whites.in his work, he relates it with the history of lynching where he was born. The critical aspect of the sculpture is the cultural differences.

Ideally, the two artworks exhibit some similarities but on the other hand, differ primarily on their presentation. On the resemblance, they are similar because both main messages are on racial and cultural differences and profiling in the United States. Kerry James and Kevin Beasley have entirely tried to communicate about the aspects of their works. As earlier mentioned, in Kerry’s art, he uses black color as a symbol of black people. On Beasley’s work, the different items he uses in his work symbolizes cultural difference, which he further relates.

In life, we have various sources of inspiration to do what we like or something that inspires us to persist on our dreams and passion.in the two arts, the authors have had motivations towards the central theme of their work. In Kerry’s case, in an interview conducted regarding his creativity on many mansions, he claims to have been inspired by the Biblical scripture of john 14:2, which describes that there are many mansions preserved for people in heaven. Another area in which he drew his inspiration from was in Ralph Ellison’s book entitled “invisible man” The book brings out the concept that the black man was not recognized among in American society and was unwanted.in the case of Kevin Beasley, his primary motivation to do the art on the strange fruit came from the community in which he grew up

In conclusion, the two paintings show a lot concerning culture, racial differences, and discrimination. Both Kevin and Kerry have managed to describe the aspects clearly in their work hence bringing out the similarities between the two arts. Generally, communication using art is interesting because one will want to know what each part of the same means.