Marshall's depiction of Watts circa 1963 is a vision charged with deeply personal memories, as this is where the then young artist and his family lived for two years before the 1965 Los Angeles riots. Eight years old when Marshall's family moved from Birmingham, Alabama (a hotbed of Civil Rights activity at the time) to Southern California, "Watts" is a childhood vision tempered by the hindsight and distance that comes with being an adult. In the painting, massive rays from a lemon-yellow sun fill the sky, stopping just short of three blue birds holding aloft a thin white ribbon that reads "HERE WE REST." The romantic symbolism of a golden sun and bluebirds of happiness is in sharp contrast to the sentiment of the text, which expresses a somber, eternal resting, such as would take place at a mortuary or a tomb. A larger red banner reads "There's more of everyth.." (a reference to the Alabama state motto), its incomplete message leaving one ambivalent about what it promises. Palm trees and flowers dot the painting, and yet it's difficult not to notice that "Nickerson Gardens" is not really a garden at all, but actually an urban housing project. Three children, a girl and two boys, stand in the foreground and represent the artist and his two siblings, their eyes seeming to inspect the viewer. Their clothing is simple and unadorned in contrast to the lush landscape around them, the only real spot of color being the young girl's matching pink flip-flops and hair jewelry. Each child's body casts a shadow in a different direction, upsetting traditional perspective and the natural logic behind the sun in the background. One boy's shadow seems almost like a black carpet, and we are reminded again of the ominous sign that floats above. Curled up in a ball and clutching his stomach, this is not our first indication that something is terribly wrong. From the oddly arranged shadows to the splotchy flowers and drips of paint, Marshall questions the utopian innocence of his childhood home at every pictorial turn.

Watts1963
Acrylic and collage on unstretched canvas
114 x 135 inches

Marshall's depiction of Watts circa 1963 is a vision charged with deeply personal memories, as this is where the then young artist and his family lived for two years before the 1965 Los Angeles riots. Eight years old when Marshall's family moved from Birmingham, Alabama (a hotbed of Civil Rights activity at the time) to Southern California, "Watts" is a childhood vision tempered by the hinds