Unmasked At Last

Deron Neblett

Earlie Hudnall Jr

Laboring in his studio, Biggers produced works only now being heralded by major galleries.

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More About

• Jesse Lott
• Trenton Doyle Hancock
• John Biggers
• Visual Arts
• Racial Issues

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For decades, black artists everywhere have struggled with the looming adjective applied to their work, a word used to marginalize rather than celebrate. But today, African-American artists can be free of categories and cages, if they so choose. They are black. They are artists. The choice of how to mix those colors is theirs.

"In the old days, it was a tribal situation," says Lott. "European kings had a tendency to accumulate wealth. They accumulated it until everyone else was poor. African kings distributed wealth. You were known as wealthy when you had plenty to give away. So success depends on what your objective is. I feel successful because a lot of young guys came to me for help. They have done better than me. They want to earn a living, earn some zeros. When they do that, that's success for both of us."