Rendition of Neil Painter - Asher Gantman
My Art piece, which I have named “Fight and Reservation” (2021), is based on Nell Painter’s “From Slavery to Freedom” (2020) and draws inspiration from the notion that prejudice is still alive and well in America. Painter’s inspiration comes from the consistent struggle of Afro-Americans to obtain the same liberties and Caucasians, and in result the George Floyd protests which occurred during the height of the pandemic last year.
After researching more about Painter, I stumbled upon the article “In new memoir, a pathbreaking historian of ‘whiteness’ recounts her attempt to be a Serious Artist” by Soraya Nadia McDonald, which explains many of those processes and techniques undertaken by Painter. McDonald explains that when first starting out, Painter’s previous assumptions about art were incorrect. She believed that one “approached art as though it illustrated social relations and history, upholding or denouncing the political status quo.”[1] In addition, she learned that the act of “borrowing” another artists art style was not necessarily frowned upon. In fact, it was encouraged due to the fact it could give another person a better understanding and appreciation for the art. Furthermore, McDonald states that Painter’s intention was to focus on the visual meaning of the artwork. In my interpretation, a simple message, which portrays the social nuances of society. This is what I set out to do, to get a better understand of Painter’s process and to create a straightforward piece of art that comments on the status of our society. In McDonald’s article she explains that Painter has experienced prejudice not only because she was black and a woman, but also because she perceived herself to be old. This is what is so significant about the piece, is that she is breaking the generational mold and stigma with her being old, and instead is creating a piece which is reminiscent of a young child’s work. In addition, I tried to embody her self-portraiture as described in Jonathan Square’s and Walter Johnson’s “The Historian’s Art”. Square and Johnson explain can be seen “…through digital manipulations, collage, and text. Furthermore, the artists explain that education and black aesthetic is quite prevalent in her work.”[2]
Therefore, I set out with a simple first task, which was identifying a piece of art that represents societies struggles with ethnicity. Specifically, I chose Black-Suffrage. The collection I chose from, “From Slavery to Freedom”, used ink, paper, and some digital alterations. I destined out by trying to follow this model by using a paper, pencil, as well as colored markers to emphasize meaningful words. One issue which I encountered is my lack of digital alteration abilities. With this said, the piece that gave me the most inspiration was the two last pieces in the collection. Therefore, in conjunction with Painter’s work, I created a line of text which makes social commentary. I intended my work to be understood by everyone regardless of their political understanding. While trying to stay neutral, I inserted my own art style and tried to rhyme my sentences. This was done with the intention of creating an almost story like paragraph. But as we all know, ethnic prejudice is still quite prevalent and can be viewed nearly daily on social media channels as well as news stations. This is also supposed to be social commentary on how consistently we are told how minorities, are supposed to feel in the face of prejudice, hence the statement “What shall be you, who pushes me how to think.” Quickly followed by the statement “All the while pain, blood, and suffering still fills the streets”, which represents the Black Lives Matters protests which occurred last year where around the country people were arrested for peacefully protesting their disdain for the current prejudice system. My personal experience with this project has been profound. I felt significant emotion in how to frame my own struggles as well as my perception of other people’s struggles.
[1] “In new memoir, a pathbreaking historian of ‘whiteness’ recounts her attempt to be a Serious Artist.,” The Undefeated, June 18, 2018, https://theundefeated.com/features/memoir-old-in-art-school-nell-irvin-painter/.
[2] “The Historian’s Art.,” The Boston Review, January 06, 2020, https://bostonreview.net/arts-in-society/walter-johnson-nell-irvin-painter-old-in-art-school