Mark Bradford & Kara Walker exhibit

@ Sikkema Jenkins & Co.
530 W. 22nd St. NY, NY 10011

As soon as I saw the first small paper cut-out sculpture in the first room I knew it was Kara Walker. I was more interested in her work than Bradford's due to the variety of reactions I get from her work. Some pieces are more humorous than others, some more political, historical, racial, violent, etc. These are just some of the themes present in her work. I had never seen any videos of Kara Walker and I found the video piece in this exhibit to be impressive craft-wise, in particular how her paper cutouts as puppets are quite convincing at first glance as a real scene happening in silhouette. I also like the attitude her work exudes, which I think is specifically from her humor. I had also never seen any white paper cut outs like the white on white piece. It's an interesting contrast to the usual black silhouettes and asks the viewer to rethink her intentions. But what is also refreshing about her work is that it is open ended and sometimes we're not sure what her stance is on a particular subject and like I said, we can take our own position and form our own interpretations.