My Love is a 187
Luggage Store Gallery
San Francisco, CA
9 February – 17 March 2007
work by: Mark Bradford, Titus Kaphar, Shinique Smith, & Mickalene Thomas

Review by Klaus Menziel

“My Love is a 187” at the Luggage Store is one of those kinds of shows that, like its title, sounds good at first but falls apart upon deeper investigation. “187” refers to California penal code for murder, although here it is more of an allusion to the number’s prevalent use in 1990s Gangsta Rap than the actual act. This group show is supposed to be united by an exploration of “global consumerism, black visual representation, and US popular culture,” according to its limited press release. I didn’t see anything particularly global about this show, only an expression of very specifically American concerns – what many people in this country tend to forget is just how particular our brand of race relations is and how a discussion of African-American culture cannot be globalized.

Overall, the quality of the work is spotty – there were few actually interesting pieces stuck amongst bold, empty exclamations. For instance, I thought Titus Kaphar’s “White Underneath” series of finely detailed paintings of black faces upon vintage photos provides a telling comment on both the historical links between race and class and far more complex cultural perceptions of privileged African-Americans and social constructions of what it means to be “black”; it is a shame that his large scale paintings, which attempt to comment on historical representation through selective missing pieces, fall so flat. The other work of note is by Mark Bradford, whose “Lucky Project” consists of excavated layers of billboard posters that have been white washed and had the words “Lucky Brand” cut into them. It is a reinvention of minimalist aesthetics in a more real world, gritty manner that comments upon cultural consumerism. It seems a bit of a mystery why Bradford is in this exhibition, as his work has been shown at the São Paulo Biennial, the Whitney, the Saatchi, and the Royal Academy, to name a few. In this setting, the content of his work seems to dissolve into a reference to the stereotype of black people being smokers – not affected in the least by the guy selling loosies downstairs on the stoop. The limited scope of the show’s intentions cheapens what would otherwise be fairly interesting work.

The room seems to be dominated by the back corner, which has been turned into an idealized and exoticized 1970s African-American living room by artist Mickalene Thomas, complete with a stereo playing disco hits. Although this could be an interesting voyage into the question of why this is assumed to be the room of a black person, Thomas does not even give us the chance by including a photograph of a black woman with an afro, sitting in the same installation. It all reads very superficially. Her other contribution to the show is a large sequined rendition of a 70s porn image. Could this possibly be an ironic examination of the fetishized “exotic” black female? And hey, when was Blaxploitation big, the 1970s? Yeah, lets throw that in there too!

The problem with this show is that overall it comes across as kinda bland and ambiguous – it is unclear what these artists are trying to say other than stereotypes of African Americans exist and have existed for some time. The ironic presentations of clichés no longer seems to be an effective method of critique – just presenting an over-exaggeration of stereotypes or pointing out errors of the past and hoping that this will open up the viewer’s perceptions is not enough. I would like to think that everyone walking into this show is already aware that the black woman in the 1970s was exoticized and that in 18th Century painting, black people were only represented as servants of slaves, so I don’t see how these artists are illuminating any new point. Rather than questioning representations of black culture and identity within American society, I was instead left with questions of how one could effectively make such challenges without seeming trite and cliché.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/187_(murder)

http://www.luggagestoregallery.org/gallery/album12?page=1

http://www.luggagestoregallery.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Bradford

Do you want to add your thoughts? Email us at percolatormag@gmail.com and we’ll put them below.