Robert Colescott A Taste Of Gumbo

First, Robert Colescott's painting, A Taste of Gumbo, effectively represents form and composition. Gardner explains that form “refers to an object’s shape and structure” and composition “refers to how an artist composes (organizes) forms in an artwork” (7). Colescott’s complex piece of art conveys a sense of African history and racism in America. It “addresses the African roots of a popular American food that French colonists claimed to have invented” (de Young, Colescott). The subject of the painting is based off of African gumbo, a food that is thought to have originated from African culture. The painting is flat and contains 2-dimensional forms but portrays a 3-dimensional scene. The way that Colescott composes the various forms and shapes