For my chosen image, I have decided to investigate Barkley L. Hendricks painting of Tyrone Smith. (1976)

At first sight, we see a black male proudly splayed out across this dove white couch. The young man appears calm and collected, whist he pulls from his black and gold pipe. In a way, this indicates his social status, but what might baffle us as the viewer is why the subject appears completely exposed. Does this quite literally liberate the conventions of full sized portraiture from westernised past times, those that used to be dripping in robes and sought after goods. I believe, that this is completely intentional, that the artist is directly initialising this conversation for a better outlook on his society at that time.

This painting was executed at a time in America where a civil rights movement still echoes in the chamber, so it can be stated that Barkley was indeed opening the door to allow us as a society to grow. I believe that this artist has not received the recognition that should be received.

“One of the main aims of the black art movement in the 1970s and 80s in Britain was for artists to achieve recognition for their work, beyond issues of race and ethnicity… Today, the institutionalisation of diversity policies means that art is being sidelined, and in many cases black artists are first and foremost regarded as black. ” (Dyer, 2007, p.11)

To the viewer, even though Barkley spent a lot of time developing his photographical skills during his academic years, his style can not be seen as this cold clinical calculative approach, but more of a social realist painter, due to the fact that his work has a emotional element that speaks about very weighty and valid themes in conjunction with his own personal background.