Charlottesville Collects African American Art of the 20th and 21st Century

The work presented here by 14 artists represents the varied and “complex” visual language of the last 50 years of the 20^th century and, the first 20 years of the present one. It offers an alternative way of seeing these works–as different from the racialized perspective implied by the title. It posits that artists are historical agents who create images that respond to a broader set of social codes. On view are works by local and nationally known artists in varied mediums. In this context, the idea of “local” artist is a misnomer since by the 1970s, Robert Reed was already teaching at Yale, Bo Walker was in New York at Pratt, Frank Walker was at VCU, and Gerry Mitchell was a student at Yale. Whether from here or elsewhere, each artist approaches their subject matter syncretically aware that a plurality of cultural codes is brought to bare on its interpretation.