In the early 1970s, Barnes settled in L.A.’s Fairfax district. Barnes, who died in 2009, recalled in a 2008 interview that the experience was the “first time my innocence met with the sins of dance.”
“This was a place where you could go as a black person and see Duke Ellington and see Clyde McPhatter,” Cooks said. He painted “The Sugar Shack” from a childhood memory - sneaking into the Durham Armory, a venue that hosted segregated dances and that still exists today. But she compared the figure to Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1981 work “Irony of the Negro Policeman.” “He’s representing law and order and we don’t think about the police being, especially today, friends of the black community,” Cooks said.īarnes was born into a working-class family in segregated Durham, N.C., in 1938. He seems to be an outsider.Ĭooks isn’t certain if he’s working security or if he’s an off-duty policeman relaxing with the music. Unlike the rest of the figures on the canvas his expression is downcast. Nestled in a corner between the stairs and the stage is a black man in a blue uniform, sitting with a newspaper at his feet. It’s easy to get lost in the revelers, but a closer look reveals unexpected details. She’s a character who appears in artworks throughout Barnes’ career. One central figure in the painting is a woman in a yellow dress and white shoes, dancing at the front of the tall stage, her back to the viewer.
Barnes’ expressive style helps viewers identify with the rhythm and sensuality of the painting, Cooks said. Most have their eyes closed, a signature in nearly all of Barnes’ paintings, referring to his oft-stated belief that “we are blind to each other’s humanity.”Īs a neo-mannerist who referenced the late Renaissance period of Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael, Barnes painted the figures in “The Sugar Shack” as exaggerated and elongated forms, one man’s arms joyously nearly reaching the top of the canvas, another woman’s curvy legs stretching halfway across the dance floor. Vibrant, dancing partygoers and musicians fill the 3-by-4-foot canvas. “The Sugar Shack” transports viewers to a jubilant black club.
They all wait for their moment with Barnes’ work, a piece that entered pop-culture consciousness after appearing on the 1970s sitcom “Good Times” and as the cover art to Marvin Gaye’s 1976 album, “I Want You.” Cooks, associate professor in the departments of African American studies and art history at UC Irvine. Visitors often form a line around the painting, said the show’s curator, Bridget R.
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