McArthur Binion & Jules Allen: Me and You

A riveting conversation between the two artists, touching on seminal influences, experiences and practices

This thought-provoking publication presents a fecund dialogue between Chicago-based painter McArthur Binion (born 1946) and New York–based photographer Jules Allen (born 1947), two American artists taking different approaches to rendering the Black experience. To illustrate their interactions, Binion contributes a new series of paintings and Allen contributes his most recent images as well as a collection of archival black-and-white photographs. In a sinuous, stimulating conversation, the long-term friends discuss their musical influences, education and shared experiences developing their skills as artists in New York. Buoyed by mutual admiration, the two artists trade insights on one another’s practice. In one striking example, Binion remarks that Allen endeavors to “take themes of the culture that were universal and personalize it, so it came from someplace specific to someplace general.” The introduction penned by interdisciplinary scholar and writer Thulani Davis provides a zoomed-out jumping-off point before the reader is catapulted deep into the two artists’ subjectivities.