Keith Morrison (b. May 20, 1942): Zombie Jamboree, 1988 - oil on canvas (Smithsonian)
“I wrestle with ideological tensions between African and European values in my work (as I do as a person).” The artist, quoted in Keith Morrison: Recent Painting, March 10-April 28, 1990, Alternative Museum, New York City
“In Zombie Jamboree, Keith Morrison combines imagery taken from both African and European sources. The strange creatures in the foreground recall stories of voodoo rituals that the artist heard while growing up in Jamaica. Many of these tales involved creatures or spirits rising from the water, and here a floating figure eerily emerges from the pond behind the animals. The fantastical ghosts dancing in the background were inspired by Benjamin Britten’s opera The Turn of the Screw, and the floating figure conjures the tragic character of Shakespeare’s Ophelia. Zombie Jamboree contains many symbols of birth, death, and resurrection, themes that recur in much of Morrison’s work.” (Smthsonian label text)
“As phantasmagorical as Zombie Jamboree appears, it is a highly structured work in which the syncopation of color, shadow, line, and mass is as important as its imagery derived from diverse sources. Jamaican-born Morrison has conjured his memories of elderly people telling African stories about evil spirits emerging from ponds at dusk, while also recalling the drowning of a close family friend. Inspirational also was Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Benjamin Britten’s opera, The Turn of the Screw, in which ghosts dance across a pond. From this ambitious melange of references emerges a forceful synthesis of visual narrative and cultural metaphor.” - Lynda Roscoe Hartigan. African-American Art: 19th and 20th-Century Selections (brochure. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art)
Reblogged from Ordinary finds.
May 21, 2009, 6:01am Comments
