On Contemporary Art and the #BlackLivesMatter Movement

While visiting Titus Kaphar's exhibition Asphalt and Chalk at Jack Shainman Gallery in Chelsea, New York in early February, I was struck by the power, simplicity and deceptive ordinariness of two small panels, a diptych, near the entrance. On one panel a raised clenched fist, realistically rendered, has been all but obliterated by what appear to be rapidly applied expressionist strokes of white paint; on the other an open palm has been given a similar whiteout treatment. Both hands are black, an...