Kara Walker has taken the art world by storm by rejecting artistic convention and creating her own rules. The New York-based artist has changed the way we approach race and gender in art in her exploration of identity, racism, and sexism. She does not shy away from difficult subject matter such as violence or stereotyping, even if critics have called her work shameful. The critical reaction is intentionally part of her message; she says, “My works are erotically explicit, shameless. I would be happy if visitors would stand in front of my work and feel a bit ashamed—ashamed because they have…simply believed in the project of modernism.”
Walker's first large-scale solo project will take place at the to-be-demolished Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn from today through July 6, 2014. She has titled the show, "At the behest of Creative Time, Kara E. Walker has confected A Subtlety, or The Marvelous Sugar Baby an homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant." The show will be open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays and admission is free, so you if you're in N.Y., you have no reason to miss it.
Here are 22 Things You Didn't Know About Kara Walker.
RELATED: Watch the Teaser Video for Kara Walker's Installation at the Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn
RELATED: Kara Walker to Create Her First Large-Scale Public Installation Project at the Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn