Hear artist Kerry James Marshall discuss his work before his upcoming National Gallery exhibition Posted at 08:15 AM ET, 11/05/2012 Kerry James Marshall's "Great America" (1994), above, will serve as the centerpiece of his focus exhibition next year (June 28-Dec. 7) at the National Gallery of Art. Marshall will talk about the exhibition, "In the Tower: Kerry James Marshall," at the American Art Museum on Wednesday. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art If you visited the Corcoran's "30 Americans" show last fall, you've seen the work of Kerry James Marshall, the African American painter and sculptor whose art unabashedly explores race and stereotypes. Next year, the National Gallery of Art will give Washingtonians a far better look at the work of the influential Chicago artist: Thirty of his works, including the National Gallery's "Great America," will go on display in June as part of the museum's "In the Tower" contemporary art series. The selection puts the artist on a very short, elite list with such artists as Nam June Paik, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko and Philip Guston, who also have been featured in the National Gallery's micro-exhibitions. You can learn more about Marshall when he speaks Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the American Art Museum's McEvoy Auditorium as part of the Clarice Smith Distinguished Lectures series. The series, which brings in preeminent American artists and art critics, is free, but tickets are required and can be picked up beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the museum's G Street lobby.