Unmasked and Black, Barbara Bullock shows activism through art

Located in the Woodmere Museum’s panoramic two-story exhibition space, introspective and notable artist Barbara Bullock showcases over 60 years of creative work that explores in depth, the historical junctures of the AIDS epidemic, Hurricane Katrina, Black Lives Matter, and more. Now on display “Barbara Bullock: Fearless Vision” displays a collection of Bullock’s most celebrated prints, paintings, and sculptures.

Consisting of pieces rich and vibrant in color and mostly void of backgrounds, the exhibit offers viewers a glimpse into Bullock’s life and the moments that have inveigled her work.

In “Jasmine Gardens,” a collection of erotic drawings on paper created between the mid-1970s and ‘80s, Bullock meditates on same sex love, intimacy, and the evolution of human sexuality. The “Jasmine Garden” series is a depiction of queerness and sexuality that came prior to the AIDS epidemic, a health crisis that claimed the lives of members in Bullock’s social circle.

In Bullock’s more recent work created through the COVID-19 pandemic, the artist began constructing portraits from layered watercolor paper and acrylic. Unmasked and Black, these portraits hanging throughout the Woodmere reflect the intimacy or kinship longed for during a period of separation and for many, isolation.

Bullock, fitting the moniker of fearless, doesn’t shy away from the socio-political, cultural, or taboo topics unfolding throughout the country and abroad. She draws from them to create work that reflects her interpretation of the time.

While Bullock’s unique style of creating is revered by the Woodmere and throughout the art world, there are those — such as independent art historians and curators Leslie King Hammond and Lowery Stokes Sims — who believe Bullock’s work is still not receiving the notoriety it deserves.

“Barbara’s been overlooked,” says Stokes Sims. “Here we have a woman who is not only technically proficient in art, but has taken paper, which is not considered a major form in art, and made it into a sculptural entity that is unparalleled.”

In pieces like “Panther (2014)” from the Bitches Brew series, or “Trayvon Martin, Most Precious Blood (2013-14),” Bullock uses acrylic, matte medium, and watercolor paper to create large, bold, and visually captivating images. Her singularity is amplified by her use of paper and is solidified by the presence of Black in her work, an intentional doing Bullock feels negates the negative connotation associated with the color.

“Barbara’s work is critical to not just Black artists, but to American art,” says King Hammond. Touted as nothing short of a staple in the Black arts movement, Bullock’s work consistently depicts the beauty of Black life and bodies.

A small and petite woman, Bullock uses her gifts to interpret the world through tenderness and care, with a focus on the joy, tumultuousness, and liberation of Black life.

“This is an opportunity to see the commanding work of nearly six decades of an artist committed, dedicated, [and] opening up herself to the possibilities of the impossible, which is what experimentation is all about,” says King Hammond.