Some Thoughts for BHM, 2025

Ya know, I love a good cliche.  Here's one: "You really do learn something new every day!"  And I think that's true; particularly if you set out to find something new.  For instance, lately I've become...I won't say "obsessed" with Vincent Van Gogh; but very much moved by him and his work in a way I never was before.  Why?  Hmmmmm, I'm not sure.  Let's explore that.  But first, here's one of the new things I learned on a recent day.  There is an artist named Lynette Yiadom-Boakye who I'd never heard of before, that I stumbled upon when I had the thought: "Did Van Gogh ever paint any black people?"
Here she is with one of her paintings:

You know what I really like about the above picture?  That Ms. LYB is smiling.  Why is it in so many pictures of artists (most), they are scowling like they just learned they have jock itch?  Of course, there are plenty of Ms. LYB not smiling; but at least it's not all of them:

Photo: Anton Corbijn

​I also love that her studio is a like a complete hot mess.  She is not kidding around.  She is there to paint!

So, what's the connection to Vincent VG?

Well, color for one.  I recently came across a self-portrait I did that I'd forgotten about; it was very similar to the one above, although I was not consciously trying to emulate Van Gogh.  I would post it here; but of course, now that I'm looking for it, I can't find it.  My studio (talk about a hot mess) is in a state of flux right now.  Nothing is lost in Christian Science (say it aloud, three times).  So, when I asked HAL 9000 if VVG had ever painted black people, it brought me to his painting, The Potato Eaters:

And several others like Head of a Young Peasant with Pipe:

It seems there's no definitive answer.  There are a lot of question posed on line, like: Was Van Gogh a Racist?  I don't know; but I want to do some further reading.  So, when I was doing this research, the image of a painting popped up and I was immediately drawn to it:

Veridian green is one of my favorite colors; so it was that and the striking stark directness of the image.  I wanted to know more.  The painting is called A Passion Like No Other.  When you start to look at her portraits, you can't help but notice the connection between her and Van Gogh: the colors, the directness and so forth...

So, apparently, Ms. YB's reputation recedes her (for me).  She commands super high prices, I would imagine, for a living artist; and I say: More Power To Her!
She apparently was asked at some point to curate a show and pick the paintings in it.  She chose this work, by David Hockney:

I don't think that painting could be any less Hockney and any more Van Gogh, than an actual Van Gogh:

I think this is an interesting correlation.  I once did a little portrait of Ving Rhames, and when it came to doing the coloring, I did some experimenting.  I found that if you combine blue and orange, you get brown...so that's what I did...but I left some of the coloring unmixed and I thought the effect was really cool, so I left it.

In any event, I'm super happy that Ms. Y-B is able to get upwards of a million dollars for a painting!  No wonder she's smiling!

I read in one piece about her that the subjects of her paintings often don't exist.  She imagines them and then paints them. Let's hear what she has to say about it...

OMG, I'm in love.  She's as direct about her work as the actual work.  I'm glad I've discovered her.
Ciao for now.
And Happy Black History Month!
Your friend,
Chris Reidy

CFR   2/25/25