A Salient Conversation with Michael Ray Charles

Michael Ray Charles was born in 1967 in Lafayette, Louisiana, USA; Charles currently lives and works in Austin, Texas, USA, and Gent, Belgium. He spent most of his youth in California and Louisiana. He studied design and advertising for three and a half years before being awarded a BFA degree in 1989. He obtained an MFA in 1993 at the University of Houston, Texas, before teaching at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2014, he joined the faculty of the University of Houston. His work features in a wide range of public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Arizona State University Art Museum, and the San Antonio Museum of Art in Texas.

I had the pleasure and honor of asking Micheal about his favorite visual artists, how he makes color choices, the significance of using a red nose, his most recent exhibit at Templon Gallery, and so much more.

UZOMAH: Your profound exploration of stereotypes in your past paintings is truly captivating. Could you delve deeper into how these stereotypes you've depicted have not only endured but also intensified over time and what societal implications they carry? 

MICHAEL: This has been a personal investigation for many years. It derived from my personal interest in trying to understand differences. I remember that in my studio as a young graduate student, I was pressed to work a certain way. I was under the assumption that professors would meet you where you were, but it was actually none of that. I came into my program and produced works that were the norm. So, I decided that my challenge would be to make work that was true to my own interest instead. When the expectation was to move from abstraction, I doubted and had my own questioning, and thought that power was created and existed in American culture, in architecture, and in many different fields. I wanted to expand on the idea of difference, so I started to interrogate and explore the stereotypical images of blackness and why they were produced.

Everything changes, though; it is not fixed. As we evolve as individuals in society, we become increasingly the same. 

U: What keeps the negativity and image of the many stereotypes of African Americans alive and thriving, and it is not more evident than ever?

M:   I do not think that stereotypes will ever go away. I explored books from the early 20th century on how Africa was shown and there were stereotypes. It has not really changed since there are still related powers. These cultures all share something in common, which is the way stereotypes and power structures work. Even we, as individuals, work with stereotypes all the time by eliminating major information of all types. It is always at the advantage of those who created them and at the disadvantage of those they are used against.

U: How do you make color choices in your art? Could you provide some specific examples? Do you have any favorite brushes and brush strokes that you use?

M: I give a lot of importance to the colors I use, of course.  I use them in various ways to attract or to repulse. They are in relation to the subject matter itself. Sometimes, they are muted; sometimes, they are in direct relation to the matter of black and white people. They have a meaning; I use a certain color if I feel it will contribute to better work. Otherwise, I will not use it. I use them to create various atmospheres, agitation versus subtlety. Depending on where I want to go, I choose one color over another. I often try to know in advance the tonalities of my works and the nuances I am going to use; I work on a specific and personal palette of colors.  

(Forever Free) Head 1, 2005 Latex acrylique et penny de cuivre sur toile | Acrylic latex and copper penny on canvas 226 × 150 cm — 89 × 59 in Photo © Remei Giralt

U: In your exhibition, Afrochemistry, what is the significance of the bright red nose and its correlation to black identity?

M:  The bright red nose is a clown's nose. It serves several purposes: both an esthetic and a symbolic use. This is a colored abstract shape that distracts from the black and white faces. There is always a critical observation in my work. I chose to show closed faces so close that they are at the edge of abstraction. However, your brain sees the circles with a red shape in the middle and automatically associates it with a face, and in this case, a black face. The concept of Afrochemistry is how energy interacts with and makes sense to the conception of blackness and whiteness in American culture.

This is about the chemistry that exists between people and the viewer. Everything is about chemistry: how do you react to something familiar, to a closed-up look? There is always a reaction towards otherness. That is an important element in racism. Chemistry is determined by the concept of prejudice, with the most significant issues and ideas about otherness. And it mostly starts with the expression of a face: they are faces that create emotions. 

(Forever Free) Head 4, 2005 Latex acrylique et penny de cuivre sur toile | Acrylic latex and copper penny on canvas 226 × 150 cm — 89 × 59 in Photo © Remei Giralt

U: Your artwork vividly portrays the imagery of moral injustice for African Americans through large-scale and smaller canvases. How does this emotional depiction help others understand the African American experience in America? How does it also reflect the lack of change in the treatment of African Americans?

M:  It is a consistent method. I look at the absurdity at which otherness plays with Southern culture and different groups of ethnicity within Western culture. It is presented in a way that always leaves space for viewers to interpret and apply it to something larger and not limited to blackness.

U: Can you describe the motivations and inspirations of your latest exhibition, "Afrochemsitry"? What core themes needed to be visited through the art process?

M: The work has been sitting here for 15 years. It was the right time to unveil it. It was the first time I started working on a computer. These are inspired by digital heads. I was drawing out ideas and then started working with a computer. Those series show a dramatic cut with colors. They were imaginary. There was no text anymore. They were kind of purified.

It was a necessary step to build from. Technology did several things to my process. I looked at the ability to utilize it more effectively, but it can be time-consuming. Technology helps address issues that were inevitable but necessary at that time. I was looking to explore the internet and Photoshop at that time. It would help keep faces anonymous; viewers wonder, "Who might that be?

U: What do you envision people taking away from this exhibition? It is a profound exploration of essential topics still faced by a race of people. How do you think this experience might inspire change or provoke discussion? Please share your thoughts on the potential impact of this experience.

M: I don’t think there are many instances that might move people nowadays. I just want to provoke thoughts, maintaining some presence in the subject matter. I don’t want them to see the way I do, but to access some ideas about the subject and what they are seeing.

U: Are there any African Americans or African artists, both literary and visual, who have influenced your work? If so, could you provide specific examples and explain how they influenced you?

M: I spend more time thinking about how things work; I have read great thinkers, but it is more about great thinkers that inspire me. It is the same with art and images. My inspiration comes from various places. 

For more information about Michael Ray Charles’s artwork, please visit Templon’s site. The magazine features his most recent exhibit with Templon here. The gallery can also be found on Instagram, artnet, Facebook, YouTube, and Artsy.