As the rain pounds the umbrella, rattling and shaking as the wind sways me side to side, I run for cover into the historic haven in front of my eyes. As the revolving door wisps three times
, on the fourth woosh, it opens into bursts of color from the marketplace selling intricate crafts from diverse cultures around Brooklyn. As my father and I make our way to the translucent doors, we enter the space covered with pink walls, the bright pop of color a pleasant contrast from the gray of the outside world. As I take step after step into the expansiveness of the exhibition, I never would have anticipated what lay in the depths of the colorful, intricate labyrinth of art.
The Brooklyn Museum has recently opened a new exhibition entitled “‘Giants,’” featuring the private collection of Alicia Keys and Kasseem Dean (a.k.a. Swizz Beatz). The Dean collection features the work of 37 artists from the African Diaspora, highlighting the individualized influence of Black artists in contemporary art. I specifically focused on two artists that stood out in the exhibit, their representative pieces allowing the imaginations of all their spectators to explore their creative freedom. These artists are Nick Cave and Kehinde Wiley.
Cave, who was born in 1959 in Missouri and currently lives and works in Chicago, creates art that reflects urban culture and society, his art being a shimmery flare of attraction. He attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art and later got his BFA at the Kansas City Art Institute.
An article published by the New York Times in October of 2019, titled, “Nick Cave Is the Most Joyful, and Critical, Artist in America,” references the materials Cave uses in creating his art. Those objects include “bright pelts of dyed hair, twigs, sequins, repurposed sweaters, crocheted doilies, gramophones or even stuffed sock-monkey dolls.” All these varying assortments of items are what one might expect to find in a children’s assortment of art supplies. Yet, nevertheless, they all mesh together in synchrony, forming incredible pieces displayed at the exhibition.
Two of Cave’s creations were featured at the “Giants” exhibition: “Tondo” and one of Cave’s Soundsuits. “Tondo” is a circular painting, its assortment of dyed hair co
lors swirling to represent “black youth living in violent settings,” said the plaque beside the art piece. In a video with Cave explaining his art with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, he said his Soundsuit displayed in the “Giants” exhibition is one of 500 Soundsuits Cave is well known for. Cave’s Soundsuits “were first created in response to the police brutality against Rodney King in 1991,” reads the plaque shared with the “Tondo” description. My eyes continued to widen in awe at the reflection of each glistening hair and sequin of color making up the masterpiece, sparkling under its spotlight.
The work of Wiley, a 47-year-old American painter based in New York City, is similar to Caves in its colorful nature but also takes a different approach in the representation of his art, specifically in the form of portraits and figurative art. Wiley is “known for his vibrant, large-scale paintings of African Americans posing as famous figures from the history of Western art,” wrote the National Portrait Gallery in a description of the “Official Portrait of Barack Obama” — one of Wiley’s most famous pieces of art. Wiley plays with meaning within his art, one instance of this being, “In his 2005 interpretation of the painting, ‘Napoleon leading the Army over the Alps’, Kehinde Wiley replaces the figure of Napoleon with a black man wearing a bandana and Timberland boots. The painting… is part of a series of portraits inspired by the tradition of equestrian portraiture, ‘Rumors of War’,” wrote the Stephen Friedman Gallery on their website. Wiley has his viewers interpret different perspectives through his creative display of art, challenging society’s version of history and power.
Within the “Giants” exhibit was what I would consider a statement piece, encompassing a 25-foot-long painting created in 2008, by the name of “Femme Piquée par un Serpent.” The piece illustrates “a Black man in snappy but casual dress reclined in a distinctively twisted position,” according to an article written by Zachary Small and published by the New York Times, titled “Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys Show ‘Giants’ in Brooklyn.” The long painting could barely be seen in whole, making it so much more interesting as I viewed it from all its different angles. The physical size of the piece represents the room for endless interpretation, while the man at the focal point of the piece is representative of the multitude of stereotypes derived from just one’s appearance.
People who come from all different backgrounds can make a conjoined and powerful difference by sharing their past reflections, not just in their words, but in their beautiful visuals as well. An artist shares an untold story through their pieces, and in many cases their work is a reflection of their personal stories. The “Giants” exhibit gives its spectators a perfect opportunity to explore the individualized visual stories of Black artists all throughout the world.
