When Black Experimentalism Became Black Power

In Painting and Other Stuff, Kerry James Marshall captures the challenge artists face when they decide to remain committed to experimentalism and blackness. Marshall asserts,

The concept or the idea of blackness constitutes the fundamental principle from which all of my work springs. That’s the programmatic dimension of my work: the figure is always going to be black. […] Having chosen to work in the register of blackness, what is the range you’re able to work in? Can you darken something that is already dark without losing a sense of volume? ¹