Black History Month

Black Working Man 1 (2011)

Links to some of my favorite black visual artists in honor of Black History Month.

Charles White – His drawings are made with incredible draftsmanship. His work conveys raw emotion. White is one of the best social realist painters in American history, period.

   

Aaron McGruder – Creator of the comic strip “The Boondocks”. I’m a great fan of the strip, not so much the TV show. Funny and politically savvy. More info also on the IMDB.

Jerry Pinkney – Illustrator of children’s books and novels since the mid 60s. His images burst with color, movement and emotion. He is a master storyteller. A great video about his work is here at the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Kara Walker – Best known for her disturbing and haunting cut-paper silhouette installations, she’s a master of story and composition. She is very clever in her use of positive and negative space.

Aaron Douglas – A great illustrator mostly associated with The Harlem Renaissance. His conceptual illustrations are still reprinted and republished to this day.

The Deep Connection

[ Passion (2010) by Lynne Margeaux ]

Is it just me or does love tend to be the least understood emotion?  It seems we have a good understanding of what it means to hate, to be sad, to be angry. But love, although not completely misunderstood, is definitely less understood. Why I’m not sure. Maybe it’s just because we tend to focus on the negative more so than the positive aspects of life. Maybe it’s due to the fact that love can get mixed up with other emotions, like lust, anger, fear, and jealousy. I’m not certain that is the reason either. Regardless of what the causes or reasons may be, love is still the most mysterious and (in my opinion) the most powerful feeling a human being can experience.

All the arts echo this confusion of understanding about love. All of our stories about love seem to involve some level of awkwardness, obsession, lunacy, and pain. Cupid shoots a weapon usually used to kill into unsuspecting mortals and wounds them with the overpowering feeling of love/lust. All the romance movies nowadays are comedies, very awkward comedies. Romeo and Juliet die tragically for their love. All the best love songs have a sense of begging and longing in them. Family love is portrayed as hectic, goofy, and crazy on television shows and in film. Even friendship, like Sam and Frodo in The Lord of the Rings and Gilgamesh and Enkidu from the epic tale of Gilgamesh, are great affairs of love, heartache, and folly.

The only common denominator I can see that may begin to describe love is the connection. The deep connection that comes from knowing yourself, allowing others to know that self, and in turn being trusted enough by others to know their selves as well.

What do you think?

This Valentine’s Day weekend, I wish for everyone to remind themselves that love is about the connection, not just chocolates, cards, diamonds, and roses (although those things are nice too!).

Happy Valentine’s Day!