In this painting, the main subject is the naked man apart from wearing glasses and he is smoking a hash pipe. He is sitting very relaxed on a white rich couch, with a dark wooden frame. As the composition of this piece is cropped, the rest of the sofa is cut out of the frame including the shirt which is hung on the sofa, on the right-hand side beside the man. The shirt has repeated prints of a white woman looking towards the naked man. This makes the piece complicate its racial and sexual politics further also broaden by its intentionally provoking title. The background has vibrant colours of Moroccan tiles. The rug below which is shown a little, on where the  man stretches his left leg, has a repetitive pattern similar to the tiles above. This makes the piece more framed as a border with the Moroccan Tiles. His brush strokes remind me of Bhupen Khakhar’s style of painting, of how the texture is smooth and the strokes are blended in well. What mainly appealed to me to analyse this piece is the tiles in the background, the patterns are repetitive with minimal colours. They caught my attention as they contrast against the sofa.

The title of this piece is “No Naked Niggahs”, this statement could be a rule at the time and it shows how representations of African American nudes have received, feared and censored. However, the title juxtapositions the painting as the man’s expression shows that he isn’t bothered about breaking the rule, sort of rebel on and breaking stereotypes. He is looking into to the audience as he may know that they might have a discomfort of looking at this piece. This could be a way of expressing pride of his colour. Having researched the artist, Hendrick often paints Black Americans against monochrome interpretations of urban north-eastern American backdrops. He wanted to express the unheard voices of Black Americans in the 60’s and 70’s.

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hendricks-family-jules-nnn-no-naked-niggahs-l02979

https://theartstack.com/artist/barkley-l-hendricks/family-jules-nnn

These are quick paintings of these castle ruins in Hohentwiel, Germany.  During the summer,  I went on a hike with my cousin to the castle ruins, I painted a few primary observations as I was walking along the trail. Both these paintings were completed around in 20 minutes. I vaguely and quickly sketched the shapes with grey watercolour and I then started to build up the painting with darker tones. I then used colour pencils to make areas darker and to speed up the process. I used fine liner to go around areas to make it bolder. If I had to do this again, I would probably not use colour pencils as it looks messier and should have taken a bigger size brush to speed the process. I would use these paintings as references if I were to paint it in a different medium such as acrylic to develop this piece further. Also, I would scan these paintings and use photoshop and merge them together and use the opacity tool. This would make the painting look like an illusion. I am pleased with the painting of the castle and the blue sky however, I am not satisfied with the  one I’m in the castle as it looks messier because of the colour pencils.