![]() It’s sad that we have to live like that.” Holmes made international headlines when on the last Saturday in May, the artist created a massive work that caught the attention of New Yorkers, and the world beyond. I’m six-foot-three, bearded with tattoos, and I love jewelry. “I put flowers there because I wanted to tone down the Black in us. ![]() In discussing his work Endurance, in which a Black man is giving another Black man a haircut, Holmes explains why he created a mural of flowers behind the seated subject. For the 36-year old artist, who currently has a studio in Dallas, one question permeates through all of his work: “When can I live like you?” explains Holmes. Jammie Holmes is one of those artists whose work is so charged with emotion, containing the raw feelings to a single canvas appears to be a feat in and of itself. I saw my role as creating works that centered a Black-immigrant experience, making people who had any overlap with those I depicted feel seen." But the direction of Crosby's art is subject to change in light of recent events and the beliefs spreading throughout the country from the highest offices in the land: “I’ve been wondering if this affirming representation is enough for me, if my work should go farther to express the anger I feel most days as a Black woman living in the United States.” “Since the election in 2016, I've been grappling with my role as an artist.… Some make works that hold up a mirror to the rot (systemic racism, sexism, etc.) in society some create works that affirm underrepresented experiences, that let you know you are not alone some create magical moments and experiences that allow us to escape the exhaustion of daily life. “I work from my experiences of growing up in Nigeria and then immigrating to the United States in my late teens,” says Crosby. Crosby's work of collaged paintings is raw with emotion, often verging on the third dimension. She's won a bevy of prizes and awards, including a MacArthur Genius Grant. Her work has already been sold to the Tate Modern, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Blend in - Stand out, 2019 Photo: Courtesy of the artist, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirnerīorn in 1983 in Enugu, Nigeria, Njideka Akunyili Crosby is among the most talented young artists in the world. Because the power of art, particularly great art, is that it makes us feel something just beneath our collective skin, no matter the color. But the familiarity of their names doesn't matter. Some of their names you may have heard of, such as the MacArthur Genius Grant winner Njideka Akunyili Crosby. Herewith, young, influential Black artists speak about how they view the role of art in this moment, and how art can transform the world for a better tomorrow. We must make images and extend gestures that endure.” “Our sphere is a special one-relatively speaking, an extraordinarily free one-and this freedom should be used to the fullest extent. “Artists today need to be listening, experimenting, and criticizing,” says Pendleton. “So far, 2020 has given us two major crises: COVID-19 and the continual deaths of Black and Brown individuals at the hands of the police.” According to fellow artist Adam Pendleton, it's precisely in moments of crisis that the freedom of expression inherent to art can best be utilized for good. ![]() “Artists and creatives are often called on to assert themselves during times of crisis,” says artist Paul Anthony Smith. At its best, art can voice for us what we cannot say, or don't yet know. ![]()
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