Michael Ray Charles
Michael Ray Charles is a contemporary artist who uses the history of human-kind and visual culture in order to speak about race as well as power, wealth, and greed. He pushes the boundaries in his paintings by using images that are often viewed as offensive and unacceptable in our modern-day culture. He challenges what is considered 'politically correct' in order to to create his statements. He has a masters degree in art and currently teaches at the University of Texas.
Michael Ray Charles was one of the first artists to be featured in PBS's ART:21 segment. Below is a video from that segment feature.
Michael Ray Charles was one of the first artists to be featured in PBS's ART:21 segment. Below is a video from that segment feature.
Additional artwork By Michael Ray Charles
Here is another great video documentary about Michael Ray Charles.
Lesson Connection
Creating a lesson which incorporates MIchael Ray Charles would have to be extremely sensitive to the fact that his work can be interpreted in ways that would not be appropriate for children, and may not be seen as politically correct. However, I believe that a lesson on taking a negative connotation and exploring its aspects and then finding a way to reverse that connotation could be an interesting and extensive lesson for a teacher to implement in a higher level curriculum with students.