Kara Walker

[Ellexorip]

i was first introduced to her work when i randomly decided to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. i feel lucky! the book about her, SEEING THE UNSPEAKABLE is also highly recommended.

[johnnytoothpaste1]

It seems like most of the negative comments on Walker's work is from failed artist and art historians who cannot unpack their own hang ups to see the forest from the trees. You'll be angry for the rest of your lives talking about art to anyone who'll listen.

[kathleen2596]

I love it!!

[mewbean]

I found her work provocative...My introduction to this artist happened while I was visiting Atlanta's High Art Museum. The piece was called "The means to an end a shadow Drama in five acts". Trust me when I say the piece was not something you walked past and not noticed.

[winterstockwell]

Saw her work for the first time at the Walker in Minneapolis - thanks Kara

[Pirate7X]

R-K123, your opinion is respected but short sighted. She is dealing with the ramafications of how past slavery inform all perceptions and attitudes of contemporary slavery and much, much more in my perspective.

It's clear to me from the use of 2D images in classic silhouette form that she's question race & color politics by limiting & forcing the viewer to ask what they really see and is that what we created, she created or history created.

[dizzyread9]

I went and saw her work the other day and me and my friend were amazed- Inspiring stuff!

[branchwater7]

high art hustle.

[shoshanathe1]

people comment on Ms. Walker's work as if it's on a subject that's gone from the world and belongs to the past. you are kidding, AREN'T YOU? there are slaves where ever you turn around; women are suppressed in too many places; and children; and some men too... there is still slavery goes on in Africa. and any muslim man who's alive (and there are millions of them) control and suppress the women and kids around him. Wake up, people. this work is current and is amazing.

[ResearchKnowledge123]

Good point. The problem is Kara does'nt connect her work to the contemporary manifestations of slavery. She is stuck in the past of the American system of chattel slavery. She's constantly making statements that articulates how much she wants to go back and experience the past. She essentially says it in this video. The Psycho said "all blacks want to slaves a little bit " Her perverse desire to be a slave is sick & twisted. It has nothing to do with abolishing it in its current form.

[bebop54]

art is not meant to solve political problems ...

in kara's case she is exploring the subconcious ..

very difficult subject matter ..

i think you are taking her too literally ..

she has been around quite awhile & has stood the test of time in the art world ..

perhaps you should view her work before calling her a psycho ...

but is meant t@ResearchKnowledge123

[mr7tomsawyer]

@ResearchKnowledge123 read some books on her artwork. art is more than its immediate representation, you have to look deeper than that. art is more than just pretty or violent in kara's case. she is sick but she has the courage to share it with her audience in her art work. shes showing how the manifestations of slavery have contaminated the present mindset of people. it provokes us to asess our own desires and probe whats beneath the level of our subconscious.

[ResearchKnowledge123]

@mr7tomsawyer Any self aware person of color that spends time examining the history of Blacks in America recognizes that slavery had a profound effect on our consciousness. Once thats acknowledged the question becomes how does one deal with that history. A healthy person trys to grow beyond it. They don't celebrate it. They don't exploit it and make a mockery of it like Kara Does. She's basically making Black exploitation art. Similar to Black exploitation films.

[ResearchKnowledge123]

@mr7tomsawyer Also check out Kara's comments in the video posted by sfmoma. In it she articulates how easy it is for her to imagine committing atrocities like those depicted in her art. The title of the vid is "Kara Walker on her uneasy relationship with her own imagination". This vid is absolute proof of what I've been saying about her for some time. It's only easy to commit atrocities if you are a Psychopath. So why are we pretending that a psycho is a great artist?

[bebop54]

what a wonderful & eloquent comment ..

wish i'd read it before i posted mine ....

you're a breath of fresh air !@shoshanathe1

[BillyKnockout]

The souls of deceased slaves speaks through Ms. Walker' work . Her art is amazing, i love it .

[brassflower]

Its a sham people! Wake up and move on...

[love7277]

well, i like her.shes deep nothing more said.

[brassflower]

Blacks in the US are only beloved and embraced by the elite overwhelmingly white artworld (or society in general) when they prescribed to the anachronistic psychology that they have no other tale to express other than that which germinated out of the North American atrocity of slavery and its unfortunate aftermaths.

[brassflower]

Only when they embrace their slave history with relish and abandon are they given a platform on which to shine as real and authentic artist, any other artistic expression uttered by a Black is berated as lowbrow, disingenuous or kitsch. Walker tells a story that is only interesting to those who have a perverse and damn near obsessive interest in continuing to view nonwhites as something less than completely human.

[ResearchKnowledge123]

Brilliant commentary! I can never get beyond how much she looks like a Slave. Walking around in those weird antebellum southern garb. Big plantation dresses. The chick is sick & twisted. For Real! she relishes her role as the victim.

[brassflower]

Those whose worldview has been elevated beyond the pernicious affliction of racism feel appropriate shame, anger and revulsion at the sight of her clumsy commentaries on race relations in America that read more like a very personal psychosis rather than a collective testimony from the annals of the Black Experience. In short, Walkers work sucks. Next.

[loveupskirts]

just discovering this artist

[theFireProofFlames]

Consider me chastened by your lacerating wit.

[theFireProofFlames]

That you are, PidginKlanEunuch; I see you can type, even. Watch the video and you may, in time, evolve to the level of a monkey who even talks *sense*.

Kara Walker is an important artist; thank the gods that an artist's stature at any given moment is not a function of her/his popularity with people whose notion of Art is a Monet postcard.

[TBRambo]

Very interesting artists!

[snillusgospel]

Nice Video Kara!

In 1991, Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson were dating. Barack took Michelle on a date to a gospel music concert in Chicago. Shortly afterwards, he proposed and she accepted. Click on my link above "SnillusGospel" to see Barack and Michelle during the Mighty Clouds of Joy's performance of "Been In The Storm Too Long." .....

[anothrdumscrname]

This woman's art is AWESOME!

[blackberryjuice1]

The wikipedia page is now censoring any criticism of kara Walker's work. If you want to know more about the criticism of her work by African American artists, visit brandshire (dot) com

[theFireProofFlames]

@blackberryjuice1:

Any Black Artist who manages to go beyond the condescended-to level of the kitschly reassuring and second-rate can look forward to vicious attacks... often from other Blacks. Sad but inevitable.

Walker's work is an exquisitely delicate kick in the nuts. You don't get it. Fine.

[RedWolfSV]

Wow, obscure terms. English major are we? But, I couldn't agree with you more. Thanks.

[momis1981]

I'm still not sure what to think about her art. I was impressed she is able to do different types of art like the silhouette, the drawings, the puppet videos, etc. But some of work is way too graphic for my taste. I understood what she try to tell but it was so raw I was a little shocked.

I did enjoyed, however, seen the older white people get upset at her work and complain that wasn't art. They obviously can comprehend what she tried to tell.

[BreahBoo]

@momis1981 White people can never understand black art. It's really sad. You should research Michael Ray Charles, they can't understand him either.

[Applebaum]

I love her come to the uk!

[jessiechuang]

Just visit her exhibition at Hammer. What stunningly beautiful works. I am so greatly affected by them.

[1aaronwaugh]

Love her Work i went to the HAmmer toDay .

[edjar10]

she is like an emo girl.shit, her work is scarry

[blackberryjuice1]

please visit my critique at brandshire d.o.t. com

[theFireProofFlames]

@blackberryjuice1:

"As such, they are a reflection of the psychosis of white supremacy. "

No, they're clearly a critique of them. Would you prefer simple-minded polemic? Walker's work is rather more sophisticated than her detractors' reactions. You can't come at material like this with Oprah's demagogue tactics and only your emotions/ visceral responses as critical tools. The personal offence of the unreflective middlebrow audience is a *goal* of Art, not its refutation.

[ResearchKnowledge123]

What's Sophisticated about regurgitating The Atrocities that took place on a Slave Plantation? Kara simply illustrates that White Slave Masters murdered and raped Black Women, chopped up Black babies. were murdered themselves occasionally when Slaves revolted. We all know the History. Where is the Sophistication? How is this valuable and empowering and moving the conversation forward? It simply takes us back to a place no one wants to revisit.

[maliksart]

I must say Kara Walker is a very beautiful woman. After experiencing Basquiat. Kara work and legacy only makes sense.

[ResearchKnowledge123]

Kara Walker doesn't come close to Basquiat! she relishes her role as the victim! Whereas Basquiat Asserts himself and Americans of African descent as the Victors! His works value is self evident. She simply illustrates Atrocities that took place on the Plantation. How are anyone Black or White able to gain anything from seeing a Slave Owner chop up a Black Child? She actually said All Blacks want to be slaves a little bit. The woman is clearly insane!

[ohpiffle]

Who is interviewing her? Where is this video from?

[caroljbowie]

Excellent work

[LaSunset]

I agree. Wonderful.

[blackberryjuice1]

(1) From all the reviews and interviews on this topic, I find the previously posted comment the most lucid statement of all:

"In reality, no one who can identify with the experience of being white in America can truly claim to be colorblind as his or her identity is built on the opposite. And even for the most well-meaning white liberal, Kara's work panders to this subconscious. As this white supremacist subconscious is deeply rooted in all Americans, Walker's work does not

[blackberryjuice1]

(2) subvert the white supremacist imagination of blackness but rather re-presents it in the tangible here-and-now, bows to its hegemonic force and makes offerings of eagerly copulating slave women, debased pickaninnies and confused buckcoons."

It is no wonder that this work has gained international recognition. It seems particularly well suited for a predominantly white European culture, which is only capable of

[blackberryjuice1]

(3) deciphering the United States through caricature and stereotype: i.e. all "Indians" live(d) in tee-pees.

Unfortunately, this body of work is so stuck in a specific time and place and is so far from comprehending and experiencing those realities that it does not serve as a metaphor for a broader theme of power and abuse. This shortcoming creates a disconnect so that the Brit, German, "Yankee" etc. is bemused by 'play of shadows' but does not see how

[blackberryjuice1]

(4) they too are wearing the plantation owner's polished boots and that the cut-out victims are also the masses their own ancestors oppressed and murdered (and still treat like animals). What Czech, for example, would view this work, look under his or her nose and see that this might as well be the testimony of a modern day "gypsy" aimed at him or her. It is too easy to arrest the atrocities of the South to the South. Plantation slavery was an imposed

[blackberryjuice1]

(5) British economic system since the first African arrived to Jamestown in 1619. Every white European and Northerner benefited from it the same way Ms. Walker is benefiting from it now. She is, in some regard, the last living slave owner in America: touring her black "objects" around the country and the world, selling off pieces at the auction block.

[blackberryjuice1]

(6) the above is a quote by Drew Martin of The Museum of Peripheral Art...

[blackberryjuice1]

in response to my original critique of Walker's work found on brandshire (dot) com

[afromorph]

kara walker est avant tout une artiste et c'est comme cela qu'il faut voir son oeuvre

et non comme crittique social...

si elle utilise les stereotypes c'est justement pour en prendre distance car les stéreotypes jouent en nous noirs ou blancs victimes ou pas et son travail est a l'intersice de ça

entre etre victime et etre bourreau il y a l etravail de kara walker

il faut entre dans l'art

souffrir dans une oeuvre pour reenaitre

kara walker est tout le mal que je vous souhaite

[washu2002]

I'm very sorry, will you please translate that into English?

[afromorph]

Kara walker is above all an artist

is necessary to see its work as art and not only as social crittique...

If she uses the stereotypes it is exactly to take distance whit because stéreotypes plays in us blacks or whites

her work is has the intersice of being victim or executioner 'cause we can be each

is not bad to suffer in a workor art

that's mean two things: you're sensible and the artist make a good job

PS sorry for english

[washu2002]

(pt1) LOL, the work HAS social implications. I love that whites always try to overemphasize the aesthetics of the work as if that is what gained her noteriety and when concern of emphasis on aesthetics is quite quaint in the artworld. What would you think of her if she made paintings or drawings that idealized Nazi Germany and the killing of the jews. But it seems like it's always open season for black Americans.

[washu2002]

(pt2) And honestly, if you're not a black American, you probably don't even understand the depths of betrayal some of us feel towards Walker and her work. She's saying in her work exactly what white Americans want to hear. I wouldn't care about this work if there were real reparations and ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALING through REPARATIONS from this country, but that isn't the case. Walker is a sellout.

[till507]

(pt 2) - why would reparations make Walker's work easier to stomach for you? That's bizarre. Her work is sick...almost in the way that children who were abused make art that has an almost deranged quality to it. And no - it is not what white America wants to hear. It's frightening and angry and unrestrained. The aesthetic qualities almost make it creepier - again, like an angry child. But it is fascinating.

[afromorph]

a modern master

[washu2002]

(pt1) Here is a quote from Kara Walker: "I think really the whole problem with racism and its continuing legacy in this country is that we simply love it. Who would we be without the 'struggle?'"

[washu2002]

(pt2) I'm really conflicted about Kara Walker, she seems kind of neoconservative in her ideas, exploiting these stereotypes for sensationalistic gain in the still predominantly white wealth-driven artworld... As a black man, I can tell you, I do not "love the struggle", I am not a "happy victim" and do not like feeling subordinated day in and day out.

[washu2002]

(pt3) When the Art Establishment buys into Kara Walker's work and holds her to such high esteem, are they really just feeding off of the same stereotypes these likely self-professed white "liberals" would claim to be denouncing but are secretly celebrating. It's not "the struggle" America loves so much but rather "white supremacy"! Her own words lend a sort of moral ambivalence to the motivational thrust behind her work.

[washu2002]

(pt4) I personally believe that this equivocation is evil and lets white supremacy off the hook. Let's not forget that we never received reparations for 260yearsofslavery+100yearsofji­mcrow... And today, these stereotypes still have a very strong impact on my daily life... from the fact that my parents have very little (if any) wealth to hand down to me, my resume will elicit no greater chance of a job interview than a white convict (recent Princeton study),

[washu2002]

(pt5) the Harvard IAT suggests most people still subconsciously prefer white over black (which will shade and shape all social interactions)... The more I become acquainted with her work, the more troubled I am by it. Her new show at the Whitney is entitled "My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love"... Is Kara Walker an apologist for white supremacy?

[washu2002]

(pt6) Given what I've read about how she explains her own work, I think so. Even if what I've read may have been out of context, I would still like to problematize why she has been able to reach such critical acclaim in the artworld...

[till507]

the reason for her success is that it's a provocation and that the work is on many levels nauseating. It took you 6 comments here to explain why the work was problematic. If Walker's art could easily be dismissed and explained, she would have been gone 5 years ago. The same anger that you show to Walker is also coming through in her work.

[till507]

(pt 6) She's reached critical acclaim in the art world precisely because the work is so polemical and practically spits in the face of white liberalism - the work of Glenn Ligon, Chris Offili, etc...they're palatable to academics. They're polite and clever. A cut-out of a young black girl bl*wing a slave owner is not, and you have to question the impetus behind such a piece. It's messy, unrestrained and impolite but somehow is provocative enough to add to the discussion.

[blackberryjuice1]

(1) to be honest, most art world officios are not accepting her work in such a critical manner, and the fact that Walker would be granted the "genius" award and receive such prestige and monetary gain in the artworld for doing this sort of work is kind of on par with Halle Berry receiving the Oscar for her role in Monster Ball... By and large, her work seems to embrace this revisionist psychosexual fantasy of history...

[blackberryjuice1]

(2) Scattered throughout her Whitney exhibition are wall texts suggesting that slavery was "obviously endurable" and mockingly "black women often go to europe to talk about how oppressed they were". She's said things like "all black people in america want to be slaves a little bit" and "the problem with racism in america is that we secretly enjoy it, where would we be without the 'struggle'?" I wrote about this on brandshire (dot) com

[byemystaryeyes]

her work doesn't embrace it. her work seeks to address the reality of the situation, not the romantisized stereotyped view people have of that time period in south (with movies like gone with the wind)

she wants to address this topic b/c if we don't talk about it it gets forgotten

[blackberryjuice1]

I wish I could tell you to take a second look at that exhibition. Pure dehumanization and white supremist revisionism.

[BreahBoo]

@byemystaryeyes Amen :) My thoughts exactly.

[ResearchKnowledge123]

@BreahBoo I see you've taken down the vid of your sister, maybe there's hope for you after all! As far as you agreeing with byemystaryeyes about Kara's attempt to discuss the institution of chattel slavery, you missed the point yet again! She never attempts to discuss the Enslavement of Africans! She only superficially showcases the atrocities without any real analysis. That's precisely why I and others Blast her like we do. She's a coward for not dealing with the subject seriously!