《這很有理......主要在她的腦海中》以原形編織自傳,以想像編織記憶,也是艾米.謝拉德最私密的自傳主題畫作之一(詳見上述2017年在國立美術館的對話)。謝拉德以標誌性灰色調描繪一位年輕馬師,手握一匹獨角獸玩具馬,由紋理豐富的背景映襯。拍品是藝術家職業生涯早期的鉅作之一。拍品繪於2011年,自2012年起長期借給華盛頓特區國立女性美術館展出,最近更出現在HBO開創性紀錄片《黑人藝術:沒有曙光》(Black Art: In the Absence of Light)之中。
重新構想記憶
畫中人物的馬術制服和帶有韁繩的玩具馬暗指藝術家的個人敘事,遠超自傳式象徵意義,例如:白人特權的服飾和史上一直從缺的黑人經典休閒形象,引人入勝。連同與她同時代的藝術家,包括:克里.詹姆斯.馬歇爾(Kerry James Marshall)、米卡琳.托馬斯(Mickalene Thomas)和海恩德.維里(Kehinde Wiley),謝拉德將黑人形象投放在白人主導的藝術史話語當中,響應馬歇爾的呼籲,製作「運用黑人形象的作品,作為一個歷史敘事的部分,極具意義。」i
i Kerry James Marshall, quoted in Sam Pollard, Black Art: In the Absence of Light, HBO documentary, 2021.
ii Amy Sherald, quoted in Victoria L. Valentine, “Portrait of an Artist: Baltimore-based Amy Sherald Wins Smithsonian's Outwin Boochever Competition,” Culture Type, March 26, 2016, online.
iii Amy Sherald, quoted in Ashley Harris, “4 Questions with Amy Sherald,” National Museum of Women in the Arts, July 30, 2017, online.
iv Amy Sherald, quoted in Samra Khawaja, “Art Talk with Painter Amy Sherald,” National Endowment for the Arts, July 16, 2016, online.
來源
現藏者直接購自藝術家本人
過往展覽
華盛頓特區,國立女性美術館,2012-2021年(特長借展期限) 巴爾的摩,Reginald F. Lewis 馬里蘭非裔美國人歷史與文化博物館,〈艾米.謝拉德:繪畫〉,2013年9月14日至12月29日
文學
Joan Cox 著,《艾米.謝拉德:訪談》,〈Bmoreart.com〉,2012年11月29日,線上(圖版) Shine Creative 為 Bmoreart 製作,《發光發亮:艾米.謝拉德,畫家》,2013年12月19日 《與藝術家對話:艾米.謝拉德》,國立女性美術館,華盛頓特區,2017年5月9日 Sam Pollard 導演和製作,《黑人藝術:沒有曙光》,HBO,2021年2月9日
Amy Sherald reflects on the contemporary African American experiences through her arresting and unearthly paintings. Her grisaille portraits call to the surface unexpected narratives and unfamiliar experiences of the every day, encouraging viewers to reconsider contemporary portrayals and accepted notions of race, representation, and the Black American experience.
Sherald’s paintings are at once vivid and unassuming, offering silent, unflinching meditations on contemporary lived experience. She renders her sitters in a grisaille tone to disarm preconceived notions and misconceptions of Black identity. Vibrant, mute, and surreal in the ordinariness they portray, her work offers the viewer silence for placid and direct reflection. Sherald’s work has been widely acclaimed as the artist was the first woman and the first African American to win the prestigious Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and in 2019, the museum unveiled her official portrait of First Lady Michele Obama. Sherald’s work has been shown in solo exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis; the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR; and the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta, GA.