ark on many of Marshall’s works. In one highly acclaimed series known as The Garden Project, Marshall’s art employs social protest as he “critiques low-income housing projects whose names denote an idyllic Eden-like world, camouflaging the poverty and violence within” (Biography 1). Most of Marshall’s works will employ composition, technique, and design elements to highlight social commentary.
Marshall received his training at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles under the tutelage of Charles White. Marshall’s style is most typified in his stylized, large-scale depictions of the beauty and complexity of African American life in his paintings. However, Marshall also sculpts and has served as production designer for such films as Daughters of the Dust and the Hendrix Project. Marshall wowed the art community in shows at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Berlinische Galerie, and the Shainman Gallery. The artist currently teaches art at the University of Illinois, Chicago, where he resides with his wife, actress Cheryl Lynn Bruce. His works continue to be successfully exhibited around the world, with the Chicago Art Institute recently naming his Many Mansions as part of its permanent exhibition.
The paintings of Kerry James Marshall are very colorful, stylized, and demonstrate the profound influence of his life experiences on his work. If we look at two paintings from Marshall’s Garden Project series, we readily see these qualities. Figure One, Watts 1963, and Figure Two, Our Town, are colorful, large-scale, stylized depictions of scenes from Marshall’s childhood memories. Watts 1963 is acrylic and collage on unstretched canvas, measuring 114 x 135 inches. Marshall painted the work in 1995. In Watts 1963 we see that Marshall juxtaposes idyllic components with ominous overtones to help make his statement. In this work the statement is being made that the promise of equality and prosperity for African Ame...