APRIL 20, 2021

GRACE EBERT

Detail of “A Midsummer Afternoon Dream” (2020), oil on canvas, 106 x 101 x 2.5 inches

Amy Sherald  plumbs the multitudes of Black leisure in The Great American Fact, a series of arresting portraits that are currently on view at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles. From a woman resting on a bicycle to two surfers readying for the water, the oil-based paintings observe moments of respite and pleasure at a monumental scale, sometimes spanning nearly nine feet across.

“Hope is the thing with feathers (The little bird)” (2020), oil on linen, 54 x 43 x 2.5 inches

Although she surrounds her subjects with vivid patches of color and portrays them wearing bright garments, Sherald (previously) continues to render her subjects’ skin in her signature grayscale, which she’s described in recent years as a way to have the figures read “in a universal way, where they could become a part of the mainstream art historical narrative.” This new series also features elements synonymous with American culture, including a white picket fence, Barbie T-shirt, and retro convertible.

The collection’s title draws on the work of Anna Julia Cooper, an educator who in 1892 wrote A Voice From the South by a Black Woman of the South.[…]

“A Midsummer Afternoon Dream” (2020), oil on canvas, 106 x 101 x 2.5 inches. All images courtesy of Hauser & Wirth, shared with permission

More: Artist Amy Sherald Depicts a Vast Array of Black Leisure through Monumental and Nuanced Portraits