Exhibition of my choice...

Mark Bradford & Kara Walker Exhibition
Last weekend I went to Chelsea to see the Kara Walker exhibit at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. She was exhibiting with Mark Bradford, which I thought was a good collaboration because at first viewing of the show I hardly noticed that there was more than one exhibitor. They both used collage and cut paper in their work that focused on societal and cultural issues. It only took a moment for me to recognize Kara walker's work from freshman year art making class where we did a paper cutout assignment that was inspired by her. Something I admire about her work is her craftsmanship. Her paper sculptures were meticulous and elegant. Aside from her notorious black and white silhouette pieces she had some color works with intricate details and a couple large pieces in this exhibition where she used white paint over paper. This really forced her viewers to look at the painting in order to see everything presented in it. The works were very beautiful and elegant, but the content mostly dealt with race, sexuality, and violence in a grotesque manner.
Through the last room of the gallery, almost unnoticed, was a small room where there was a pretty amazing film of hers playing was pretty amazing. I'm really interested in film and I thought that her use of the black-silhouetted figures in her silent film aided in the style of movie. I thought it was absolutely amazing how real she was able to depict body movement through paper dolls. The music the film was reminiscent of music that would play if watching a show of marionettes and changed with the tempo of the plot. The content of the movie was violent and captivating evolving into a fight scene of African slaves against white farmers.