Study for "Great America" c. 1994

Kerry James Marshall made this drawing, Study for “Great America”, with graphite on paper. Looking at this I imagine Marshall working fast, trying to get all the figures down on the page, placing two boats side-by-side. The urgency of the subject feels immediate, like a report from a disaster zone. The graphite looks almost smeared in places, like he’s rubbed it with his thumb, trying to blend the figures into the background, or maybe erase them altogether? Marshall is an amazing artist and I can imagine him standing in front of this, thinking about Géricault's “Raft of the Medusa,” but making it about now. About this moment. The circle forms create a feeling of motion, like the people are swirling in the water. I always think about painters in relation to other painters. Like what are they looking at? What are they pushing against? What do they want to steal or borrow? Artists are always in conversation.