Colored Frames

Pictured, a piece by artist Benny Andrews. During the film, Andrews recalls his inspiration for protest as a desire to show the world the wide breadth of his work, his paintings depicted people, beyond color lines, yet often his representations of Blacks rarely were shown. He was able to instigate a movement that demanded and achieved more, if not better, representations of Blackness in New York museums.

Beginning at the height of the Civil Rights Era and leading up to the present, this film provides a truthful, unflinching look at often-ignored artists and their progeny.

COLORED FRAMES, airing Tuesday, February 14 at 8 p.m. on WXXI World, reflects on the last 50 years in African-American art by exploring the influences, inspirations and experiences of black artists.  Impressionistic video collages showcase the wide variety, both thematically and stylistically, of contemporary pieces of black artists working in the genres of illustration, abstraction and surrealism, among others. COLORED FRAMES also chronicles the black artist's struggle for visibility and acceptance in mainstream art society as well as their experiences challenging assumptions about what constitutes "blackness," even within their own community.