‘Myself When I Am Real’ puts forth the unseen half of Barkley L. Hendricks’s practice
Barkley L. Hendricks, Untitled, 1979 archival inkjet print
Courtesy of the Estate of Barkley L. Hendricks and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Jack Shainman Gallery will display the late painter’s photographic work, conveying his lighthearted approach to art-making and a glimpse into his immediate world.
Barkley L. Hendricks was a pioneer of Black American portraiture—an assertive painter, with a style of his own, bent on depicting friends and strangers alike in life-sized, exacting detail. His subjects stand tall against monochromatic backdrops, dressed in their own clothes. It’s a subversion of the Western canon—culturally of its time, compositionally derived from the old masters—through which ordinary Black people could be foregrounded as subjects, within the gilded halls of fine art.
Tomorrow, at Jack Shainman Gallery, the unseen half of Hendricks’s practice will be put on display. Myself When I Am Real features the artist’s photographic work, cataloged since his passing in 2017—an impression of his immediate environment, playfully-framed and off-the-cuff.