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Michael Ray Charles: A Retrospective
Smithsonian American Art Museum's 2021 Charles C. Eldredge Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in American Art
Michael Ray Charles is the most comprehensive presentation yet of the work of an artist who rose to prominence in the 1990s for works that engaged American stereotypes of African Americans. With a background in advertising and an archivist’s inquisitiveness, Charles developed an artistic practice that made startling use of found images and offered critiques of the narratives they fostered. Immersing readers in the imagination of this daring painter, Michael Ray Charles celebrates and contextualizes a singular, major figure in the art world. Art historian Cherise Smith collaborated with the artist to curate nearly one hundred color plates documenting nearly thirty years of visual art. These plates are framed by an interview with the artist and by Smith’s own deep interpretive essay on Charles’s work. Smith explores topics ranging from the controversy resulting from Charles’s provocative appropriations of stereotypical racial material to his techniques of sampling from popular culture, and from his commentaries on African American men and sports to his work with director Spike Lee on Bamboozled . Both clear-eyed and complex, this retrospective demonstrates the significant role that Michael Ray Charles’s work has played in defining what art is today.
Michael Ray Charles is the most comprehensive presentation yet of the work of an artist who rose to prominence in the 1990s for works that engaged American stereotypes of African Americans. With a background in advertising and an archivist’s inquisitiveness, Charles developed an artistic practice that made startling use of found images and offered critiques of the narratives they fostered. Immersing readers in the imagination of this daring painter, Michael Ray Charles celebrates and contextualizes a singular, major figure in the art world. Art historian Cherise Smith collaborated with the artist to curate nearly one hundred color plates documenting nearly thirty years of visual art. These plates are framed by an interview with the artist and by Smith’s own deep interpretive essay on Charles’s work. Smith explores topics ranging from the controversy resulting from Charles’s provocative appropriations of stereotypical racial material to his techniques of sampling from popular culture, and from his commentaries on African American men and sports to his work with director Spike Lee on Bamboozled . Both clear-eyed and complex, this retrospective demonstrates the significant role that Michael Ray Charles’s work has played in defining what art is today.
296 pages, Hardcover
Published January 10, 2020
12 people want to read
About the author
Cherise Smith
7 books4 followersCherise Smith is Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Texas, Austin.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 19, 2020
It would be unforgivably reductive to say that this is like a Spike Lee joint, but in art book form. You would definitely not catch me saying that.
This book pairs well with aspects of Lovecraft Country (definitely The Most Fun TV Happening Now).
Difficult to look at, because they are so smackingly accusatory. They're great. They're fantastic.
Using Norman Rockwell, and circus posters, and various racist 20th century advertising imagery to point back at the viewer... reminds me of Scorsese.
I love when art books include prints of pieces of art (by other artists) that were in the subject's private art collection, and there is a fair bit of this kind of contextual information and images, which I really feel elevate this book as a whole.
Also, love when art books include a thumb nail index of the works.
I'm sure the essays are great; I didn't read them.
This book pairs well with aspects of Lovecraft Country (definitely The Most Fun TV Happening Now).
Difficult to look at, because they are so smackingly accusatory. They're great. They're fantastic.
Using Norman Rockwell, and circus posters, and various racist 20th century advertising imagery to point back at the viewer... reminds me of Scorsese.
I love when art books include prints of pieces of art (by other artists) that were in the subject's private art collection, and there is a fair bit of this kind of contextual information and images, which I really feel elevate this book as a whole.
Also, love when art books include a thumb nail index of the works.
I'm sure the essays are great; I didn't read them.
Displaying 1 of 1 review