Kerry James Marshall: Rythm Mastr. This Is How It Begins

The iconic comic created by contemporary African American artist Kerry James Marshall.

Marshall, widely considered one of America’s greatest living painters and inspired chronicler of the African American experience, has sought to diversify the art historical canon. In the late 1990s, he began working on a series of comics in response to the absence of authentic black characters and authors in the mainstream.

Marshall’s comic offers an alternative reality focused on the main character, Rythm Mastr, and his young protégé, Farell, superheroes whose powers derive from the seven gods of the Yoruba pantheon. Marshall’s characters debate history, philosophy, and politics in vernacular black English using the graphic novel medium to create an empowering, utopian blend of science fiction and Afrofuturism.

Initially serialized in a daily newspaper and presented as a Carnegie International installation, it has appeared in various incarnations over the past two decades, including light boxes, paintings, graphic prints, and drawings. This volume is the most comprehensive look at the character, its genesis, and its evolution.

Kerry James Marshall, originally from Birmingham, Alabama, taught painting at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Appointed to the Committee on the Arts and the Humanities in 2013, he was included on Time’s annual list of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2017. Michele Robecchi, former managing editor of Flash Art and senior editor at Contemporary magazine, has edited monographs on Marina Abramović, Francis Alÿs, Jorge Pardo, and Ai Weiwei. Currently, he is a visiting lecturer at Christie’s Education.