Been a Long Time Coming by Diana Berek

All copyrights for the art on this page are owned by the artist, Diana Berek.

Been a Long Time Coming by Diana Berek

Artist's Statement
Been A Long Time Coming Oil on canvas 1992: 50" x 42"
In 1992, a spontaneous expression of rage and rebellion in Los
Angeles was sparked by the acquittal of the police officers who had
brutally beaten Rodney King, a black man pursued for a traffic
violation. Everyone had seen the videotape of the beating. Across
the United States people were shocked, enraged and frightened that
such apparent police brutality was being sanctioned by state
authority. In Los Angeles, where the long trial had brought to the
surface and exposed numerous similar incidents of outrageous
unchecked police brutality, the simmering anger exploded.

This painting (which takes its title from a lyric in a Sam Cook song:
". . .Oh, it's been a long time comin', but I know, yes I know, a
change is gonna' come. . .") was actually begun before the outbreak
of L.A. Rebellion, during the long, frustrating period of the trial
when discussion and debate polarized every community. In the
foreground and lower portion of the painting is a large reclining
skeletal figure which is a reference to a detail in an Orozco mural
entitled "Victims". Below the victim-figure are additional smaller
victim-figures representing the brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers,
and ancestors who were the victims of poverty, repression,
exploitation, war and injustice.

The city in flames represents the awful consequences of the clash
between state power and rebellion by people who will no longer be
vicitimized. The face of the boy represents the quality of being
driven to the practical and objective necessity of rebellion. He
looks out at us. He is seeing the future we cannot yet see. His gaze
is determined and analytical. He is a revolutionary. The bones of
one of the ancestor victim-figures (in the lower right corner) are
re-aligning to form a fist. Our history becomes our present and
leads us to the future.

Uptown Multi-Cultural Art Center (UM-CAC). E-mail UM-CAC at umcac@art-teez.org Ph.773/561-7676