Henry Taylor on the Black Panthers

Henry Taylor’s monumental mixed-media work ‘Untitled’ (2022) pays homage to the Black Panther Party and to his brother, Randy. First exhibited in ‘Henry Taylor: B Side,’ a major survey exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2022 that travelled to The Whitney Museum of American Art the following year, ‘Untitled’ (2022) is a poignant, large-scale installation. It comprises 35 life-size, headless mannequins, configured as a meeting of the 20th-century American political organization, the Black Panthers. Behind them hangs a banner emblazoned with ‘END WAR AND RACISM!!! Support the Black Panthers,’ while several black leather gloves float above them, raised in ghostly fists of solidarity. Pinned to the mannequins’ black leather jackets-some worn over the black turtlenecks typical of Black Panther Party members, others over more contemporary attire (including civil rights activist and former football player Colin Kaepernick’s San Francisco 49ers jersey)-are badges printed with the Black Panther logo and with photographs of victims who were murdered by law enforcement in the more recent past.
Taylor’s vast body of highly personal work is rooted in the people and communities closest to him, often manifested together with poignant historical or pop-cultural references. Voracious in his sourcing of subjects, Taylor draws from art history, newspaper clippings, personal memories and encounters with family, friends and strangers-a process the artist describes as ‘hunting and gathering.’ Though best known for his portraits-sumptuous depictions of live sitters and archival figures, painted quickly and loosely, that deftly capture his subjects’ nuances and moods-sculpture and installation play an important part in Taylor’s practice, with ‘Untitled’ an impressive example of his work in three dimensions.
Building on this, Taylor’s work can be divided into ‘two major strands-the first made up of works from life’ and ‘the other … concern[ing] a larger, shared American history.’ [1] ‘Untitled’ draws those strands together, simultaneously a tribute to the artist’s older brother, Randy-a former active member of the Black Panther Party in Ventura, California-and to a larger collective of people and voices. One of Taylor’s most explicitly political works, its merging of references both historic and contemporary embodies Zadie Smith’s understanding of Taylor’s work as a metaphor for Black history ‘the way Black people actually experience it: as simultaneous change and stasis, revolution and stagnation, one step forwards, two steps back.’ [2] In this way, it recalls the title of one of Taylor’s most famous paintings, ‘THE TIMES THAY AINT A CHANGING, FAST ENOUGH!’ (2017), now held in the collection of The Whitney Museum of American Art: an arresting portrait of Philando Castile, the 32-year-old African-American man who was killed by a police offer during a traffic stop in 2016. A striking visual synthesis of past and present, ‘Untitled’ is a powerful testament to the ongoing fight for racial equality.
‘Untitled’ (2022) is included in Art Basel Unlimited, 11 - 17 June 2024.
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Hauser & Wirth is an international contemporary and modern art gallery with spaces in Zurich, London, Somerset, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Gstaad, St. Moritz, Monaco, Menorca and Paris.
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[@staratdream8259]

thank you