Michael Ray Charles was born in 1967 in a town called Lafayette in Louisiana. He started out by studying advertising design and illustration at the McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana where he graduated in 1985. At McNeese State University Charles started to realize his love for painting and it eventually became his medium of choice. Charles then moved forward to get a MFA degree in 1993 from the University of Houston.
Charles bases his paintings around racial stereotypes that are always constant in the American subconscious. He concentrates on how mass-media looks at black youth, athletes and celebrities and makes caricature like paintings. His paintings have a deeper meaning looking into black culture from past era's as well as today. He concentrated on Aunt Jemima and how she is not a real person but to most she becomes a real person because of the story behind Aunt Jemima. Because of his context of past and present stereotypes there is an emergence of ugliness and beauty that cannot escape our minds because of how we are portrayed as human beings now and in the past.
1 comment:
Sorry I just saw you wanted where I got the information from my blogs. I am getting my information based on what I saw on Art 21 and from the website www.pbs.org/art21. I enjoy reading the artists biographies. After watching the artists on Art 21 then reading their biography it gives a better understanding of the artists intentions.
-Heidi
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