New Shades

Delano Dunn’s work primarily focuses on how women of color have—or haven’t—been represented in art and society at large. These two works are from a series called “Where Neon Bends,” in which California-raised Dunn is “imagining if women from the future traveled back to L.A. in the 1970s and 80s and had special powers,” says Scarlett. The neon colors are reminiscent of superheroes’ outfits, and the women are in powerful poses, suggesting they’re “stamping out patriarchy,” says Scarlett.

In another series, “Jane Crow,” the New York-based artist uses language from transcripts of Supreme Court cases that “have to do with women’s bodies, where you’re allowed to do certain things, or how you’re allowed to present yourself,” says Scarlett. In this panel, Dunn refers to the 1984 case Roberts v. United States Jaycees, in which the court ruled that women were allowed to become members of the civic organization the United States Junior Chamber, known as the Jaycees. “The abstract colors and geometric design elements show power and celebration, while also unhinging the cases from any particular period of time,” says Scarlett.

A primary focus of Brooklyn-based artist Damien Davis’ work is representing people who have sickle cell anemia, a disease that disproportionately affects African Americans. The red crescent shape in the lower left-hand corner of this collage is meant to mirror the shape that a cell takes on when it’s contracted the disease. The bright colors and block-like shapes found in his work highlight the fact that the disease has an especially high mortality rate among children.

Philadelphia artist Brandon Dean’s work “has to do with the history of the nude in art history and in fashion advertising,” says Scarlett, questioning, for example, why the ideal of the male form in Western art has always been white. In this piece, the shade of pink introduces a sense of vulnerability to the depiction of statues of southern Civil War figures, while the man in the foreground is “bare, pensive and observant, rather than domineering,” says Scarlett, embodying “an opposing vision of masculinity.”