For his Blots series, Marshall utilizes the language of abstraction to suggest alternative ways in which black experiences are formally manifested in painting. Like his more familiar figurative images, the artist’s Blots invite viewers to consider what, and whom, the history of abstraction has obscured. This painting was shown at the 2015 Venice Biennale and later exhibited in his critically acclaimed 2016–2017 retrospective Mastry, at MCA Chicago, the Met Breuer, New York, and MOCA Los Angeles.