A poetic ode to black love, this painting by American artist Kerry James Marshall shows a couple in a tender embrace, slow dancing to a flowing scroll of musical notes emitting from their stereo. Marshall works across various media—from painting and sculptural installation to collage, film and photography—to explore the history of black identity and marginalization both in the United States and throughout Western art. His paintings typically combine art historical tropes with black folk art traditions to powerful visual effect, frequently centring on black subjects hitherto largely excluded from the artistic canon.
