Thornton Dial, 1928-2016
Beginning of Life in the Yellow Jungle, 2003.
About:
Thornton Dial (b. 1928 – d. 2016) uses a range of techniques from sinuous works on paper to monumental sculptures and densely packed assemblages of found materials. Born in Sumter County, Alabama, Dial has chosen to lean into his life’s hardships, drawing from his personal, as well as a collective, wellspring of experiences living as an African American man in the South through the middle of the twenty-first century. Dial’s work captures struggle and oppression, but also joy and wit, and challenges viewers to wrestle with their own preconceptions, prejudices, as well as ironies of being an American.
Who got the corn, 2012.
Thornton Dial’s highly original works provide compelling commentary on the most pervasive challenges of our time—from reflections on race and class struggle in America to haunting meditations on events of contemporary global concern.
Atlanta Messengers.
Struggling tiger in hard times.
Blood and Meat, 1992.
He creates dense accumulations of symbolically charged discarded materials, often engulfing them in expressionistic brushstrokes of color. Filled with rich allegories, his work invites us to discover many layers of meaning in its writhing forms, curious juxtapositions, and powerful imagery. Dial’s paintings and assemblages draw inspiration from the rich aesthetic traditions of the black South. Among these is the African American yard show, a highly influential yet little-recognized genre of found-object sculptural display that employs cast-off materials as a form of encoded visual language.(text High Museum of Art)