Taurus Burns
DEFENSIVE
@
detroit contemporary
September 11-30, 2021
In this body of work, Taurus has generated a heralding snapshot of our current history. The artist challenges our point of view and creates a world where we deep dive into our own personal narratives about race, patriotism, and politics. The paintings are all in monochromatic black and white as Taurus gives in his artist statement, “emphasizing racial politics while alluding to the concept of “black and white thinking”- a common defense mechanism.”
The works pack a powerful punch in unexpected ways as well. The painting “Army Veteran with Twin Sisters” is a candid portrait that beams with good vibes even with the sisters wearing masks. “Brother in a Cornfield” portrays a man in a field full of bounty and a pensive, thoughtful gaze, dripping with sensitivity.
Police brutality is exposed in multiple works. The piece “The Colosseum” poignantly titled, depicts two panthers, one black and one white, the black one, misshapen and being lit aflame by a cyclops officer. While “Young, Patriotic and Black” has a son in a car looking on in earnest at his father in a military uniform saluting a flag as a police officer with a gun drawn is visible in the rear view mirror.
Derek Chauvin makes an appearance in a mug shot represented as half of a man with his midsection exposed. The only color in the show is a red and green African-American flag in the backdrop of the cyclops officer’s portrait. He's also referenced by his badge in "The Portrait of Fred Hampton" as a giant black panther swats at it with full claws and a roaring face.
Taurus puts himself in many pieces. He’s donning sunglasses and checking out a friend’s target practice in “Training Day”. Another painting “The Panther in Me” has him casually going over an assault rifle while sitting on porch steps. The large piece over the fireplace “Triggered” has multiple takes from left to right like rapid fire while holding a handgun drawn. In “Protests Matter” the viewer takes a back seat to modalities of the naked and vulnerable. Taurus, a reclining nude here, sits next to a panther with white stripes on its tail as protest signs with white supremist slogans litter the street. Another painting in adverse “Cocked and Loaded” shows the naked and armed.
Systemic racism has given little opportunities to young black men as they graduate high school. In the depiction of "The Graduate", a young man is clenching brass knuckles in one hand and a handgun in the other, doubled over in a seated position, the artist conveys weariness, the weight of impending doom, contemplation of a dark future. Taurus inspired by efforts of the sixties shed insight on his piece "Portrait of Fred Hampton" with "I'm channeling visionaries like Fred Hampton who united the Black Panther Party and the Young Patriots (poor whites in Chicago who took the Confederate Flag as their symbol) to work together for social change. To me he was an anti-racist super hero, as any form of interracial cooperation is a threat to white supremacy." For those who don’t know, Fred Hampton was the chairman of the Black Panther Party of Chicago who was assassinated in an FBI raid in 1969. He was 21 years old.
Without spoon feeding the entire show, I will say that the impasto in the paintings matches a moodiness. This show is powerful, and eye opening. Bullet holes in a white tank top on a clothesline joined by a Raven to the juxtaposing figures of Zoology 101 and 201 begging you to ask a question, daring you. Taurus closed his artist statement with “My ultimate goal is to empower those who have been traumatized by racism, wake those blinded by white privilege and, as the saying goes, to “shame the devil”.” At times the dream-like quality of all of the works together left me feeling a bit of weightlessness, floating by this space in time which could nearly be anytime over the past 50 years or so, only to anchor in 2021. Where we go from here is important and it’s powerful art like this which helps us identify something about ourselves as we find a way.
Review by Marianne Burrows
Marianne is a freelance arts writer, artist, realtor, and long time Detroit resident. She’s written for ZIPR, Art Voices magazine, The Detroiter and more. She’s currently renovating a 1913 house on the urban prairie surrounded by unkempt gardens, mushroom groves and a ceremonial burning area. She can use power tools and and doesn’t back down from a good challenge or completely destroying a kitchen to make an amazing meal.