Johnsons are ‘sipping tea’ for ‘black-ish’ portrait
LOS ANGELES » When ABC decided the Johnsons of “black-ish” were due a portrait, it sought an artist who understood the family’s perspective.
The task went to painter and illustrator Kadir Nelson, a chronicler of contemporary African American experience and an admirer of the sitcom.
The result is a captivatingly sly, 70x70-inch oilonwork that depicts series stars including Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross in character and part of a riffon the “sipping tea” meme.
Nelson said the approach fits a tumultuous time of political conflict and racial reckoning.
“I was thinking about how the fictional Johnson family would respond,” he said, when he hit on the meme. “You’re kind of sitting back and observing with this knowing look: ‘I know what’s going on. I may say something sassy, but I’mjust going to be over here minding my business, sipping my tea.’ And that’s what the Johnson family is doing.”
Created by Kenya Barris, “black-ish” returns Oct. 21, with Laurence Fishburne, Jenifer Lewis and Deon Cole among the cast members.
The prolific Nelson, an award-winning book illustrator and author, has paintings in institutions including the Smithsonian and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Among his New Yorker magazine cover images is a powerful tribute toGeorge Floyd and other Black victims of violence.
Art is essential to help navigate such a “rollercoaster” period, he said.
“It’s a way of documenting our times, expressing our fears, our angst, our dreams, our thoughts and emotions. And it gives us a way to look forward,” he said, citing visual images delivered through smartphones, computers and TV as especially influential.
“There are very important or visceral images that grab our attention and provoke thought and may inspire us to take action or do