#michaelraycharles

[moma-prints]

White Power, Michael Ray Charles, 1994, MoMA: Drawings and Prints

Ralph E. Shikes Fund Size: composition (irreg.): 15 13/16 x 11 7/8" (40.1 x 30.1 cm); sheet: 29 15/16 x 22 5/16" (76 x 56.6 cm) Medium: Aquatint and open bite etching

http://www.moma.org/collection/works/68839

[artgeckostuff]

The stimulus for this module was “Boundary”. I started by examining what ‘Boundary’ actually meant. I intended to briefly examine all types of boundaries but because of time limitations, I began to examine the boundaries that are involved when it comes to racism. I was especially interested in how the boundaries have changed in a short space of time. When I was a child in the 70′s it was common to hear racist terms being bandied about. There were T.V. programs - ‘ The Black and White Minstrel Show’, ‘Love Thy Neighbour’, It ‘Aint Half Hot Mum’ etc where white actors ‘blacked up’ and derogatory terms towards people of race were used constantly used. This was perfectly acceptable at the time but if it were to be used today there would be a public outcry.

I looked at the works of Michael Ray Charles, Anders Bergstrom,Kara Walker, Chris Ofili and Makode Linde and how they related to racism. I also researched Minstrelsy and Morris Dancing, America folk art, slavery in South West England and The Cradle of Humanity as well making my own artistic responses and working towards two final pieces.

[artgeckostuff]

For the second part of the first year we were given the stimulus “Boundaries”. I chose to examine the boundary of racism and how that boundary has shifted during my lifetime: how the colloquial expressions and language which described people of different ethnic backgrounds used then is now totally politically incorrect. I examined works by:- Michael Ray Charles; Anders Bergstrom; Kara Walker: Chris Ofili and Makode Linde. As well as these artist studies and my responses to their work, I examined the origin of the ‘Gollywog’, Minstrelsy and Morris Dancing, American folk art and racism, ‘The Brown Bag Test’, the Slave Trade, concentrating on Slavery in South Wes England and ‘ The Cradle of Humanity’.