August 31, 2006 - Issue 195
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Alas Poor Icarus
by Larry Richardson
Larry Richardson ~ Artist
www.aminaarts.comAcrylic on Board
Size: 48" x 48"
Price $2,000 USD
Represented by BlackCommentator.com
To purchase the original or get information on reproductions please contact
Larry Richardson at [email protected]
Artist Statement
Since I returned to painting in 1995 I have wanted to express the beauty in our African heritage. To show the diversity that the Diaspora gave us in various other cultures in the world. I have tried to present our culture as seen not only in the context of the pain and suffering inflicted on us in the days of slavery but to bring forward those cultural contributions, and legacies we left in Spain, France, Italy and other places of the world. Truly, that is what the Diaspora was about... the dispersion of culture.
When looking at the many histories on art and researching many of the famous old masters, our image is present even in medieval times. Anti-Black racism in the modern sense was unknown in the Middle Ages; Blacks were simply part of the human race.
In the latter Middle Ages there were even black saints and one of the Magi was accurately shown as black. Most literature on Black American artists is approached as though it was a form of expression separate from the so-called majority culture. This critical isolation in terms of art comes from the tradition of classifying people and their culture by race. I feel the crucial issue is the quality of work and it’s relevance to the society in which it was created.
As an artist it is not my color that gives me the inspiration or the capacity to produce a desired result, but the ability to be sensitive to the various conditions of life that face all mankind.
My first showing of some of these paintings was called “Lost Images Found Paintings from the Soul” reinforcing the importance of our culture in various parts of the world.
Three shows followed after that. One expanded on cultural isolation and the other specifically was to present a new approach to Afro-American figurative art merging the contemporary and the classical forms.
The objective of my vision is to heighten the awareness of those who view figurative images in my art and to stimulate one’s thought and imagination. The end result is a series of paintings and drawings that form cultural links between our past and our future.