Amy Sherald’s Nuanced Portraits Depict An Array Of Black Leisure

The turbulent and heart-wrenching past of black people has inspired many art pieces and art stories. Many creative souls have used their creativity to construct an evoking and stirring narrative of their lives. Their subjection to oppressions comes up vehemently through these art pieces. However, there are a few artists who look the other way. They go ahead to bring them to the mainstream. One of them is Amy Sherald.

For Amy, Blacks have the right to life other than that of oppression in the art world. She looks beyond the gloomy vibes and sets the stage for their happy and lively image. Taking on that, she takes them not as marginalized souls but as a part of the mainstream world. Not just that, she aims at getting them at the center of scintillating art pieces on her art shelves.

Going on that line, she has come up with some beautiful painting with blacks celebrating their leisure time. She has portrayed them as an integral part of the American world. Embarking on art trails, she has painted black figures living their everyday leisure moments to the full. Not just that, she has made use of a palette of bright colors to come up with their vibrant life. From their clothes to their surroundings, everything brings out their blissful life. Pleasure vibes get around winning hearts with alluring strokes.

Adding to that, she has also presented American culture and life in the background. One can come across a white picket fence, Barbie T-shirt, etc., in her works. Her oil paintings thus stand out for their scintillating portrayal.

To breathe into the fact, one can marvel at her art pieces. “A Midsummer Afternoon Dream” (2020) (oil on canvas, 106 x 101 x 2.5 inches) presents a black female figure in a bright dress with a bicycle. Moving ahead, one can come across “An Ocean Away” (2020)(oil on canvas, 130 x 108 x 2.5 inches), showing two black surfers bracing up for taking on raging waves.

Then, there is “As American as apple pie” (2020) (oil on canvas, 123 x 101 x 2.5 inches) with two black souls living the spunky American life to the full. Pooling her works, she has brought them under the title ‘The Great American Fact’.

That reflects on her inspirational bits that she has taken from Anna Julia Cooper’s ‘A Voice From the South by a Black Woman of the South’. The Georgia-born artist has followed the words in the text: “‘the great American fact’; the one objective reality on which scholars sharpened their wits, and at which orators and statesmen fired their eloquence.” Thus, one can see her subjects coming up “in a universal way, where they could become a part of the mainstream art historical narrative.”

To the delight of her fans, her paintings have been making waves at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles till June 6. Thus, one can live one’s chance by taking a closer look at her artworks. Apart from that, one can also grab her stars on her site. Social media platforms also come up as an alternative route.

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