Art school backgrounds are standard, alpha males and alpha females recognizable. The New York neighborhoods these openings take place in, as well as the neighborhoods the attendees live in, are limited to probably four or five. But more than that, most of the people in these rooms are still predominantly white. Other than the fact that all the artists are black, the stats are typical. About a third of the participants are women.
Half live in New York, seven in California.
Formalist and figurative painting shares the stage with photography and video projection. It's there in Dave McKenzie's terrifying, ludicrous video featuring the artist twisting and jerking like a spasmodic demon or someone who's been shot. McKenzie manages to illuminate the murky terrain between private turmoil and social indignation. Tana Hargest's Bitter Nigger, Inc. website offers various products, including a wearable patch for white people to decrease their feelings of entitlement and a holographic white friend for black people who want to hail a cab or rent an apartment. Sanford Biggers makes us see how close yet how far apart the two Americas are in his split-screen home movie projection picturing his childhood birthday parties, picnics and field trips alongside those of a white friend.