Meet the Artist: Kota Ezawa | Whitney Biennial 2019

In the lead-up to the Whitney Biennial 2019, we visited five artists in their studios to learn more about their work. The fourth episode of the series features Kota Ezawa at his studio in Oakland, California. For the Biennial, Ezawa created a two-minute animation called “National Anthem,” which depicts NFL football players taking a knee during “The Star-Spangled Banner” to protest police violence against unarmed Black men. The practice was started in 2016 by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. As a naturalized US citizen and the son of a Japanese immigrant to Germany, Ezawa says the protests made him feel very connected to the US.
To make “National Anthem,” Ezawa repurposed footage of multiple NFL teams, using it as the basis for meticulous, small-scale watercolor paintings that he then turned into the frames of the animation. “I really like the word ‘translating’ to describe what I’m doing,” he says. “The game is to take something from the world of camera-recorded images and make it kind of a plausible animated image.”
Watch episode 1 featuring Jeffrey Gibson: • Meet the Artist: Jeffr...
Watch episode 2 featuring Tomashi Jackson: • Meet the Artist: Tomas...
Watch episode 3 featuring Daniel Lind-Ramos: • Meet the Artist: Danie...
Watch episode 5 featuring Meriem Bennani: • Meet the Artist: Merie...
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The Whitney Biennial 2019 is on view May 17 through September 22, 2019. Tickets and More information at whitney.org/biennial2019.
Plan your visit today at whitney.org/visit.
Video produced by SandenWolff
Shot and directed by Jonathan Sanden
Creative production and story editing by Rachel Wolff
Edited by Stephen Parnigoni and Jonathan Sanden
#whitneybiennial #kotaezawa #nationalanthem

[@nippertyler]

I saw this at the 2019 Whitney Biennial and it was one of, if not the most captivating and relevant works in the entire exhibition. A real piece of meaningful art with multiple layers of depth and not just the usual Whitney Biennial/overblown art world spectacle.

[@RollinsMuseumofArt]

Incredible video about such a distinctive artist. Rollins Museum of Art is proud to have National Anthem (Washington Redskins) in our permanent collection. On view in The Voice of the People: Freedom of Speech @ RMA through May 14, 2024.