In 1982, Rasheed Araeen was invited by the Wolverhampton Young Black Artists to speak at the First National Black Art Convention in Wolverhampton. Araeen’s theory of an all-encompassing political black art was tested against other proposals for art as he engaged the audience with his paper, “Art & Black Consciousness.” The paper advocated a confrontational, post-colonial approach to art that was both criticized and supported by various convention attendees. Perhaps his staunchest critic was the painter, Frank Bowling, who, recently returned to London from New York, took offence at the suggestion of black art by any definition or parameter. |