MY ART CURATORIAL Garcia Simpson Art Appreciation

CURATORIAL STATEMENT Silhouettes are all around! You may not have noticed but if you look carefully you can see them in posters, on the side of buses, in instruction manuals, the internet, on book jackets and even your shadow. Artist love them because, with just a simple outline, they evoke an immediate presence of a real individual without the overburden of irrelevant detail. They draw us in, creating a sense of the familiarization, while at the same time receding into the shadows: Leaving us to concentrate on the main message of a design.

SILHOUETTES Capturing the essence of one’s thoughts and ideas into art masterpieces is what artist share in their craft of expertise but how they create, manipulate and bring to life their magic is what sets them apart from each other. Charles Burns, Kara Walker and Karl Johnson are three such artist that have mastered this craft and taken it to the next level!

CHARLES BURNS

BIOGRAPHY  Born in London 1961  Degree in Fine Art (painting) (1984)  Worked as a street artist  The Roving Artist (Mike Herbet)

WORKS A set of caricatures cut at a student ball. 1993, Black cardstock with white background, 5 x 8 inches

SILHOUETTES CAN FORM A HISTORICALLY-ACCURATE ADDITION TO A WIDE RANGE OF GEORGIAN, REGENCY, AND VICTORIAN EVENTS Full-length freehand silhouettes cut at a Jane Austen event in Bath. 1993, Black cardstock, 6 x 8 inches

“A modern-day silhouette artist looks at the surprising world of the shadow portrait and asks "where did it come from?“ CHARLES BURNS, ROVING ARTIST Self-Portrait, 2012, Black card stock and Real-life photograph, 8 x 10 inches

KARL JOHNSON

BIOGRAPHY  Born California in 1955  Taught by his father  Worked for Hong Kong Disney  Sight impaired (Right eye)  Works featured in national publications/TV shows

REPRESENTATIONAL Wedding Couple cut free hand by looking at photo, 2001, archival quality acid free paper, 11 x 14 inches

REALISM Robert Wagner (composer), 2003, archival quality acid free Paper, 16 x 20 inches

Imagination is the Key! “Family Afloat”, 2002, archival quality acid free Paper, 16 x 20 inches

KARA WALKER

BIOGRAPHY  Born in California 1969  BFA (1991) MFA (1994)  John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation award  Professor at Columbia University MFA program

CHARACTERS DISPLAY POWER STRUGGLES OF ALL KINDS: PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, PERSONAL, RACIAL, SEXUAL, AND HISTORICAL. “Excavated from the Black Heart of a Negress, 2002, cut white paper on black background, 6 x 8 feet

COMPOSITIONS PLAY OFF STEREOTYPES AND PORTRAY, OFTEN GROTESQUELY, LIFE ON THE PLANTATION, MASTERS AND SLAVES ENGAGE IN A PROFOUNDLY UNSETTLING HISTORICAL STRUGGLE. Darkytown Rebellion, 2001, Black cut paper with color projection, 14 x 37 ½ feet

“I'M NOT REALLY ABOUT BLACKNESS, PER SE, BUT ABOUT BLACKNESS AND WHITENESS, AND WHAT THEY MEAN AND HOW THEY INTERACT WITH ONE ANOTHER AND WHAT POWER IS ALL ABOUT.” KARA WALKER Slavery! 1997, cut black paper on wall, 12 x 85 feet

REFERENCES  Sayre, Henry. “A World of Art,” 2012, 7th Edition (Prentice Hall)  The Roving Artist: Silhouette Cutting as Art and Entertainment, (CB)  Cut Arts, “Original silhouette art by master scissor artist Karl Johnson.” (KJ)  ArchiveWalkerWalker, “Rise Up Ye Mighty Race.” (KW)  The Art of Kara Walker, “A Companion to the Exhibition.” (KW)