He lectures and exhibits nationally and internationally, and his work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in New York City, Düsseldorf, Paris, Belgium, Spain, Norway, Miami, and Santa Fe. His work was included in the 2006 documentary Race is the Place and exhibitions at Cotthem Gallery in Barcelona and the PMMK Museum of Modern Art in Ostend, Belgium. He has served as a panelist for National Endowment for the Arts and jurors for The Bush Artist Fellowship and the Inaugural Biennial Underground Railroad Exhibition. In 2000, he was a consultant on Spike Lee's film, " Bamboozled" and has been the subject of several film documentaries. A 2003 article in Black Issues In Higher Education acknowledges Charles as one of the top future African-American scholars under forty. "His works are one-sheets, posters for movies that Hollywood would never have the nerve to make, exploring race and sex in this country." Career and achievements Ĭharles is amongst the first group of artists showcased in the 2001 PBS series titled " Art:21." The series highlights top artists of the 21st century. For example, director Spike Lee has spoken of the artist's work as "cinematic". While many have criticized him for this, some have applauded Charles for his daring questioning. In a 1999 ARTnews article, Charles once explained, "Every time I have a show there are some black folks complaining." However, his blunt approach to his artwork suggests that he wants to elicit strong emotions from viewers. Public reception Ĭharles' aggressive use of racial stereotypes has often been at the center of controversy. Charles appears to believe that by confronting racist and demeaning imagery, one can expose enduring subtle racist stereotypes. ![]() The same kind of approach can be seen in the way Charles treats images of the Blackface characters and minstrel shows. Charles sees the crafted image of mammies, along with other black characters, as an attempt to make them nonthreatening to whites. At the same time, his ironic portrayals of the mammy are harsh critiques of her inferiority in commercial popular art. She sits royally to suggest her unacknowledged contributions to white and Black America (a portrayal that would have never been in advertising at the time). However, in a painting where Charles parodies Norman Rockwell's Rosie the Riveter, the Aunt Jemima is portrayed as kind of heroine. The mammy character has historically been the caring house servant for the white family. For example, the image of Aunt Jemima, a mammy, is one caricature that Charles often critiques in his work. To show connections between the past and the present, Charles takes common Black stereotypical characters and reinterprets them in contemporary ways. This product symbolizes the false promises of freedom made to African Americans by America and particularly also by the consumer market through their false images. With these he presents his own satirical campaign for a fictitious product called Forever Free. His paintings have a scraped and antique look to resemble peeling vintage commercial art. In his colorful and graphic paintings and prints, Charles employs Black caricatures and stereotypes such as the Sambo, Aunt Jemima, grinning pickaninnies, and Uncle Tom, to comment on contemporary racial attitudes. His work examines how African Americans have been viewed in American history and also how they have come to view themselves as a result of demeaning stereotypes. ![]() Michael Ray Charles, "(Forever Free) ‘Servin with a smile’," 1994 Work and research Ĭharles's work and research is an investigation into the legacy of historic racial stereotypes of African Americans.
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