Alistair Mackinven (B. 1971)

Black Is Beautiful, So Is White, So Is... was the first work created as part of Alastair Mackinven’s sixteen-piece series Jerking Off the Dog to Feed the Cat, informed by 1960s agitprop posters promoting various causes. This work is based on the texts and graphics of a civil rights poster about racial equality, adapted into a monochrome format that decontextualizes its original purpose and message. ‘This allows me the possibility to paint from every political position’ states Mackinven. ‘It’s a way for me to do feminist, right wing, or black power painting.’ Mackinven’s depictions of graphic text in monochrome also bears witness to the influence of Jasper Johns, inviting comparison with his number and alphabet paintings.