KING. MALCOLM. MONDRIAN.

A mashup portrait and tribute to civil rights icon Malcolm X in the style of famed artist Pieter Cornelis Mondrian.                   

KING

Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, he spent his teenage years living in a series of foster homes after his father's death and his mother's hospitalization. There, Malcolm X engaged in several illicit activities, eventually being sentenced to ten years in prison in 1946 for larceny and breaking and entering. In prison, he joined the Nation of Islam, adopted the name Malcolm X, and quickly became one of the organization's most influential leaders after being paroled in 1952.

Malcolm X then served as the public face of the organization for a dozen years, where he advocated for black supremacy, black empowerment, the separation of black and white Americans, and publicly criticized the mainstream civil rights movement for its emphasis on nonviolence and racial integration. Malcolm X also expressed pride in some of the Nation's social welfare achievements, namely its free drug rehabilitation program. Throughout his life beginning in the 1950s, Malcolm X endured surveillance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for the Nation's supposed links to communism. Throughout 1964, his conflict with the Nation of Islam intensified, and he was repeatedly sent death threats. On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated. Three of its members were charged with the murder and sentenced to indeterminate life sentences. Speculation about the assassination, and whether it was conceived or aided by leading or additional members of the Nation, or with law enforcement agencies, have persisted for decades after the shooting.

MONDRIAN

Pieter Cornelis Mondrian, 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944, was a Dutch painter and theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.  He is known for being one of the pioneers of 20th-century abstract art, as he changed his artistic direction from figurative painting to an increasingly abstract style, until he reached a point where his artistic vocabulary was reduced to simple geometric elements. Mondrian's art was highly utopian and was concerned with a search for universal values and aesthetics. He proclaimed in 1914: "Art is higher than reality and has no direct relation to reality. To approach the spiritual in art, one will make as little use as possible of reality, because reality is opposed to the spiritual. We find ourselves in the presence of an abstract art. Art should be above reality, otherwise it would have no value for man." His art, however, always remained rooted in nature.

The resulting pop icon:  KING. MALCOLM. MONDRIAN.

34 x 34 inch GLASS: The glass can be mounted to the wall via 4 one-inch standoffs (included).  Negative or white space is transparent. Light reflects multiple translucent shadows onto the wall creating a 3d optical illusion and giving the pieces a sculptural feel.

40 x 40 inch DIBOND PRINT ON PLEXIGLASS:: High quality dibond prints behind quarter inch plexiglass gives the piece a substantial weight and colors pop. Comes ready to hang.