Hank Willis Thomas

(American, born 1976)

Hank Willis Thomas is a contemporary American artist best known for his photography and appropriation art that considers racial identity through the lens of advertising and popular culture. Critic Arwa Mahadawi of The Guardian described Thomas’ work as un-branding “advertising: stripping away the commercial context, and leaving the exposed image to speak for itself.” He is most famed for his oeuvre Branded Series, among which is the dynamic piece Black Power (2006), depicting a smiling African-American man with the phrase “Black Power” overlaid in a gold and diamond grill on his teeth. Born on March 17, 1976 in Plainfield, NJ, Thomas went on study at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he received a BFA in photography and Africana studies, later receiving his MFA in photography from the California College of the Arts in Oakland. His work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, among others, and he has been a professor at MFA programs at Yale University and the Maryland Institute College of Art. Thomas lives and works in New York, NY.

Hank Willis Thomas Artworks

Hank Willis Thomas (34 results)
Perseverance, 2017

Hank Willis Thomas

Perseverance, 2017

Ben Brown Fine Arts

Price on Request

Hate is Love, 2022

Hank Willis Thomas

Hate is Love, 2022

Pace Gallery

Price on Request

I Am Space For You, 2022

Hank Willis Thomas

I Am Space For You, 2022

Pace Gallery

Price on Request

Mirror #4, 2022

Hank Willis Thomas

Mirror #4, 2022

Jack Shainman Gallery

Price on Request

Reach, 2022

Hank Willis Thomas

Reach, 2022

Jack Shainman Gallery

Price on Request

Nexus, 2022

Hank Willis Thomas

Nexus, 2022

Jack Shainman Gallery

Price on Request