The Power of Portraiture and Figurative Painting

THIS WEEK on the GWA Podcast, we interview one of the most acclaimed painters working in the world right now, AMY SHERALD! With their striking elegance and commanding yet inviting gazes, Amy Sherald’s subjects exude grace, dignity, power, and joy. Unrooted in time, place, or space – and on the threshold between surreality and reality – they feel at once familiar yet utterly otherworldly as they glow in hues of gold, pinks, blues and oranges, often meeting our gaze with their dazzling aura. Sherald, through figurative painting, documents the contemporary African American experience in the United States. By engaging with the traditions of photography and portraiture, she opens up discussions about who has been immortalised, historicised, and who has been able to write, paint and dictate these narratives. As a result, her paintings open up vital debates about race and representation. But they’re also just as much about capturing and creating a record of the joy and everydayness of life. With a process that includes working from photographs that she stages and takes of individuals that capture her interest, the artist has said: “The works reflect a desire to record life as I see it and as I feel it. My eyes search for people who are and who have the kind of light that provides the present and the future with hope”. And it is this that we see in her paintings. Born in Columbus, Georgia, Sherald received her MFA in painting from Maryland Institute College of Art and BA in painting from Clark-Atlanta University. Sherald was, in 2016, the first woman and first African-American artist to receive the prestigious Portrait Competition from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., and in 2018, was selected by First Lady Michelle Obama to paint her portrait. Depicted as both triumphant and approachable (with the pattern on her billowing dress referencing the Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers), Obama’s gaze is full of wisdom and optimism. Now in some of the most prestigious museum collections in the world, we meet Sherald today in London, at Hauser & Wirth, where she has just opened her first ever European solo exhibition, The World We Make. -- LINKS:::::: They Call Me Redbone but I’d Rather Be Strawberry Shortcake (2009) https://nmwa.org/art/collection/they-call-me-redbone-id-rather-be-strawberry-shortcake/ Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance) (2013) https://portraitcompetition.si.edu/exhibition/2016-outwin-boochever-portrait-competition/miss-everything-unsuppressed-deliverance After winning this award, Sherald was put forward as a contender for First Lady Michelle Obama’s official portrait. Michelle Obama Official Portrait (2018) https://npg.si.edu/Michelle_Obama EXHIBITION: ‘The World We Make’ at Hauser &Wirth (until 23 Dec) https://www.hauserwirth.com/hauser-wirth-exhibitions/38424-amy-sherald-the-world-we-make/ MORE – Simone Leigh, Amy Sherald and Lorna Simpson for NYT Mag: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/08/magazine/black-women-artists-conversation.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/12/arts/design/amy-sherald-michelle-obama-hauser-wirth.html NYT interview on Michelle Obama portrait: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/arts/design/amy-sherald-michelle-obama-official-portrait.html New York Times Magazine, Amy Sherald and others on being Black cultural leaders and being seen: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/t-magazine/black-artists-white-gaze.html Peter Schjeldahl on the Amy Sherald Effect for the New Yorker 2019: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/23/the-amy-sherald-effect -- ENJOY!!! Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Research assistant: Viva Ruggi Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Artwork by @thisisaliceskinner Music by Ben Wetherfield https://www.thegreatwomenartists.com/ -- THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY CHRISTIES: www.christies.com