Ashleigh Hobson Senior Portfolio: Artist Lecture no. 3: Hank Willis Thomas 02/16/10

Hank Willis Thomas totally blew away my expectations. When I viewed his work prior to the lecture I heard a completely different voice than the one I listened to today. I can only imagine what a lecture he is prepared for might have sounded like since he prefaced with "I'm a little nervous because I don't know what I'm going to talk about." I can't possibly say with enough enthusiasm how thrilled I was when he showed his work from the beginning. The real beginning. Sometimes it is so discouraging when these amazing artists come and leap into the work that was shown at the Whitney, or begin by discussing their new series hanging in the National Portrait Gallery. To see his evolution as a photographer, from images that were strong in composition and tone but perhaps lacking conceptually and forwards to rooted ideas that result in even stronger work was really encouraging. I agreed with his ideas about the anti- Bresson, Indecisive Moment, being so compelling sometimes, and that digital provides us with so many possibilities but the concept of "in the field" editing really emphasizes the impermanence of an image.

His anti- ads were all incredible, well thought out and beautiful, but I was most drawn to his work with the frames. I've had a lot of similar ideas about the concept of framing, and the idea that something being framed insinuates it holds more worth. Big, gilded, museum frames provide this justification of prominence and importance about art that when paired with the gallery setting could make shit art. I mean that literally. Contextualization is so important with art, so I found his noted reactions to his kiosk displays of thesis work very telling. Hank Willis Thomas reasserted ideas of appropriation to me, a seemingly recurring facet to contemporary works, and again, was an example of not getting permission!