{"id":12242,"date":"2022-05-06T09:46:45","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T09:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/media-archive.blackartinamerica.com\/?p=12242"},"modified":"2022-05-08T16:00:26","modified_gmt":"2022-05-08T16:00:26","slug":"tales-from-the-b-a-sket-black-art-sketches-for-the-contemporary-art-lover-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthexhibitions.org\/media-archive\/?p=12242","title":{"rendered":"Tales from The b.a.SKET: Black Art Sketches for the Contemporary Art Lover"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Tales from The b.a.SKET: Black Art Sketches for the Contemporary Art Lover<\/h2>\r\n
By D. Amari Jackson<\/pre>\r\n
This week, we reach into the b.a.SKET and pull out two literary icons and one compelling image\u2026 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n
In 1983, upon a recommendation by a friend, Toni Morrison began reading Marie Cardinal\u2019s The Words to Say It<\/em>, a 1976 memoir first published in French that relays the author\u2019s \u201cdescent into madness\u201d before depicting her therapy and subsequent healing process. A white Frenchwoman raised in Algeria, Cardinal first identified the extent of her illness at a Louis Armstrong concert, a malady based in France\u2019s violent and oppressive relationship with its former north African colony, who she considered \u201cher black mother.\u201d Morrison\u2019s fascination with Cardinal\u2019s work would ultimately lead to a 1990 series of lectures at Harvard University where she highlighted \u201cthe way black people ignite critical moments of discovery or change or emphasis in literature not written by them.\u201d These lectures became Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, <\/em>published in 1992 by Harvard University Press and capturing her critical\u00a0focus on the construction of whiteness in American literature.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cWhat became transparent,\u201d wrote Morrison, \u201cwere the self-evident ways that Americans choose to talk about themselves through and within a sometimes allegorical, sometimes metaphorical, but always choked representation of an Africanist presence.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
James Baldwin, Morrison\u2019s good friend and fellow writer, had a literary imagination of his own, and his sharp and critical mind, tongue, and pen also made white people\u2014particularly those fool enough to challenge his spellbinding words\u2014choke<\/em>. Like Morrison, Baldwin masterfully\u00a0 deconstructed the \u201cWestern Canon\u201d and the skewed mentality that produced it, maintained it, and benefitted from it with such offerings as Nobody Knows My Name<\/em>, The Fire Next Time<\/em>, and The Price of the Ticket<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n
With his compelling piece, Baldwin Draped<\/em>, internationally acclaimed artist, Charly Palmer<\/a>, provides a poignant take on a young Baldwin draped in colorful fabrics that suggest an American flag, be it embracing him or confining him (or both). Palmer\u2019s striking image is further weighted by the brilliant author\u2019s critical and probing relationship with his home country.<\/p>\r\n
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“Baldwin Draped” by Charly Palmer 40 x 30 inches acrylic painting on canvas (2021) — unframed<\/p><\/div>\r\n
In an ultimate tribute to her friend and literary inspiration, Morrison\u2014easily one of the greatest writers of the 20th<\/sup> century of any race\u2014eulogized Baldwin\u2014easily one of the greatest writers of the 20th century of any race\u2014with the following words at his December 8, 1987 funeral:<\/p>\r\n
You knew, didn\u2019t you, how I needed your language and the mind that formed it? How I relied on your fierce courage to tame wildernesses for me? How strengthened I was by the certainty that came from knowing you would never hurt me? You knew, didn\u2019t you, how I loved your love? You knew. This then is no calamity. No, This is jubilee. <\/em><\/p>\r\n
\u201cOur crown,\u201d you said, \u201chas already been bought and paid for. All we have to do,\u201d you said, \u201cis wear it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\r\n
And we do, Jimmy. You crowned us<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n
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Browse and shop for fine art from our growing network of artists, collectors, estates, galleries \u2014 specializing in works by Black American artists with great values on premier art.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
START COLLECTING ART<\/span><\/h1>\r\n
Sign up for our\u00a0free\u00a0email course<\/strong><\/u><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>on how to begin your collection.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n
\"\"Amari Jackson<\/b> is a creator, author, TV\/web\/film producer, and award-winning journalist. He is author of the 2011 novel, The Savion Sequence; creator\/writer\/coproducer of the 2012-2014 web series The Book Look; writer\/coproducer of the 2016 film Edge of the Pier; and current writer\/coproducer of Listen Up! on HBCU GO\/Roku TV. He is a former Chief of Staff for a NJ State Senator; a former VP of Communications & Development for the Jamestown Project at Harvard University; and a recipient of several writing fellowships including the George Washington Williams Fellowship from the Independent Press Association. An active ghost writer, song writer, martial artist, and journalist, his writings have appeared in a wide variety of national and regional publications.<\/p>\r\n
Would you buy stock in BAIA if you could?<\/strong> Well we invite you to join us in becoming a monthly supporter, starting at just $3 a month YOU become a stakeholder and begin to help us transform lives through art. We are growing the BAIA team and will use your contributions to hire more team members for the purpose of creating more educational and marketing resources for schools and universities about african american artists both past and present. Such art initiatives and educational programming like Blacklite with Steve Prince, Relating to Art with Dr. Kelli Morgan, and BAIA BITS would not be possible without the ongoing support of our Patreon members. Please consider becoming a monthly Patreon member today!<\/p>\r\n
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