artist lecture: Hank Willis Thomas

Absolut Power, 2003

Branded Head, 2003

Viacom Kiosk View 1, 2003

Hank Wills Thomas, what a breath of fresh air. I have to say that last few VCU photo lectures Alec Soth, Shimone Attie just from off the top of my head have not been that stellar. Thomas however gave new life to the VCU photo lecture program by with his simple layout, charismatic attitude, and generally interesting and new ideas. From start to finish I was hooked, completely focused on what it was he had to say. His images and presentation methods were different and he really seemed to care about giving the lecture and involving the audience, instead of simply spitting out what he wanted to say. I would definitely rate Hank Wills Thomas among the best artist lectures I have seen in my college career.

Right from the beginning you could tell that Thomas didn't take this hole thing too seriously, which is a good thing. Too often I see lectures where the artist is so caught up in themselves that they place themselves above the audience and talk down as if on another level. While I understand that they are established artists and most of us are undergrads I still feel that for a lecture to be successful the artist has to be able to establish a connection early on with the crowd. Thoma's simple description of his undergrad and graduate careers were just enough to draw me in and be able to relate his personal story to my own. So often artists push their earlier work away and label it unimportant when most of the people in the crowd are in that stage currently. He discussed his topics and main themes gradually and straight forward, but leaving room for thought. If he truly had no idea what he was going to talk about, it really didn't show.

I loved the way he referred to advertisements as 'modern hieroglyphics.' Thinking of them in this way really aided the understanding of the concepts in his work. His art though often simple from a visual standpoint contains deep and powerful meaning that is emotionally charged. "You can never really escape the system, so I try to make a comment on it from the inside." The idea of erecting a massive fake Master Card add, satirizing the company and the ad campaign itself and not having to worry about having it taken down because it's essentially free advertising for the company is a crazy idea. His work really challenges the things we see everyday, the images that have forcibly become a part of everyone's life.