grow, artist Hank WillisThomas remembers, adults would always berate him for “asking too many questions.” They would also admonish him, saying, “You’re not supposed to watch people.” Now, of course, asking questions and studying others is fundamental to Thomas’ work as an internationally acclaimed artist whose work spans photography, installation, sculpture and painting.
Thomas’ work touches on themes ranging from social justice to pop culture, as evidenced by two of the artist’s most high-profile projects. In January, the artist hit the headlines by unveiling The embrace, a large two-storey bronze sculpture based on a historic photograph of Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, hug after King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, installed on Boston Common.
A few weeks later, he debuted Opportunity (Reflection) (2023), a 10-foot-tall public sculpture of an outstretched arm holding a football, commissioned by the NFL for this year’s Superbowl.
In a exclusive interview filmed as part of the brand new season of Art21’s flagship show Art in the 21st century, Thomas noted, “I like to balance the spectacle element of sport with the context of history and politics.”
at Thomas first exhibition at the Pace Gallery—entitled “I’ve Known Rivers” after a poem by Langston Hughes—opens July 15 in Los Angeles. For Art21, he describes drawing inspiration from specific moments in visual culture. While reading Lucid Camera, the seminal 1980 text by Roland Barthes, Thomas was drawn to Barthes’ definition of the punctum – seen by Barthes as “the thing that pierces you, the thing that sticks you to the photograph”. For Thomas, that particular spark comes from a range of source materials.
His 2014 sculpture Lift, depicting a series of torsos with raised hands, was originally conceived by Thomas drawing on different sources: the image of a Harlem Globetrotter standing with his arms raised in front of the Statue of Liberty, and the important photographs of black photographer Ernest Cole of coal miners during apartheid. But it made its debut in the United States shortly after the Ferguson, Missouri, murder of teenager Mike Brown, when “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” became a rallying cry, giving it new meaning. .
“I see everything as connected”, Thomas tells Art21“so whether I’m working on coal miners or Ferguson or basketball, frankly, a lot of bodies are connected through this story of oppression… What I took away from photography was an incredible knowledge and experience of how to look critically at the world, at myself.
Watch the video, which originally appeared as part of the Art21 series Art in the 21st century, below. “Hank Willis Thomas: I Knew Rivers” is on view at Pace Los Angeles from July 15 to August 26, 2023.
This is an episode of “Art on Video”, a collaboration between Artnet News and Art21 that brings you clips from artists who are making the news. A new season of the flagship series of the Art21 association Art in the 21st century is now available on PBS. Watch all episodes of other series, like New York close up And Extended gameand learn about the organization’s educational programs at Art21.org.
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