Hannah Biller

IB Art 1
Mr. Richardson
March 16th, 2015
Race

Contemporary a word that means existing, occurring, or living at the same time;
belonging to the sametime. C
ontemporary Art m
eans as the work of artists who are living in
the 21st century. Contemporary artists mirror contemporary culture, issues, or society. This
offers teachers, students, and audiences a wonderful resource to consider current issues or
ideas and question the familiar. These artists challenge traditional boundaries and give a
voice to the changing world today. Some contemporary artists focus on certain issues that
have plagued our society for centuries; they use art to show these
issues so they can be shown and observed to a general audience.
One of these issues some artists focus on is an issue that has
been in our society since the 17th century, and that issue is
race.
Three very important and famous artists use this issue in
their art to show how race is still an ongoing matter in our world
today. One of three of those artists is K
ehinde Wiley. Wiley has
very different way of showing 21st century culture and putting it
within a classical and Renaissance portrait. His method is
taking models from the street, complete strangers, people that
dont usually look like the typical portrait sitting, and he uses
them as models in his paintings. He has the models pose in
certain ways that alludes to classical historical paintings. Like
the example on the left he asked three strangers to pose like
Raphaels painting T
he Three Graces. H
ere you see the men
are in the same pose as the women above and instead of
holding apples they are holding tennis balls. He does this
because growing up he was bothered that in all these famous
paintings there were no colored people. He is not looking to re
write these historical paintings, or to bash the artists who
created them. Historical paintings include people that are very
powerful and wealthy, and use the portrait as a very social,
heroic occasions to put down in those moments of time. In his work hes doing the exact
opposite of that and taking chance moments and turning those people into a heroic moment,
and taking an entire lifetime of power and dominance in the world in on its face and making
that the big picture.
Another artist that focuses on race is Kara Walker. Walker is famous for her precise
facial features, and body shapes to form and signify the ethnicity of her subjects and comment

on the way race is used to define us. She uses 18th-century forms of the silhouettes in both
an ironic and complex way to address these issues. She believes that
using these black silhouettes shows the means for groups
of people to define themselves through images. She says,
who says that making artwork about race translates into
intimate issues about identity(Walker). Walkers work has
been displayed in multiple exhibits and museums and is
admired throughout the nation.
Another artists that uses issues of race in her artwork is
the famous A
drian Piper. Piper is an artists but also a
philosopher. I n 1970, she exhibited in the Museum of
Modern Art's I nformation and began to study philosophy in
college. Piper has said that she was kicked out of the art
world during this time for her race and gender. Her work started to address ostracism,
otherness, and attitudes around racism. S
he wants her artwork to help
people confront their racist views. All these artists artwork focus on one
component and that is race. They want to use their artwork to express
attitudes towards racism; even though they are all different on how they
portray it or approach it they use this social issue and bring it to a larger
audience and for people to be able to confront their racist views.
Each artists approach on the topic is very moving and inspiring.
My thoughts on the topic is that race should not determine your right to
active in society. The act of racism has diminished over time, but it can still
be seen prevalent today. I enjoyed Wileys take on it with putting people
from today and making them use poses from historic paintings. In an act of
taking chance moments and turning those people into a heroic moment,
and taking an entire lifetime of power and dominance in the world in on its
face and making that the big picture. While I am not sure for me as an artist
how I would approach this serious matter. If I did I would approach it with
the same seriousness and passion as these artists have today.

Sources:
-Kehinde Wiley (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN-Rc09OVJY ,
http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/recognize/paintings.html )
- Kara Walker (http://learn.walkerart.org/karawalker/Main/RepresentingRace
http://www.art21.org/teach/on-contemporary-art/contemporary-art-in-context
-Adrian Piper h
ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Piper

Hannah Biller
IB Art 1
Mr. Richardson
March 16th, 2015
Race

Contemporary a word that means existing, occurring, or living at the same time;
belonging to the sametime. C
ontemporary Art m
eans as the work of artists who are living in
the 21st century. Contemporary artists mirror contemporary culture, issues, or society. This
offers teachers, students, and audiences a wonderful resource to consider current issues or
ideas and question the familiar. These artists challenge traditional boundaries and give a
voice to the changing world today. Some contemporary artists focus on certain issues that
have plagued our society for centuries; they use art to show these
issues so they can be shown and observed to a general audience.
One of these issues some artists focus on is an issue that has
been in our society since the 17th century, and that issue is
race.
Three very important and famous artists use this issue in
their art to show how race is still an ongoing matter in our world
today. One of three of those artists is . Wiley has very different
way of showing 21st century culture and putting it within a
classical and Renaissance portrait. His method is taking
models from the street, complete strangers, people that dont
usually look like the typical portrait sitting, and he uses them as
models in his paintings. He has the models pose in certain
ways that alludes to classical historical paintings. Like the
example on the left he asked three strangers to pose like
Raphaels painting T
he Three Graces. H
ere you see the men
are in the same pose as the women above and instead of
holding apples they are holding tennis balls. He does this
because growing up he was bothered that in all these famous
paintings there were no colored people. He is not looking to re
write these historical paintings, or to bash the artists who
created them. Historical paintings include people that are very
powerful and wealthy, and use the portrait as a very social,
heroic occasions to put down in those moments of time. In his work hes doing the exact
opposite of that and taking chance moments and turning those people into a heroic moment,
and taking an entire lifetime of power and dominance in the world in on its face and making
that the big picture.
Another artist that focuses on race is Kara Walker. Walker is famous for her precise
facial features, and body shapes to form and signify the ethnicity of her subjects and comment