Opens Friday: Maurice James Jr.’s New Negro at Art of Noize Graphic artist Maurice James Jr . is reimagining Black history through art.
Although his career only started in 2021, he’s become quite prolific during those three years. By March of 2023, he was displaying his work at three overlapping exhibits , and this year he was the first artist to be featured in Homme Gallery’s new location inside Union Station; he even did a show earlier this month in Oakland, California. Much of James’ previous work has focused on imagining a Black utopia by portraying Black people in mediums they’ve been excluded from in the past—from comic book covers and movie posters to old-time propaganda.
Now James plans to build on his earlier themes in his third showing at Petworth gallery Art of Noize. The New Negro: Manifest Destiny focuses on the architecture of James’ Black Utopia. The idea behind this exhibit came from his observation that, though Black architects have been recognized for their work in the past, they weren’t “necessarily building anything that added to the efforts of Black liberation.
” By pairing figures from the Harlem Renaissance and portraits drawn by Winold Reiss with architectural designs, James says the exhibit shows what “true Reconstruction” would’ve meant to Black people after slavery. One such piece that captures this vision is a depiction of educator Elise Johnson McDougald with a sketching of a building meant to be the imaginary “Departmen.