User:Jbeeks11/sandbox

Portrait of Mnonja

The Portrait of Mnonja was painted by African American artist Mickalene Thomas in 2010.1 Mickalene Thomas is an artist who is still active in the 21st Century. She explores what it means to be “Black” and how that term has evolved over the years. As such Thomas’s work has become associated with the term Post-Black. Thomas’s artwork features a vibrant background along with other bold colors as well as textile patterns.It was completed by taking a series of photographs of the subject. Then using a certain photograph Thomas would paint her piece. Her artwork is meant to explore the ideas or views of sexuality and that of the black female identity. This evident by Thomas’s presentation of the women being in a provocative or sensual pose. It is meant to evoke a sense of power and strength. Furthermore, the Portrait of Mnonja further exudes a strong sense of self assurance and power in how the model is dressed and is posed. Mnonja sits reclined on a couch in a composed yet relaxed manner. Her legs are crossed as she wears heels that match her nail polish. Heels are often associated with sensuality and beauty. She is also wearing red lipstick and blue eye shadow. It must be highlighted that while rhinestones, sequin, and jewelry can be used to mask or hide a females identity it can also enhance it. With this in mind it becomes clear that Thomas incorporates sequin and rhinestones in the image to accentuate the women’s beauty and identity. Very few artists experiment with these types of materials. Thomas’s challenging of the narrative or of racial identity for black people correlates with the idea of post blackness. This portrait challenges how we see blackness and how it may no longer mean what it once did. Thomas’s artwork uses the jewelry as a way of also showing Haitian culture or more specifically, Haitian voodoo art. These colors all stand out clearly from Mnonja’s darker skin tone. Thomas is attempting to not only draw attention to Mnonja’s beauty as a woman but as a black women especially.

Warm Broad Glow

Warm Broad Glow was created by African American Artist Glenn Ligon. Glenn Ligon’s Warm Broad Glow was a neon installation art piece presented in 2005 and again in 2008 as Warm Broad Glow II. This differs from his more widely known conceptual text paintings. Ligon’s artwork draws heavily from Ligon’s experience as an African American. His work deals with issues of race, identity, language, as well as sexuality. He like many African American artists of 21st Century seek to push what the idea of “blackness” means. Warm Broad Glow presents the phrase “negro sunshine”. These words were taken from the novel Three Lives by author Gertrude Stein. Rather than cite the full quote from the novel Ligon opts instead to take these two words from it instead. Ligon seeks to how the audience chooses to interpret these words from a contemporary perspective. This is due to the changing nature of racial stereotypes and the language we use today in other words, post blackness. While the words were drawn from Gertrude Stein's certain historical period in time it must be noted that these words can take on a different meaning in this time period. This correlates with how Ligon studied the nature of language and how it intersects with race. It was created using neon, paint and powder coated aluminum. Glenn Ligon goes about creating his piece by painting the front of the neon sign black so that when turned on the light creates an eclipsed effect. This effect then embodies Ligon’s idea of a “negro” which could then mean black sunshine. The Warm Broad Glow has no clear answer as to what it means. Ligon’s intention isn’t to shock but rather to cause discussion with this piece and to consider a world that has begun post blackness. That is to say a world in blackness has taken on new forms and new identities. The viewer must consider if negro means the same thing today as it did as Ligon himself seeks to incorporate a post-Black narrative.