 |
| Jefferson Pinder, White Noise #1, C-Print, 20"x24", 2008. Image via Artvoices by courtesy artist and Patricia Sweetow Gallery. |
Artvoices - October/November 2012
TEXT BY A.M. WEAVER
Excerpt:
A.M. Weaver: Do you think there is a resistance to investigating African art and culture among young contemporary black artists?
Jefferson Pinder: I am interested in the activism of the ’60s in contrast to the apathy of today. What is in the water? Name three places that our troops are in Afghanistan. People don’t know this. They don’t know what is going on and don’t care.
There is definitely a resistance to being pigeonholed. When I have conversations with Kori Newkirk, Mark Bradford, and others, they don’t give into their blackness. There are many other features, important things about them, other than being presented in this way. When Bradford lectures he stays away from race, because when white artists talk they don’t address whiteness.
AMW: The words assimilation and integration keep popping up in your titles. Do you think your early experiences in a Southern school and your rise in the American art mainstream has something to do with how you see yourself as a black artist?
JP: No, I don’t put these concepts together like that. I think that in a general sense my life experiences contribute to the work. I think a double consciousness enters in also. I guess maybe assimilation to some degree has had an impact but not the school experiences. My life experience is who I am, more so maybe than my artistic practice.
Pick up a copy of the October/November 2012 issue of Artvoices or read complete story and see more photos here.
No comments:
Post a Comment