Monday, February 9, 2009

Outsider Artist, Mr. X....Slaveship


Gerald Thornton saw this image of slaves crammed like sardines in the hold of a slave ship, and the image stuck with him for years. The cruelty and absurdity of the entire idea of slavery and the actual floor plan of the ship plan made him sick. Finally he decided to enlarge the image and make a silk screen of it, originally planned as an addition of 100. He wanted the figures of the men to be large enough to capture our attention and make us take a long hard look at our history. Only a handful of these pieces, in fact, were ever made. If you hold the image upright, the ship resembles a bomb. Hmmm.
"Slave Ship", ink on cardboard, 14" x 45", signed Mr. X , #5/100
$500 plus shipping

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