"There are no tyrannies that would not try to limit art, because they can see the power of art. Art can tell the world things that cannot be shared otherwise. It is art that conveys feelings."

 - Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine 

Kerry James Marshall

(c) Kerry James Marshall
Nude (Spotlight), 2009
Painting , 155.2 x 184.9 x 7.1 cm
acrylic, pvc

With Nude (Spotlight) (2009), he makes reference to Manet’s renowned painting Olympia (1863), which presents a reclining female nude looking straight at the viewer, and a black servant by her side clutching flowers. Nude (Spotlight) evokes this image, but here, the light falls hard and direct, literally like a spotlight, upon the nude woman. She retains the direct eye contact with the viewer, but the servant is noticeably absent.