Featured Acquisition

Keith Duncan

Born in 1967, Keith Duncan resides in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is known for depicting the vibrancy of his home city. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, and a Master of Fine Arts in art education from Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY). 

The Funeral Repass, created in 2015, comes from the artist’s Satire and Storytelling series. Narrative has been an important theme in his artwork from the beginning. Duncan notes, “Being from the south I get a lot of inspiration from stories, I’m interested in storytelling… The most important person I could say who inspires my work is my father. After I returned back from New York for 15 years, in talking with my father, he gave me all these stories about his childhood and about my childhood. It’s a connection really to who I am.”

 This painting depicts the realities of grief and its various stages. Broken into two distinct views—an interior and exterior—a large group gathers after a formal funeral ceremony. In the chaotic interior scene, friends and family convene to share food and comfort each other after their loss. While some cling to each other and cry, others are smiling and jovial. The exterior offers the opposite of the highly emotional scene inside. A small group of men gather near the back of the house where they can drink in relative solitude.

 The large canvas is made of a patchwork of different fabrics. The integration of textile into his work aligns Duncan’s practice with the history of African American quilt making, artists like Faith Ringgold, and traditional African textiles. Using textiles in this way allows Duncan to connect not only with his southern roots but also his “ancestral heritage.”

Image: Keith Duncan, American, born 1967. The Funeral Repass, 2015 Acrylic on unstretched canvas with fabric 71 x 108 inches. Museum purchase with funds raised from the Community Gala © Keith Duncan. Courtesy of the artist and Fort Gansevoort

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