The above illustration represents the Little Rock 9Within the art world, the basic elements of art include space, line, shape, form, texture, value, and color. However, after Renata Cathey interviewed Frank Frazier at the Cottonwood Arts Festival on May 3, 2009, it appears that for Frank Frazier, all the basic elements of art lead back to one – color.
Within the art world, the basic elements of art include space, line, shape, form, texture, value, and color. However, after Renata Cathey interviewed Frank Frazier at the Cottonwood Arts Festival on May 3, 2009, it appears that for Frank Frazier, all the basic elements of art lead back to one – color.
Now the definition of color that Frank Frazier so masterfully concentrates upon and portrays in some of his artwork is a type of color that is often forgotten. Black and White are the colors. And although Barack Obama, the current president of the United States, dedicated a speech to discuss the relationship between Blacks and Whites and other colors (yellow, red, etc.) during his campaign, many people have forgotten the problems, triumphs, stereotypes, and history that surround colors, especially the colors black and white.
Now you may ask, “How does the black and white colors associated with race and civil rights in the United States become associated with art?” The answers for Frank Frazier as you will see later in the interview dictated below, are associated with some of the subject matter of his artwork. For instance, the Little Rock 9, a group of 9 kids who were responsible for integrating a school in 1957 against great resistance by both the governor of Arkansas and its white citizens who enforced the illegal Jim Crow laws is addressed by one of Frank Frazier’s pieces. He created the piece with shoe polish from the 1930’s for two reasons. The first reason, the black shoe polish was used to paint white folks face in the 1930’s to symbolize black folks during that time. The second reason was to redefine the usage of the black shoe polish to symbolize something more positive like the Little Rock 9. Frank Frazier also did a piece that portrays the conflicts surrounding the Black Panthers in Oakland, California during the sixties. Interesting enough, the colors of the Oakland Raider’s football team is black and white.
There are even more references to color dictated in the interview from the first statement to the last. In fact, Frank Frazier begins the interview with an off-the-cuff remark that ironically entails the combination of black and white – grey. Some of the interview occurred as follows:
[Renata Cathey interviews Mr. Frazier while Curtiss Cathey takes pictures]
Introductions
Frank
With Frank Frazier and my wonderful wife Judy and my grandson. We like to keep family all together.
The Colors
Frank
That’s them protesting or that could be them moving into the schools and all. You read the signs and on one side is the white folks making their statement and on the other side is the black folks making their statements.
The President of the United States
The Granddaughter
The Summary
Frank
I am on other people’s internet. I don’t want to be that commercial. I want to be like the Bentley of Art. I don’t want to be easy to get. It’s not just about being so expensive but just not easy to get. I don’t have a lot of prints. I don’t have anything with graphic art and all of that so I don’t do a lot of prints because I want to be a little difficult to get. I think I’m good.
This was not the end of the interview with Frank Frazier but more like a long introduction to not only Frank but his family as well. In fact, we (my wife and I) talked to him more at his home and studio three days later during a private art show. There were several other artists and we discovered that his “children” extended to more than his wife, children, grand children, great grand children, and Great-Great grand children.
As he mentioned in the interview above, Frank Frazier is serious about showing that black people can do more than play basketball or be a movie star. The visit to his home exemplified his seriousness by having a suite of talented artists, sculptors, poets, writers, and gallery owners at his house when we arrived. We interviewed many of these artists so stay tuned for more “forgotten” stories, images, art, and audio.
Certain areas of his house had painted signs that clearly designated your color – black or white. There were drawings on the wall in black and white paint as well as drawings on paper in ink and pencil. There was a “black waiting room” and a “white waiting room” and the usage of artistic color throughout his home and studio quickly reminded me of what we often forget – that colors, especially black and white should be respected and remembered especially in art.