1) Thomas Roma

This week I was priviledged to work on a film piece about pioneering fine artists in Philadelphia as a part of the Philly 360 campaign.

In doing so, I was introduced to one of the most intriguing fine artists: Barkley L. Hendricks, a graduate and award-winner of Philadelphia Academy Of The Fine Arts; the first art school in the United States.

Self-Portrait with Red Sweater 1980.

Hendricks was a part of the "Cool School"; a handful of young African-American that entered into the Academy in the mid-1960s. The group included visionaries like Moe Brooker and James Brantley. In the midst of the Civil Rights era and on the brink of the Vietnam War, these men chose to dedicate their life's training to fine art. Ardent support for the group's longevity in the artworld, despite racial tensions in the city, art came from people like Sande Webster, who still houses the artists' work today in her Rittenhouse Square gallery.

Hendricks has received acclaim for his life-sized portraits of people of color.  Having come of age in the Civil Rights era and the Black is Beautiful movement, Hendricks created cool, empowering, and sometimes confrontational images that explore the complexity of black identity.  This exhibition of fifty-seven paintings has been heralded as one of the top ten exhibitions in New York in 2008. (via PAFA)