Bang
1994
acrylic and collage on canvas,
103 inches x 114 inches
(b. 1955 — Birmingham, Alabama) Marshall combines an array of references and experiences drawing upon American popular culture, traditions of monumental history painting, and the African American urban experience. Often, the paintings bring to mind black folk art. The artist is direct about the subjects he chooses to paint. He attempts to portray the characters with enough dignity so that they escape from collapsing into pure stereotypes and rather are filled with self-respect and a more noble stature. He states, “I stylize my figures purely for effect, to be troublesome, to be extreme, to try to explore the cultural stereotypes that polarize us in our everyday interactions. Nothing is simply black or white. Both of these are extreme positions, and I want to take a position against the rhetorical stances people use to define themselves … I want a slow read. I want people to be intrigued enough by the arrangements to spend the time to unravel the narratives.” The ribboned public declarations, the placement of highly stylized figures, and the self-containment of the scenes echo the monumental quality of medieval paintings. A critic writes, “It is through this combination that Marshall endows his subjects and their accessories with a heroic complexity. The gentle pause of the adolescents in ‘Bang,’ surrounded as they are by the jaded symbols of American independence, is clouded by the inclusion of the title of the painting as part of the caption. Recalling the conflicted birth of this country, Marshall suggests that the transition to equality and independence is not complete …”
Marshall was featured in a solo exhibition at the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art and included in the 1996 “Whitney Biennial” and “Documenta” exhibitions. “Bang” was exhibited in “Korrespondenzen/Correspondences” at The Chicago Cultural Center in 1995. Also in 1995, Marshall was included in ARTnews magazine's list of Top 40 Artists Under 40 To Watch. In 1997, he received a prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award, better known as the “genius award.”