Artist Rick Lewis’ (In)Visible Men: Examining Stereotypes Through Art will be on display until May 9 on the main floor of Milner Library. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
In the wake of Ferguson, Mo., of New York City, of countless other tragedies, the exhibit asks people to face their stereotypes of individual, black men. Upon entering a gallery filled with portraits of black men standing alone, “the viewer has to ask themselves, ‘What assumptions am I making about this person based on this limited amount of information I have in front of me? Where did I learn these assumptions? Why am I thinking this?’” said Lewis in a recent STATEside interview when the exhibition showed at the McLean County Arts Center.
Lewis, an associate dean in Illinois State’s Dean of Students Office, is a painter exploring the crossroads of race and identity. He is actively engaged in documenting the contemporary black, male experience, provoking discourse on the roles of diversity and understanding that are threaded throughout everyday life.
For additional information, contact Kathleen Lonbom at klonbom@Ilstu.edu or (309) 438-3950.
