New Acquisitions – Kevin Sampson
Kevin Sampson
Home of the Blues
2023
Blue ink work on paper
18″ x 24″
Collection of Rutgers University-Newark, Purchase of Paul Robeson Galleries
2023.5
This drawing is part of a series loosely based on the “Legend of the flying Africans” ” Home of the blues” utilizing angelic grave art.
It is an acknowledgement both of the recent death of Tyre Nichols and the rich history of Memphis. I borrowed the title from a sculpture created by William Wetmore in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome in 1894 “The Angel of grief weeping over the dismantled altar of Life.”
I spent almost 2 months in both Italy and in New Orleans respectfully and in the process, I developed a great love of the cemeteries in both places. This has Encouraging me to create a work that uses the power of Sculptures and Monuments.
After Listening to Rev Al’s Eulogy at the Nichols funeral, he spoke of the power of Black woman of Black Mothers; I wanted to incorporate These Woman into the drawing as not only Mothers but as warriors and The Mothers of Both Hoodoo and The Blues in Memphis….. Woman throughout history who have been the rock that we were built upon, the watchers and the angels of both Grief and transcendence.
