Kerry James Marshall's 'Mastry' at the Met Breuer

The Met Breuer in New York presents 'Mastry,' a comprehensive survey of Kerry James Marshall (b. 1955, Birmingham, Alabama) through January 29, 2017. Marshall's work centers on the Black experience in America, using a distinctive palette dominated by deep, velvety black for skin tones, contrasted with vivid acrylics. His 1980 tempera 'Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self' breaks this pattern, depicting his face as a black silhouette against a black ground, punctuated only by whites of eyes, teeth, and a shirt triangle. The exhibition occupies the third and fourth floors, featuring the 'Garden Project' series from the 1990s—large-format works showing Black individuals enjoying leisure in urban and suburban settings, free from negative stereotypes. These paintings reference Renaissance and Baroque works; for instance, 'Past times' (1997, acrylic and collage, nearly 3x4 meters) echoes Watteau's 'Pilgrimage to Cythera' (1717), depicting a Black family picnicking while escaping urban pressure, with details like a boombox playing The Temptations' 'Just My Imagination' and Snoop Dogg's 'Gin and Juice.' Marshall's work is dense with allusions to visibility and invisibility of Black people, creating a labyrinthine painting that resists easy interpretation.