Kerry James Marshall: Every Beat of My Heart March 4, 2008

Experience the culmination of artist Kerry James Marshall's Wexner Center residency in this multimedia exhibition. The exhibition grows out of Marshall's Rythm Mastr series, an expansive sequence of narrative works that tells a tale of urban life featuring superheroes inspired by African archetypes and African American cultural life. Marshall's residency began last summer with a trip to Japan to study the traditional art form of Bunraku puppetry. He then convened a group of 23 Columbus teenagers to train as puppeteers in order to present 'Every Beat of My Heart' (a story from the Rythm Mastr narrative sequence) as a live performance in the Wexner Center galleries with musical accompaniment by acclaimed jazz drummer Hamid Drake. During the run of the exhibition, the puppets will be displayed in the galleries as sculpture; the exhibition will also feature drawings, video documentation, and an online component.