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H O W T O SEE A W O R K OF A RT I N T O T AL D A RKN ESS Dar by Engl i sh Cambridge, MA MIT Press, 2007 In How t o See a Work of Art in Tot al Darkness, Darby Engl i sh i nt er r ogat es how we perceive works considered "bl ack ar t " when t he f ul l scope of t heir aest het ic meani ng is occl uded by cr i t i cal i mposi t i ons of a racial ref lexive aest het ic. He quest i ons t he seemi ng coherence of t he const ruct ed cat egory of t he t erm creat ed in t he early t w ent iet h cent ury, out l i ni ng it s or i gi ns in resist ance, connect i on t o black cul t ural pol i t i cs, and cont i nued cur r ent depl oyment in cont emporary cr i t i ci sm. His t reat ment of sel ect ed moment s in t he work of cont empor ar y Af r i can American art ist s Isaac Jul i en, Glenn Li gon, William Pope.L, Kara Walker, and Fred Wi l son show s us t he excess, what remains out side of what Engl i sh calls t he "bl ack r epr esent at i onal f i el d. " Int erest ed in art ist ic meani ng caut erized by f requent narrowing crit ical i m p osi t i on, hi s proj ect i s one of expansi on. Early on his t ext , Engl i sh concret izes t he way t hat "bl ack ar t " i s a "par t i ci pat or y" const ruct , not an a priori cat egory , wit h his di scussi on of David Hammons, Concert o in Black and Blue ( 2002) , a l ight i nst al l at i on in New York's Ace Gallery's large blackened space. 1 It was crit ics and viewers who i nsi st ed t hat blue l i ght s in a darkened space are represent at ive of "bl ackness , " he reminds us, not Hammons himself . "We simpl y cannot see black ar t i st s' work unt il we t hrow it i nt o relief agai nst t he t r ansf or mat i ons it under goes in our i nevi t abl y soci al i nvol vement wit h i t , " Engl i sh st at es. 2 He of f ers sal ient examples t o make us aware of t he compl icit y of crit ics, hi st orians, and viewers in t hese readings, such as an abst ract ed quot at i on f rom t he "hi ghest -pr of i l e art world review, " in whi ch he hi ghl i ght s t he aut hor 's conf ident claim t hat "al l t he 'black and bl ue' . . . refers t o Af r i can-Amer i can cul t ur e. "3 To t hi s asser t i on, Engl i sh poses t he direct quest i on, "i f i t does, t hen what , ot her t han racism, can secure t hi s r ef er ence?"4 Yet by not i nt r oduci ng t hi s st at ement s wi t h ref erence t o t heir aut hor 's name, j our nal , magazine, he runs t he risk of maki ng t he cont ext of t he claim t oo abst ract f or readers not f amiliar wi t h t hi s work. A more direct address woul d st r engt hen and r espond t o t he urgency of his compel l i ng ar gument t hat t he process of work made by Af rican Amer...

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