Scape
Yesterday, Allison Conant, Lisa Oxley and I went to The Hammer Museum to see the Kara Walker Exhibition: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love. I felt, perhaps, how viewers must have felt when they started to realize the magnitude, the variety, and the brilliance of Picasso’s body of work in the mid-20th century.
But, even that is not saying enough about what Walker is accomplishing. Picasso may have been breaking new ground as an artist, but Walker takes you back over familiar territory and makes you look at the parts you refused to see — makes you look at a reality that history, time, and social graces have conveniently wiped away. And as shocking as her violent, grotesque, and taboo subject matters are (rape, sodomy, defecation, pedophilia), what’s even more shocking is the elegance with which she presents these subjects, thus drawing you in by there beauty and making you not just look at, but truly absorb the truth of slavery, racism, sexism and tolerated violence in our society.
Cut
It was a profoundly moving experience, especially coming to it after watching Barack Obama tackle the same issues as elegantly with words as Walker does with pictures. Also, experiencing the exhibition with Lisa, a brilliant artist in her own right (see her dog portraits here), and Allison, a great literary mind with a Masters in American History, was the perfect accompaniment. The images are so intense and her work is so overwhelming, I was fortunate to have some insightful friends to hash it out with afterwords. If you get a chance to see Walker’s work, go! And let me know what you think. Trust me, you’ll need to talk about it.
The End of Uncle Tom
Oh, there were only two dog art pieces in the show, Scape (above) and The Dogs which I couldn’t find a picture of on the Web. As far as small creatures go, Walker seems to prefer pigs, rabbits, and monkeys in her tableaux. It’s something I’d like to ask her about, as every cloud, drop of blood, and blade of grass is operating on 2-3 levels of meaning.
Read more about Kara Walker’s life and work in this terrific and rare interview by Lynell George of The Los Angeles Times .
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