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Wilfrid Wood

charlie.jpg

This is Charlie. He’s the work of artist Wilfrid Wood, who comes to us courtesy of Made You Look, a weekly art and design column Matthew Newton.

  • http://jedalexander.blogspot.com/ Jed Alexander

    I thought some of these were very clever, but then I saw this one:

    http://www.wilfridwood.com/image/246.jpg

    Which kind of disturbs me. It appears to be a gentleman of African descent with the colorful features of a babboon, titled “Jefferson”. Since the portrayal of Africans as simians or simian-like has historically been associated with racism, this seems like a very bad idea. Whether intentional or not, I really don’t think I’m reading into things here.

  • http://jedalexander.blogspot.com Jed Alexander

    I thought some of these were very clever, but then I saw this one:

    http://www.wilfridwood.com/image/246.jpg

    Which kind of disturbs me. It appears to be a gentleman of African descent with the colorful features of a babboon, titled “Jefferson”. Since the portrayal of Africans as simians or simian-like has historically been associated with racism, this seems like a very bad idea. Whether intentional or not, I really don’t think I’m reading into things here.

  • Oluseyi

    I’m going to pass on commenting on “Jefferson,” being myself an African. I find Wilfrid’s fabrication/sculpting and painting impressive, but the characterizations underwhelm. Caricatures of stereotypes – the protruding lipped, near-buck toothed, slit eyed Asian female; the small-headed swimmer – and dysmorphic imaginative blobs… I really like the work, but I’m not too taken by the ideas behind it.

  • Oluseyi

    I’m going to pass on commenting on “Jefferson,” being myself an African. I find Wilfrid’s fabrication/sculpting and painting impressive, but the characterizations underwhelm. Caricatures of stereotypes – the protruding lipped, near-buck toothed, slit eyed Asian female; the small-headed swimmer – and dysmorphic imaginative blobs… I really like the work, but I’m not too taken by the ideas behind it.