By Tom Teicholz
Copyright forbes
installation view HANK WILLIS THOMAS: I AM MANY, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery and the artist
Hank Willis Thomas’ exhibition I AM MANY is on exhibit through November 1, 2025, at the Jack Shainman gallery near City Hall, in a gorgeous space that was once a bank building.
For this exhibition of paintings and sculptures, Thomas, a conceptual artist, presents work in a variety of mediums, materials, and styles. They are often witty and puzzle-like, with hidden meanings and political and historical references. His work often explores the treatment of Black Americans in history and as portrayed in popular culture. Some involve plays on word, others recontextualize images, others make their own powerful statements. Thomas has made many public sculptures and founded and participated in social justice campaigns involving art and other artists.
“I AM A MAN” was the slogan of the sanitation workers protest in Memphis, at the time of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. One of Willis’ screenprints says “I AM. AMEN.” The background is a mottled white background that looks almost like crushed paper. However, it is a reflective vinyl that has been UV printed. A flash photograph of the work reveals a sea of protesters sourced from archival research.
At a show of Thomas’ work two summers ago at PACE Los Angeles, Thomas showed several of his lenticular works. They were canvases that seemed to be one thing but when you shined a flashlight on the painting you saw other images hidden there.
installation view of Hank Willis Thomas, Until Ex parte Endo (pre-flash image)
Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery and the artist
Many of the canvases in the current show at Jack Shainman Thomas, called ‘reflective works,’ are similar in that this time taking a flash photograph on your phone reveals the hidden images beneath which might reference Selma or a Norman Rockwell painting, with an added dimension of social commentary.
Flash Photo of Hank Willis Thomas, Until Ex parte Endo
Photo by Tom Teicholz Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery and the artist
At first impression, Thomas’ intervention seemed more gimmick than art. However, over time, his works stayed with me, and I was struck by the metaphor as the canvas being the face (or persona) we present to the public, and all that we suppress or hide underneath. Not unlike Rauschenberg’s famous print, “Booster” in which he wanted to portray what he called “The inner man” by showing X-rays of his body, Thomas’ works speak to us about the inner lives of Black Americans. About the history that carry with them, hidden. How “I AM A MAN” becomes “I AM. AMEN.” And “I AM MANY.”
Thomas’ work, to quote Walt Whitman, or Bob Dylan from Rough and Rowdy Ways, “contains multitudes.”
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