Black Experiences as Described in Art or Pop Culture

Professor Michael Ray Charles, University of Houston

Michael Ray Charles, one of the nation’s most prominent contemporary artists, returns to his alma mater as a Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of Painting. His work is regularly shown in major venues in the United States and abroad, including the first major retrospective of his work at the Blaffer Gallery (University of Houston) in 1997. In 2001, Charles was part of the first group of artists to participate in the PBS series titled Art21. Charles was a consultant on the making of the Spike Lee film Bamboozled (2000). The artist was listed as one of the top future African American scholars under the age of 40 in Black Issues in Higher Education in 2003, and has been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts.