“You can’t be born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1955 and grow up in South Central [Los Angeles] near the Black Panthers headquarters, and not feel like you’ve got some kind of social responsibility. You can’t move to Watts in 1963 and not speak about it. That determined a lot of where my work was going to go…”

Well yes, I guess so! Those are the words of prolific Chicago based painter Kerry James Marshall. His work is so powerful, so beautiful, and there is oh so much of it! I wanted to post about fifty paintings but I tried to show a bit of self-control. Luckily self-control isn’t needed if you’re in Chicago this summer, because there is a huge retrospective of his work currently showing at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago until September 25, 2016. Go! But before you do, one more great quote: “You can wait for somebody to let you get in the door – or you can assume your place among equals and put yourself in the world too, and put yourself in the stories that you want to see told.”  

Amen.

Mr.Marshall is represented by Jack Shainman Gallery, NY