Black Art: In the Absence of Light

I loved this so much. I had limited knowledge about some of the artists included, and knew nothing at all about many others. There is such great historical information, but the beauty is the artwork featured, though all too briefly. A lot is packed into 90 minutes. I could have watched another 2 hours just looking at the gorgeous pieces of art. Now I'm doing more digging and hope to find some affordable options to buy some of this magnificent artwork.

We think of the Western canon of art-the Mona Lisa, Nighthawks, Grant Wood, but in the US there has been Black American art work for 250 years. In 1976, David Driskell curated Two Hundred Years of Black American Art at LACMA and this is the starting point for this documentary that moves through a few of the artists from that show, to the current superstars in the Black Art world. With so few Black artists in museums (< 2% from the film), it is an amazing renaissance for everyone when portrait artists like Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald drive increased volume at the National Portrait Gallery. Other museums are also mentioned-the High Museum in Atlanta, the Brooklyn Art Museum, and the Whitney among others. The art covered is not just painting, but clay and and silhouettes and even evocative carvings out of sugar. The team and the stories are so rich that Jean-Michel Basquiat (of the $110M+ sale in 2017) is only touched upon. About 10 artists are interviewed and with the help of a couple of curators, collectors, biographers, and professors, we get to know the context for their work beyond just a canvas or an object. I made the mistake of watching it with captions on, but that obscured several views of the art work, so just turn up the volume and let your eyes feast on the meal set before you. I walked away with a deeper understanding of the messages from these Black artists.

"Black Art: In the Absence of Light" (2021 release; 86 min.) is a documentary about the state of affairs of arts by African-Americans. As the movie opens, it is 1976 and Tom Brokaw is interviewing David Driskell about a new exhibition called "Two Centuries of American Black Art" in New York. It is a key moment in the belated recognition and appreciation of "black" art in this country. The fact that the exhibition is curated by and African -American is just as remarkable. From there we get introduced to a number of past and present African-American artists in the world of painting, collages, sculpture, photography, pottery, etc., including Charles White, Kerry James Marshall, Faith Ringgold, Norman Lewis, Joshua Johnston, Radcliffe Bailey, and on and on.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from producer-writer-director Sam Pollard, whose excellent documentary "MLK/FBI" is still playing in theaters. Here he takes stock of the blossoming yet underexposed "black" arts world. David Driskell, who passed away last year not long after participating in this film, is the movie's unofficial MC. When asked about the negative review by the NY Times of that pivotal exhibit in 1976, Driskell simply dismisses it: "Who is that reviewer?" (As it turned out, a Caucasian male who had no prior knowledge of "black" art, of course!) Let me state upfront that I myself had no knowledge of any of these artists, not even Kehinde Wiley (who painted the official President Obama portrait) or Amy Sherald (who painted the official Michelle Obama portrait). The documentary also looks at the rising trend in collecting "black" art (check out Swizz Beatz's collection!), as well as other key points of interest (Studio Museum in Harlem, etc.). Bottom line: this documentary is insightful and informative from start to finish.

"Black Art: In the Absence of Light" premiered this week on HBO (as part of Black History Month, of course), and is now available on HBO On Demand and other streaming services. If you have any interest in the arts, and would like a primer on "black" art, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Fantastic. African art influences modern art for our modern world. Reminds me of Jean-Michel Basquiat who's paintings now sell for $50 million.