1
10
4
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02d383a575890b91dfe2f9bf209125dc
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51f68f0c8bc547db213e414896352e54
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9c9c3dfc9d644d9d77d31cd17e40506a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Comics
Description
An account of the resource
Being my medium of academic interest, the comics used for this exhibit outnumber any other media in this exhibit. As such, they warrant their own collection. More than just the quantity of the presence, comics are an important medium when discussing black male representation. Comics use of both images and text for a mass consumer culture makes them accessible to all people: young and old, native speakers and foreigners, rich and poor. It does not cost much to make a comic -- a person just needs paper and a pen, not necessarily computers and crews. From there, a creator can create within the confines of the page and beyond, with only their imagination as their limit. The American Underground Comix and 80s and 90s West Coast Zine movements, as well as today's webcomic and crowdfunding comics, are a testament to the accessibility comic creators and readers have. Their mass consumer price and portability make them easily shared among the masses. Comics are the most democratic of mediums. As such, analyzing how black male bodies are created, consumed, and reproduced in comics is vital to understand black masculinity in culture. <br /><br />My selection criteria (in no particular order) for this collection is as followed: <br /><br /><ol><li>Does the comic offer unique insights to these questions: (a) How are these bodies represented and framed? (b) What are the intentions and effects of these bodies? (c) How can these bodies be received? (d) What are the semiotics of the black male body in this work?</li>
<li>Each comic differs in genre, tone, and art style from the other three.</li>
</ol>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<a href="https://comicsverse.com/author/o0rayday0o/">Rachel Davis</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
"Your Rights When Shot While Black"
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Knight, Keith.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Knight, Keith. “Your Rights When Shot While Black.” The Nib, 27 Jan. 2015, thenib.com/your-rights-when-shot-while-black?id=keith-knight&t=author.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
27 Jan 2015.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<a href="https://comicsverse.com/author/o0rayday0o/">Rachel Davis</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
N/A
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Digital image.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
The Nib website.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<ol><li>McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, First edition ed., HarperPerenniel, 1994.</li>
</ol>
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>This 6-panel webcomic (three rows with two panels each) features the Black male body in the context of being just a Black male body. Whereas other items in this exhibit have the Black body in dialogue with Western art, American history, existentialism, and more, Keith Knight keeps the Black body within itself. No other body appears in this comic but that of a Black character. Knight keeps the Black body as a Black body. That is the point of his comic -- to see a Black body as it is and see what it means. To this comic’s sole speaker, the police officer with the smoking gun, a Black body is a dead body.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr">There is quite a bit of presuming one has to make with this comic. We never see the police officer, yet we know the sole speaker of the comic is a police officer. Each panel’s first sentence mirrors the beginning sentence structure of Miranda Rights. It alternates between “You have the right…” and “I have the right…” Other textual clues, such as the “my police chief” of the top right panel and the “I have the right to be investigated by people I work with” (see<a> </a><a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/omeka-net/34789/archive/files/7c93865478a579510369d39fab421db7.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAI3ATG3OSQLO5HGKA&Expires=1515322735&Signature=QpkwZEIaoCux66IwgvtrKtrJqUQ%3D">Fig. 2</a><a>) </a><a>insinuate t</a>his character’s profession, it is the parroting of the Miranda Rights that is most telling of this figure’s authority. Like in <em><a href="http://wst198.omeka.net/exhibits/show/black-bodies-black-ink/captain-confederacy-4">Captain Confederacy</a> </em>and <em><a href="http://wst198.omeka.net/exhibits/show/black-bodies-black-ink/forever-free-dress-your-best">(Forever Free): Dress Your Best</a></em>, this white figure commands authority despite being merely omnipresence and never fully embodied for the reader. However, in Knight’s work, that authority is heightened by the fact that the character is presumably alive while the black body is dead. Seeing this police officer murder a Black body, yet speak to it in the same manner as if the body were alive -- the lack of individual distinction between a living Black body and a dead Black body -- is chilling. The fact that those words are about rights is haunting.</p>
And what of the black body in this scene? We know it is a body of a man of color because his hand is colored more darkly than the officer’s (see <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/omeka-net/34789/archive/files/a8a17aa9fce583e1c87f7a5bc11baf22.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAI3ATG3OSQLO5HGKA&Expires=1515322355&Signature=GKgRui4d7T06pPnRJYGwfPO3udM%3D">Fig. 1</a><a>)</a>. The body lies face down, back containing three holes presumably from bullets fired by the smoking gun. Despite the rightful assumption that the Black body is dead, the corpse contains one of the only visual movement throughout the comic. Whereas the smoke of the gun and the dialogue in the speech bubbles imply movement, the comic becomes a comic -- it shows sequencin<a>g -- through the increasing amount of blood seeping through the bullet holes from panel-to-panel (</a>compare <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/omeka-net/34789/archive/files/a8a17aa9fce583e1c87f7a5bc11baf22.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAI3ATG3OSQLO5HGKA&Expires=1515322941&Signature=2KCM5GJ7WoLmMKx8aeewXvsws3s%3D">Fig. 1</a> to <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/omeka-net/34789/archive/files/7c93865478a579510369d39fab421db7.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAI3ATG3OSQLO5HGKA&Expires=1515322735&Signature=QpkwZEIaoCux66IwgvtrKtrJqUQ%3D">Fig. 2</a> to <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/omeka-net/34789/archive/files/f524c8b485dd4b39bb70b547ea522727.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAI3ATG3OSQLO5HGKA&Expires=1515322956&Signature=efMFVz66GDeoRqsVUiOj4cmijKA%3D">Fig 3</a>). <a href="http://wst198.omeka.net/exhibits/show/black-bodies-black-ink/item/6"><span>Warhol</span></a> used an image of a real, living Black man being attacked, yet Knight’s cartoon representation of a Black male is more violent than Warhol’s. Warhol’s darkening of the image and removal of its context took away the humanity. As such, the violence to that Black man is not as troubling -- the viewer can gaze upon that image with relative comfort. Knight’s Black body is a simplified symbol of a Black body. Like Warhol, we can also not see this character’s face. And yet, the Black man here is so much more human and effective.<br /><br /><p dir="ltr"><span>This is possibly because of the character’s </span><span>lack </span><span>of realism. Scott McCloud calls this “amplification through simplification”: “[b]y stripping down an image to its essential ‘meaning,’ an artist can amplify that meaning in a way that realistic art can’t.” (McCloud 30). By reducing the Black body to two distinguishing physical features (darker skin and curly hair) and </span>a sociopolitical one (police brutality towards Blacks), Knight humanizes and elicits strong emotions from a Black cartoon. Knight’s comic relies on the reader’s understanding of 2015 American politics and history to understand the comic. There is less visual narrative help and more reliance on the reader’s knowledge and presumptions. This pays off in creating a comic that has the reader see and feel for the brutalization of and indifference towards Black bodies.</p>
black art
black artists
black bodies
black bodies in comics
black comics
parody/satire
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/34789/archive/files/9c863c5aaf2bc1bc468233b7da86b573.jpg?Expires=1712793600&Signature=P-XxtCiyxre0RpO4gADlGIyhZhy2aQzgSR4fvb7608mcGPDiayLI2LppR2lPxGWIxObM11uDKHsbrK4QL7vrnB-YO4MUAu9mWvxyYSguwR7LOzaTb284oijqr8V9MWFlUc5i7ZYo6E52TIht4zm0-qktA%7E70dbv6GHP6eqvu7xaEVEuV3iYM1H7l1fW4pNeR3jYev0wqU5KvWTcdBfIOAPIlFv0pWtJllcD9s%7EK5JHKHfuu%7ExuppXd2qvhX2MZLJFmPPxTACB81o6qa8asfYz-dOfrrQf2CAObBG6eV3q5cwZxSAG5Nxg%7ErnM1lmjMrQRVDzRJFES35kYvjJ4nQhXA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
1556cf2906c16c22ec387a401958e105
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Description
An account of the resource
**Parenthetical citation
* Appropriation for discomfort
* commericalism
Title
A name given to the resource
<em>(Forever Free) Dress Your Best</em> (from the "Forever Free" series)
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
1, 2, 3 and then MLA
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<a href="https://comicsverse.com/author/o0rayday0o/">Rachel Davis</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Fine Art
Description
An account of the resource
"Fine Art" is a contentious term with its history of excluding media, expressions, artists, and ideologies. Personally, I am not fond of the term. However, in order to explore the representation of black males in comics, it is necessary to look at the history of black males in visual cultures. Comics do not exist in the vacuum; no art form does. Art is a dialogue between a creator or creators and some other, whether that other be a person, society, history, or something else altogether. The best way to show this continuum is to curate the selected comics for this exhibit in contrast to older artworks and art forms. The similarities and differences between these media in meaning and representation black male bodies have yielded insights. <br /><br />My selection criteria (in no particular order) for this collection is as followed: <br /><ol><li>Does the fine artwork offer unique insights to these questions: (a) How are these bodies represented and framed? (b) What are the intentions and effects of these bodies? (c) How can these bodies be received? (d) What are the semiotics of the black male body in this work?</li>
<li>Each piece has its own medium.</li>
</ol>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<a href="https://comicsverse.com/author/o0rayday0o/">Rachel Davis</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<em>(Forever Free) Dress Your Best </em>(from the "Forever Free" series)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Charles, Michael Ray
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Charles, Michael Ray. "<em>Forever Free Dress Your Best by Michael Ray Charles on artnet.</em>" Tony Shafrazi Gallery, artnet. h<a href="Charles,%20Michael%20Ray.%20">ttp://www.artnet.com/artists/michael-ray-charles/forever-free-dress-your-best-a-Yo-DWl7n3Sz_42DkjvawDA2</a>. Accessed 15 Nov 2017.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1999
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<a href="https://comicsverse.com/author/o0rayday0o/">Rachel Davis</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
182.9 x 152.4 cm
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Acrylic Latex, Stain & Copper Penny on Canvas
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
New York City: Tony Shafrazi Gallery
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>With </span><em><a href="http://wst198.omeka.net/items/show/1">Green Lantern: Mosaic #1</a></em><span>, the comics narrative was visually laid out beside the narrative of the advertisements. Like the medium, this comic maintains the conceit that there is a line differentiating between the artistic narrative and the commercial narrative. The two narratives share a cover, but you do not visually see Hamner’s John Stewart playing basketball with the basketball advertisement, or see the rocket from the rocket advertisement fly with John Stewart. There is a distinction. This distinction does not exist in Michael Ray Charles’s </span><span>(Forever Free) Dress Your Best</span><span>. In this work from his series, the art is an advertisement. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Charles has a minstrel character modeling a shirt for sale. We know this is a white actor in blackface not only from the red hair, but the minstrel “uniform” he is attired in black skin, white gloves, and large lips. This is a white man performing as a black man to sell whatever “dress[ing] your best” is. What is that concept? Perhaps it is the whiteness of the shirt being sold, or maybe it is the covering of flesh being advertised as best. Or, just as likely, it is what the minstrel character is not doing that is being sold as best.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The minstrel character is staring forward at the viewer as he is in mid-action putting on a white shirt. His smile and gaze is a frozen mask of the minstrel, but his actions are not. He is not moving in exaggerated motions or making odd faces. There is no outrageous posture or dance moves. The character is performing blackness visually without acting black. The audience knows this is not a Black man, but the ad is selling what is not Blackness -- control, respectability, whiteness. Hence why there needs to be a white actor playing a Black person, it would not visually be transmitted that whiteness is being sold to a Black man.That is what dressing your best is (and has been, given the aged appearance of the artwork). Your best is your whiteness.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>This art piece provides a useful commentary on the black body by showing what Blackness has historically (and perhaps presently) means: not white. Charles notes that his advertisement art </span><span>“ is just as much white as they are black”; the same could be said about all discussions of whiteness or blackness (Art 21). When we distinguish between these two races, whether in fine art like this or in comics’ white and black figures like in </span><em><a href="http://wst198.omeka.net/exhibits/show/black-bodies-black-ink/item/2">Captain Confederacy #4</a></em><span>, we are highlighting more similarities than differences. </span></p>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-17ed6d5f-6d60-df9f-fa5c-ff3eefc76941"><span>So who is a Black male? In visual arts, every human is a representation. A representation claims not to be what it shows but an image of it. Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe is not claiming to be Marilyn Monroe. But Charles notes that concepts like whiteness and blackness are “re-appropriated and re-presented” (</span><span>ibid</span><span>). To Charles, the concept of blackness is what is shows -- blackness. It is not represented as being what it is not but is what it is. Perhaps this is where the tension and discomfort of works representing minstrel figures or </span><a href="http://wst198.omeka.net/exhibits/show/black-bodies-black-ink/strange-fruit"><span>Black male figures adorned in Confederate flags</span></a><span> come from. The figures will always be representations, but the concepts and history behind them are presentations. They are always present.</span></span>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<ol><li>Art21. “Advertising and Art: Michael Ray Charles.” <em>Art21</em>, PBS, <a href="art21.org/read/michael-ray-charles-advertising-and-art/">art21.org/read/michael-ray-charles-advertising-and-art/</a>.</li>
</ol>
appropriation
black art
black artists
black masculinity
fine art
minstrelsy
pardoy/satire
stereotypes
visual culture
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/34789/archive/files/b6ba2aa967ad8d3c839b3e0f458381df.jpg?Expires=1712793600&Signature=ZtOVs7Th1YYMX1fmMjlKGhg37YzPOgLFI8UlDL7vNSrui0rfPaLktvl1KcgRUitvYCyY%7EZq-PfSfc6iD6JJao%7E1w81nZsXk8LBYRW4EMxsnW6gvIH5n9xjKEKTzs2xUXAYDVK6O3iVQSjpzMrjfMvVop-4PduOq7guREMauBwFUsE59jLq0HhztXJ5Rb1%7ELzuZYjZQP%7EncviFCLNHNs-6Kvry6xrF6-j%7EJGVoYrz8jAIMPHOB5ggL2IMYwm9mYQxju4TjSu7kvq5hXUeohaXbu7htW5cci%7EVRB%7EA47USDcJggGIoWV5Y5Yx9hILrJCIpmG-scRUWEeGKBbNgRSQXvw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
cc73d80d5ba819d2c1710ce1da709c0b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<em>Ice T</em>
Description
An account of the resource
**Parenthetical citation
* Diff type of appropriation (Reverse appropriation)
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
1, 2, 3 and then MLA
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<a href="https://comicsverse.com/author/o0rayday0o/">Rachel Davis</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Fine Art
Description
An account of the resource
"Fine Art" is a contentious term with its history of excluding media, expressions, artists, and ideologies. Personally, I am not fond of the term. However, in order to explore the representation of black males in comics, it is necessary to look at the history of black males in visual cultures. Comics do not exist in the vacuum; no art form does. Art is a dialogue between a creator or creators and some other, whether that other be a person, society, history, or something else altogether. The best way to show this continuum is to curate the selected comics for this exhibit in contrast to older artworks and art forms. The similarities and differences between these media in meaning and representation black male bodies have yielded insights. <br /><br />My selection criteria (in no particular order) for this collection is as followed: <br /><ol><li>Does the fine artwork offer unique insights to these questions: (a) How are these bodies represented and framed? (b) What are the intentions and effects of these bodies? (c) How can these bodies be received? (d) What are the semiotics of the black male body in this work?</li>
<li>Each piece has its own medium.</li>
</ol>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<a href="https://comicsverse.com/author/o0rayday0o/">Rachel Davis</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<em>Ice T</em>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Wiley, Kehinde
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Wiley, Kehinde. "<em>Ice T</em>." Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, National Portrait Gallery. <a href="http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/recognize/paintings.html">http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/recognize/paintings.html</a>. Accessed 15 Nov 2017.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2005
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<a href="https://comicsverse.com/author/o0rayday0o/">Rachel Davis</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
243.8 x 182.9 cm
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Oil on canvas
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Washington D.C.: National Portrait Gallery
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span>The artwork that offers the loudest dialogue to </span><a href="http://wst198.omeka.net/items/show/6"><span>Warhol</span></a><span> and the Western art canon, in general, is Kehinde Wiley’s portraits of men of color. The similarities and differences between Warhol’s <em>Birmingham Race Riot</em> and Wiley’s <span style="text-decoration:underline;">Ice T</span> are fascinating. Warhol appropriated a newspaper photograph documenting the Civil Rights Movement. Wiley appropriates the icons, colors, and medium of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s 1806 </span><em><a href="http://www.musee-armee.fr/en/collections/museum-treasures/object.html?tx_mdaobjects_object%5Baction%5D=show&tx_mdaobjects_object%5Bcontroller%5D=Object&tx_mdaobjects_object%5BidContentPortfolio%5D=537&tx_mdaobjects_object%5Bobject%5D=551&cHash=d5b34980f2912c609d32c6e45f75d5d7">Napoleon I on His Imperial Throne</a></em><span>. Warhol took the photograph out of its newspaper context to make it into a piece of art -- a Warhol piece of art. Wiley adds context by replacing Napoleon Bonaparte with American gangster rapper Ice T, creating a new meaning using an established Western image of the royal white male ruler. Warhol’s work was for the elite art world. Wiley’s <em>Ice T</em> belongs to the National Portrait Gallery -- it belongs to the American people. Ice T is an American artwork in the mold of the American Dream. What is the American Dream but the promise of the self-made man regardless of birth lineage? And which man has made more of himself from the humblest of beginnings than the African-American? Unlike Shetterly and Stone in </span><em><a href="http://wst198.omeka.net/items/show/2">Captain Confederacy</a></em><span>, Wiley puts the Black man as the nation’s victorious symbol.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span></span><span>This painting is, like </span><a href="http://wst198.omeka.net/exhibits/show/black-bodies-black-ink/forever-free-dress-your-best"><span>Michael Ray Charles</span></a><span>’s work, is visually striking. It is meant to stir emotion and have the viewer question history with its use of a Black man in casual attire (cap, black sneakers, black sweatpants). Two noteworthy differences between this painting and the Ingres one is the positioning of the subject’s heads and the placement of the ermine hood. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Napoleon looks straightforward at the viewer (Musée de l'Armée). His head is as level as his gaze upon the viewer. Ice T’s head, however, is tilted upwards, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his forehead. We the viewer are looked down upon by him -- why? Is Ice T’s head tilt another symbol like the throne and scepters of his superiority over the reader? Or is he wary of the viewer? A Black man growing up in a racist society ascend to a throne. What did Ice T have to endure, what sacrifices and sins did he commit, to make it to that hallowed seat? What sacrifices and sins did the Black men who did not make it to the throne endure? Whether tilted in superiority or defense, Ice T does not gaze directly at t, e viewer unlike Napoleon, making it easier for the viewer to gaze upon him without the fear of “being caught.”</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span></span><span>Secondly, Napoleon wears the royal ermine, his “head emerging from a body drowned in an imposing costume, [the attire] effectively sets it apart from the [then] usual depictions of the emperor” (Musée de l'Armée). Ice T’s ermine is splayed across the throne he sits, leaving his bare, muscled arms visible as it holds the same scepters Napoleon does. Ice T does not envelope himself in the traditional attire of divine, empirical power. Instead, he wears the clothes of any American: comfy, affordable, and accessible. Yet his attire is black, like his flesh. His arms, like </span><a href="http://wst198.omeka.net/exhibits/show/black-bodies-black-ink/green-lantern-mosaic--1"><span>John Stewart</span></a><span>’s and the alien in </span><em><a href="http://wst198.omeka.net/exhibits/show/black-bodies-black-ink/strange-fruit">Strange Fruit</a></em><span><em>,</em> are his power. Once again, the Black man’s power is made physical -- he is made physical. Wiley’s Studio states that his works blur “the boundaries between traditional and contemporary modes of representation and the critical portrayal of masculinity and physicality as it pertains to the view of black and brown young men” (Kehinde Wiley Studio). Is that occurring here, where once again the Black man’s physicality is on display as his power? </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span></span><span>There are neither singular nor simple answers to these questions. The lack of a singular and simple answer for a work about black masculinity is a triumph. Again like Warhol, Wiley’s work succeeds in provoking questions, and with a history of reducing black men to the same stereotypes and roles, provoking questions is a form of resisting racist and sexist representations.</span></p>
<div><span> </span></div>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<ol><li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr"><span>Musée de l'Armée. “Napoleon I on the Throne or His Majesty the Emperor of the French on His Throne by Ingres.” </span><span>Musée De L'Armée</span><span>, 10 Dec. 2012, </span><a href="http://www.musee-armee.fr/en/collections/museum-treasures/object.html?tx_mdaobjects_object%5Baction%5D=show&tx_mdaobjects_object%5Bcontroller%5D=Object&tx_mdaobjects_object%5BidContentPortfolio%5D=537&tx_mdaobjects_object%5Bobject%5D=551&cHash=d5b34980f2912c609d32c6e45f75d5d7"><span>www.musee-armee.fr/en/collections/museum-treasures/object.html?tx_mdaobjects_object%5Baction%5D=show&tx_mdaobjects_object%5Bcontroller%5D=Object&tx_mdaobjects_object%5BidContentPortfolio%5D=537&tx_mdaobjects_object%5Bobject%5D=551&cHash=d5b34980f2912c609d32c6e45f75d5d7</span></a><span>.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr"><span></span>Kehinde Wiley Studio. “KEHINDE WILEY STUDIO: Brooklyn, NY.” Kehinde Wiley Studio, <a href="kehindewiley.com/about/">kehindewiley.com/about/</a>.</p>
</li>
</ol>
appropriation
black art
black artists
black bodies
black masculinity
blackness and history
fine art
history
parody/satire
-
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46b93ea7b52a99470d0d6b2d6e98b273
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<em>Rythm Mastr: Tower of Power</em> (from "Rythm Mastr" series)
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<a href="https://comicsverse.com/author/o0rayday0o/">Rachel Davis</a>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Marshall, Kerry James
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Marshall, Kerry James. “Rythm Mastr: Tower of Power.” MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, www.moma.org/collection/works/215348?locale=en. Accessed 15 Nov 2017.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1999-2000
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
43.1 × 57.8 cm (unfolded sheet)
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Artist's Newspaper
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
New York City: Museum of Modern Art
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024808022b9cda831ec515c9a8843aa4
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<em>Rythm Mastr: Every Beat of My Heart </em>(from "Rythm Mastr" series)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Marshall, Kerry James
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Marshall, Kerry James. “Rythm Mastr: Every Beat of My Heart.” MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, https://www.moma.org/collection/works/215346?artist_id=8285&locale=en&sov_referrer=artist. Accessed 18 Dec 2017.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1999-2000
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<a href="https://comicsverse.com/author/o0rayday0o/">Rachel Davis</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
43.1 × 57.8 cm (unfolded sheet)
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
New York City: Museum of Modern Art
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Artist's Newspaper
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aedb94f61d717ff0955dfd65dc583147
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<p class="balance-text center object-title"><em>Rythm Mastr: Bulletin! </em>(from "Rythm Mastr" series)</p>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Marshall, Kerry James
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Marshall, Kerry James. “Rythm Mastr: Bulletin!" MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, https://www.moma.org/collection/works/215347?artist_id=8285&locale=en&sov_referrer=artist. Accessed 18 Dec 2017.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1999-2000
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<a href="https://comicsverse.com/author/o0rayday0o/">Rachel Davis</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
43.1 × 57.8 cm (unfolded sheet)
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Artist's Newspaper
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
New York City: Museum of Modern Art
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Fine Art
Description
An account of the resource
"Fine Art" is a contentious term with its history of excluding media, expressions, artists, and ideologies. Personally, I am not fond of the term. However, in order to explore the representation of black males in comics, it is necessary to look at the history of black males in visual cultures. Comics do not exist in the vacuum; no art form does. Art is a dialogue between a creator or creators and some other, whether that other be a person, society, history, or something else altogether. The best way to show this continuum is to curate the selected comics for this exhibit in contrast to older artworks and art forms. The similarities and differences between these media in meaning and representation black male bodies have yielded insights. <br /><br />My selection criteria (in no particular order) for this collection is as followed: <br /><ol><li>Does the fine artwork offer unique insights to these questions: (a) How are these bodies represented and framed? (b) What are the intentions and effects of these bodies? (c) How can these bodies be received? (d) What are the semiotics of the black male body in this work?</li>
<li>Each piece has its own medium.</li>
</ol>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<a href="https://comicsverse.com/author/o0rayday0o/">Rachel Davis</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
From the<em> Rythm</em> <em>Mastr </em>series<br /><br />Fig. 1: "Rythm Mastr: Tower of Power"<br />Fig. 2: "Rythm Mastr: Every Beat of My Heart"<br />Fig. 3: "Rythm Mastr: Bulletin!"
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Marshall, Kerry James
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1999-2000
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<a href="https://comicsverse.com/author/o0rayday0o/">Rachel Davis</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Artist's Newspaper
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
New York City: Museum of Modern Art
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
43.1 × 57.8 cm (unfolded sheets)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Fig. 1: Marshall, Kerry James. “Rythm Mastr: Tower of Power.” MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, www.moma.org/collection/works/215348?locale=en. Accessed 15 Nov 2017.
Fig. 2: Marshall, Kerry James. “Rythm Mastr: Every Beat of My Heart.” MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, https://www.moma.org/collection/works/215346?artist_id=8285&locale=en&sov_referrer=artist. Accessed 18 Dec 2017.
Fig. 3: Marshall, Kerry James. “Rythm Mastr: Bulletin!" MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, https://www.moma.org/collection/works/215347?artist_id=8285&locale=en&sov_referrer=artist. Accessed 18 Dec 2017.
Description
An account of the resource
<p dir="ltr"><span><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span></span><span>No work in this exhibit takes up space like Kerry James Marshall’s </span><em>Rythm Mastr</em><span> series. These works occupy multiple spaces at the same time. This is a fine artwork (each artwork is owned by the Museum of Modern Art) whose medium is a comic newspaper strip </span><span>(Art21, “Rythm Mastr”: Kerry James Marshall). These works also address multiple types of spaces. Black bodies warp space. </span><span>Black body warps space in a way a white body does not -- the choice of Jeremy Grey as the hero of </span><em><a href="http://wst198.omeka.net/items/show/2">Captain Confederacy</a></em><span> </span><span>over a black male lead and the alien lead of </span><em><a href="http://wst198.omeka.net/exhibits/show/black-bodies-black-ink/item/7">Strange Fruit</a> </em><span>are proof of that. This is psychological space, though. The interaction between blackness and physical space within a narrative is not as pronounced. </span><em>Rythm Mastr</em><span> offers insights into both types of spaces. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>The three title pages here show three different spaces in three different lights. <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/omeka-net/34789/archive/files/6ea2904fd9af4cc889dbf3f5694509cc.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAI3ATG3OSQLO5HGKA&Expires=1515324570&Signature=XDUTIBBpKy6DS%2FalDYFovYbpNlM%3D">Fig. 1</a> shows a black figure aiming and loading a bazooka weapon at an urban water tower. Without the following panels providing context for this page, the reader is to assume this black male is conducting urban warfare on the communal water supply. For all intents and purposes, this person is conducting warfare on a source the community is dependent on -- a source the community does not control, but the bureaucracy does. Water is essential for life, but the distribution and management of such vital necessities in urban communities is relegated to the hands of a few (historically and still often white) politicians. Black people have and still do not (if Flint, Michigan’s water epidemic is any indication) live in areas where they have access or control to safe life necessities like water, organic fresh food, clean air, and so on. The water tower is not an animate threat to the black man aiming a military weapon at it, but what the tower represents -- a lack of control, racial equity, and autonomy -- is threatening.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>With <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/omeka-net/34789/archive/files/db374e873fce45dc5854bfc81f773446.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAI3ATG3OSQLO5HGKA&Expires=1515324627&Signature=u8OT59oR2sZy%2FFGtSEFIIEjWuqw%3D">Fig. 2</a>, a more traditional American comics scene is shown: a group of black figures are in motion, from the drum player in the foreground to the swinging mass to the viewer’s left to the flying figure to the right. Once again, the scene takes place in an urban environment. This time, the viewer is not only the street, but looking upwards. We are behind the action and cannot directly see the faces of the figures. Much like with <a href="http://wst198.omeka.net/items/show/6"><span>Warhol</span></a>, we are meant to see these figures as bodies in action and to see the scene. We see debris from the ground and the central building is partially demolished, showing a figure on the inside. The scene is chaotic, filled with movement and bodies that the viewer is a part of. There is an inclusion the viewer feels here that is absent in <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/omeka-net/34789/archive/files/1a0b0682a8946f18267b634d8c433434.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAI3ATG3OSQLO5HGKA&Expires=1515324649&Signature=XuXT6zjHkfFdKwttWRwtszZKSa0%3D">Fig. 3</a>. There, the viewer looks down from the lighting equipment of a TV news set. The black female anchor sits behind her desk, reporting, as other bodies crowd the bottom of the page. There is plenty of empty space and no movement. The lights and TV equipment dwarf the human figures. There is a great contrast between the two images. In the former, black people are in abundance, taking up space and performing actions, but out on the dark, urban streets near a less-than-pristine neighborhood. In the latter, only one black figure sits still, her body contained, and is dwarfed by the machinery and professional environment. The social capital of the space -- the dark dirty urban streets versus the white-collar newsroom -- decreases with the presence of black bodies. Conversely, black bodies respond to the prestige and lightness (see: whiteness) of the space they occupy (also seen in <a href="http://wst198.omeka.net/items/show/5"><span>Michael Ray Charles</span></a>). From these images in R<em>ythm Mastr</em>, it can be surmised that black bodies and physical space affect one another.</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<ol><li>Art21. “‘Rythm Mastr’: Kerry Marshall James.” Art21, PBS, <a href="https://art21.org/read/kerry-james-marshall-rythm-mastr/">https://art21.org/read/kerry-james-marshall-rythm-mastr/</a>.</li>
</ol>
black art
black artists
blackness and environment
environment
fine art