This, Mark Pauline's "ultimate transgression", is but the prelude to everything else he's cooked up. He thoughtfully never includes any theoretical underpinnings.
Is this art?
Everyone says it is, but for the wrong reasons: this is not a conceptual barbarian at the gates of art history and propriety; this is a very beautiful, compositionally balanced abstract sculpture of some aesthetic refinement, which you could see if you would just pull your minds out of the gutter. JK. Duchamp was teaching us to see, in the same way Cage was teaching us to hear. Sun Ra published a poem on a similar theme, I'll get into that on a later post..
Is this art?
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| Oh Johnnie Ray (my brother) (detail), 2010 |
..with a capital A? For Studio Museum of Harlem's 2007 solo show of Henry Taylor director Thelma Golden thought to remind us she considered him an "outsider", hedging her bets on this uniquely powerful voice with a BA from CalArts , who thankfully continues to forge ahead, regardless.
Look at this man ⬆, so deeply conflicted yet holding on, keeping the faith. His is the existential tension that can lead to hypertension; his, the battle between the internal reality of a moral edict and the unrelenting social 'disintegration' of same.
You'll see this. profound radar in much of Taylor's work, and occasional dispensing with the linear narrative for a slightly surreal affect. All his work feels real, grown in SoCal sun, bringing the interiority of its African-American, and other, experience in a way photos never could.
I've just started; more questions coming soon...
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