Lowell Thompson speaks. Eliminating Invisibility across The American Art Scene.

Chicago, IL USA: One of the top American Artists today is LOWELL THOMPSON, a life-long resident of Chicago, IL, the City the World is now watching. And tonight, you will be able to hear Mr. Thompson speak at the Art Institute expressing a controversial topic that is not only 'racial' in character, but economic as well as artistic.

Below is the Press Release he recently emailed out for all the pertinent info you need to either:

1) attend or
2) write an Article on Lowell's Theories.

Additionally, Lowell is the Artist who has drawn one of the finest Portraits of US President Barack Obama, one that (no less) should be hanging in the Art Institute where he will be featured this evening.

EVENT: The Invisible Artist: "Creators From Chicago's Southside"

TIME: Thursday, March 26, 6pm

LOCALE: The School of the Art Institute Ballroom, 112 S. Michigan Av., Chicago, IL

MEDIA RELEASE:

Lowell Thompson is a Chicago artist/writer/"artivist" who has raised the issue of racial "artpartheid" in commercial and fine arts for years. He'll be part of the panel, "The Invisible Artist: Creators From Chicago's Southside" Thursday, March 26, 6pm, at at The School of the Art Institute Ballroom, 112 S. Michigan.

Thompson says, "The downtown Chicago and Northside art world has always kept non-white artists invisible and voiceless. And remarkably, even though "un-colored" people make up less than 30% of Chicago proper's population, they do it with little worry of being challenged by African-Americans.

I'd guess whites control and are featured in over 95% of all art exhibitions, galleries covered in Chicago's major newspapers, magazines, TV and radio. The so-called mainstream media is not only silent about this, they're complicit in it. No wonder they're losing readers. They're still covering yesterday's news.

And colleges like the School of the Art Institute are still "mis-educating their students by teaching them that there are no important African-American artists -in Chicago (or anywhere else, for that matter). This, in a city that has been and still is the home of African-Americans whose creativity has helped change the world. Why is it that the Louis Armstrongs, Richard Wrights, Gwendolyn Brookses, Sam Cookes, Nat King Coles (not to mention the Herbie Hancocks, Quency Joneses, Kanye Wests, R. Kellys, Commons, etc.) of Chicago's fine art world are so ignored?

What's most remarkable is that Black Chicagoans allow this to continue even in a time when the President of the United States is not only Black, but from the very side of town that white Chicago insists doesn't exist."

Below is a link to the article Thompson wrote years ago on the Chicago Artists Resource website that was a key catalyst for this discussion:

http://chicagoartistsresource.org/visual-arts/node/402

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Posted by: ASK: Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith
Thursday, March 26, 2009 - 8:16 AM CST