The launch of our new website brings with it a fresh opportunity to spotlight the depth and diversity of our collection. We’re excited to introduce a new series highlighting standout works selected by members of our community—not just curators, but also teachers, artists, and staff. Each contributor shares a work that recently caught their eye and reflects on what drew them to it, offering insight into what you might notice, too. For the first installment, we asked Pat Goley, CEO of Professional Graphics—the company printing the catalogue for our upcoming exhibition Kerry James Marshall: Mastry—about the work that stands out most to him.

I’ve been asked to supervise the color reproductions for the MCA’s forthcoming Kerry James Marshall catalogue. I’ve worked with Kerry’s images in publications for many years for many museums across the country. His work presents a particular challenge because of the importance of the color black in his paintings. His blacks have variations in hue and richness—some are bluish, purplish, others are neutral. And though these differences are deliberate and very striking, it is a very difficult thing to reproduce with ink on paper. To prepare for this catalogue, I, as well as the designer and publishing team, have had the opportunity to see many of Kerry’s works and have begun a process of experimenting and testing reproduction techniques to achieve the most faithful reproductions possible. This work, the artist’s Untitled (Painter), is one of the first we looked at together, in the museum’s art storeroom.