Kerry James Marshall print heads to London sale

A thought-provoking print by leading US contemporary artist Kerry James Marshall is among the highlights of Chiswick Auctions’ Prints and Multiples sale on October 17. They Are Liars!, a pseudo comic strip that questions the lack of black heroes in American pop culture, was purchased by the owner from the Camden Art Centre, c.2005. It is expected to bring £4,000-6,000.

Marshall, who was born in Birmingham, Alabama and lives in Chicago, addresses the issues of representation throughout his work. His oeuvre has been described as an interrogation of Western art history regarding its under representation of black faces.

Though best known for his large-scale acrylic paintings, he has ventured into other mediums, including the comic strips he had devoured as a young man.

Disappointed at the lack of African-American characters, he created his own comic strips, most notably Rhythm Mastr, a teenager who gains superpowers through African sculpture, and P-Van, that followed the inner philosophical lives of group of working-class black men who would gather in front of his studio in Chicago.

The print offered at Chiswick Auctions is a four-scene panel from P-Van, one where black figures are shown as central, dynamic and deeply human characters. Number 13 from an edition of just 50, it is signed, dated and titled in pencil.