Amy Sherald: Singular Moments | Art21 "Extended Play"

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- The protocol of painting
is very slow and meditative,

and I think that's what
I appreciate about it.

It's a space that I'm very comfortable in.

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I think it's become really good

for my mental health. (laughs)

There's a dynamism that
happens with these images

where it becomes about
that singular moment.

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(objects clacking)

Oh, it's on the table in the break room.

I was introduced to these bikers
when I moved to Baltimore.

Although most people
consider them a nuisance,

I think there's something so fantastic

about their ability to teach themselves

these highly skilled ways
of riding these dirt bikes.

They're riding at this
12 o'clock position,

which is straight up and down,

but a lot of times their
hands are off of the bike,

and there's a sense of freedom.

I wanted to try to capture
this effect of, like, flying.

Although these are dirt bikes,
and dirt bikes are loud,

these paintings are kind of quiet,

as if they've been lifted off the ground,

they're flying in the air,

and it's just like this moment of silence.

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(street bustling)
(wind whooshing)

I was born in 1973.

We were always outside riding our bikes.

When we all turned like, I
don't know, like 11 or 12,

somebody's parents got
them like a scooter,

and then everybody got a scooter.

So all of us had...

It was like a gang of,
like, 12 or 13 kids,

and we'd be riding around on our scooters.

It was an all-American childhood.

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I kind of feel like a giant in here now.

There's like the piggy bank (chuckles)

that I painted in art
class in high school.

I used to push this window up

and put my boombox in the window,

and I remember memorizing

Prince: "Sign O' The Times," (chuckles)

and playing it over and over again

with my cassette tape player.

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Artists have been painting
children for a very long time,

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so it feels like another way

of making a traditional painting.

The idea was having this
slide in the sky, almost,

and it seems like he's
just reached this pinnacle,

like, he's this pioneer
standing on top of a mountain.

I wanted to join him in
that moment of exploration.

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When I was living in Baltimore,

I had the opportunity to work on a farm.

It's some of the hardest
work I've ever done,

and I have a great respect
for the ministry of that,

of, like, growing food.

My model, his name is Denzel,

is just a very special person

who's very passionate
about teaching people

how to grow their own food
and where it comes from.

I named the painting "A God Blessed Land"

in thinking about American soil,

and my ancestral connections
to farming and plantations.

Alongside that, I also want it

to just be, like, a regular
moment of a guy's life.

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(metal screeching)

(metal clanking)

Because the work is
evolving and I'm evolving,

I've had to change my process up some.

Painting this large is very different

from what I've always done my whole life.

It's something that I'm
still getting used to.

Certain things have to
be more exaggerated,

like, highlights have
to be more exaggerated

to still come to life,

when you're, you know, 10
or 15, 20 feet back from it.

For me, it's really about
getting the face in first.

Especially after I get the eyes in,

that's when the image kind of comes alive.

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Hi, Alice.

I wanna like hop over,
(chuckles) get closer.

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This one, when I look at it,

I don't see anything I wanna fix,

which sometimes I'm like,

"Oh, I wish I could do this
to it, or do that to it,"

but I don't see anything that I wanna fix.

I love beauty.

I know beauty's a bad word,

but I like to make things
that make people feel good,

and I think beautiful
paintings are important.

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ethereal upbeat music)

I say figuration is like
the soul food of art-making,

it's like what takes you back home,

and what you eat when you need comfort.

And we all need that at some point.

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