It's 2024 and an art show called "Artists of Color" juried exhibit is being hosted at the Art League of New Britain in New Britain, CT. it is juried by Andre Rochester. The shows duration is July 7,2024 to July 28, 2024. It is described as a show of African, Asian, Latin, and other artists of color.
Usually, art show criticisms focus exclusively on the artwork or artist(s). But the unusual framework of this show deserves to be unpacked independently and I think its important to do so.
Part one will examine the conceptual basis for the show and a critique of the art in the show will follow. And right up front I want to uncouple any criticism of part one from part two. These will be separate ruminations on separate topics - the participating artists are not responsible for the foibles of the show's architecture.
The Show's Pretense
The call for art for this show was constrained to "Artists of Color". In other words, artists whose skin tone isn't 'white' were asked to submit work and they did. This eliminated individuals who were the birth offspring of a white father and mother but not necessarily adopted children of two white parents. It's unclear to me if white artists who are burn victims qualify as artists of color but i'm assuming the messaging implies no.
As a longtime, sometime member - always supporter of the ALNB, this is just another experimental show. As such, in the sandbox of curatorial speculation, let's break down the logic and consequences, and aesthetic shrapnel any show based on these premises needs to resolve.
The Difference With a Muddled Distinction
Given the skin color constraint, what is gained and what is lost? As far as I can tell the only difference between this ALNB juried show and any other show is that artists with white skin did not have the opportunity to submit their work to this particular show which is little more than a trivial inconvenience, so not much loss for white-skinned artists - area juried art shows and opportunities abound. For the "artists of color" the skin color constraint simply offers a smaller juried pool from which art work will get selected - woo hoo! And while this has its advantages, it can also be seen as an infantilizing of the artists-of-color cohort.
When the profession of art qualifies any artist as assuming an identity different from, say, "a creator of art", the art becomes unimportant or secondary to the role of the artists as an actor in a social narrative.
In this case, skin color has nothing to do with the creation of art at all. All artists live in this Judeo-Christian nation, participate in capitalistic commerce, consume and get consumed by volumes of Western Civilization's comforts, and so on. For practical intents and purposes, we all share and incubate "WHITE" culture. Its impossible to wiggle out of that self-evident truth.
So what was the point of not inviting people with white skin? After all, what do African, Asian, Latin, and other artists of color have any more in common showing together that artists with white skin don't? The answer is 'nothing'. It is magical thinking to believe that an Asian and a Jamaican and an Eskimo share an aesthetic narrative exclusive to their skin color.
In other words, to understand any given piece of artwork that is exclusive to the identity profile of the artist requires an a priori familiarity with the nuances of that identity's aesthetic ecosystem. Art is a door to perception, not personal or tribal allegiance.
Shows such as this, by definition, will be every bit as eclectic as any other juried show. They will also straddle a Schrodinger's Cat enigma of either being either a Utopia or Dystopia where white skinned people no longer exist. Can the entries live up to that challenge? Or will the pieces subliminally reference white skinned people?
The Value of Color
I think another presumption that shows such as these can test is the idea that with any two pieces of art, one piece may be more 'privileged' than another. Bluntly, will a art piece by an artist with one skin color be more desirable than an art piece by somebody with a different skin color? When I'm performing art criticism, all I'm interested in is the work. Buyers and curators have different considerations. And all of this *should be* implicit about enjoying an art show. Galleries such as ALNB, to the best of my knowledge, have never discriminated against any artist submitting their work (and I know of no other gallery that has either) so I was a bit surprised by this show. I look forward to seeing it in person. That review will follow shortly.
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