Obama taps Kerry James Marshall for arts spot

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama tapped Chicago artist Kerry James Marshall, a former professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago for a spot on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

The National Gallery of Art is featuring his work in an exhibit closing next month.

From the National Gallery: “One of the most celebrated painters currently working in the United States, Kerry James Marshall (b. 1955) has exhibited widely in both this country and around the world. His work explores the experiences of African Americans and the narratives of American history that have often excluded black people. Drawing upon the artist’s prodigious knowledge of art history and the African diaspora, his paintings combine figurative and abstract styles and multiple allusions, drawing from “high” and “low” sources.” From the White House: “Kerry James Marshall is an independent artist with solo and group exhibitions, public projects, and public collections displayed in museums around the United States, including the National Gallery of Art. He works across a broad range of media, including painting, photography, video, sculpture, performance, and installations. He was a tenured professor at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago until 2006. Mr. Marshall worked as production designer for the feature films Daughters of the Dust and Sankofa. In 1997, he received a MacArthur Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. He is a board member of the advisory board of the Atlantic Center for the Arts and the Tiffany Foundation, and previously served on the advisory board of the Artadia Foundation. Mr. Marshall received a B.F.A. from the Otis Arts Institute.”