I am the Greatest

2012 - Painting (Painting)

33.5 inches in diameter

Hank Willis Thomas

location: New York, New York
year born: 1976
gender: male
nationality: American
home town: Plainfield, New Jersey

Like many of his other sculptural works, the source of I am the Greatest is actually a historical photograph of an identical button pin from the 1960s. I am the Greatest presents the famous quote by Mohammad Ali to think about his important presence in the African American community. In dialogue with the painting I am a Man, also in the Kadist collection, this assertion that begins the same way takes the line from the protest poster several steps further. Ali never asserted that he was the greatest boxer or athlete, but had the audacity to claim that he was THE GREATEST [human being] of all time. For a man who grew up in the segregated south to rise to Ali’s iconic status and to be able to confidently and proudly vocalize his superiority was one of the most powerful, symbolic, and memorable moments in the Civil Rights struggle. Monumentally inflating the scale of the button embodies the ‘larger than life’ presence of Ali as an icon for African Americans to stand up and not only assert their humanity, but to be confident in their ability to succeed and rise up against all obstacles society placed in front of them.


Employing the visual language and terminology of mass media, and appropriating symbols and images from popular culture, Hank Willis Thomas’ work seeks to question and subvert established definitions and positions with regards to personal identity and the narrative of race. Working across installation, photography, video, and media work, Thomas maintains his photo conceptualist roots, primarily taking source material from found photographs and archives. These images form the basis from which the artist seeks to uncover the fallacies that history claims as truth. His work illustrates how the way history is represented and consumed reinforces generalizations surrounding identity, gender, race and ethnicity, and that as an artist he has an opportunity to expose or to revise those histories from the points of view of the oppressed.


Colors:



Untitled (series)
© » KADIST

Francis Alÿs

2006

This series of small drawings is executed with varying materials—pen, ink, colored pencil, charcoal, and masking tape—on architect’s tracing paper...

The End One
© » KADIST

Raymond Pettibon

2005

The five works included in the Kadist Collection are representative of Pettibon’s complex drawings which are much more narrative than comics or cartoon...

Condition Report
© » KADIST

Glenn Ligon

2000

Glenn Ligon’s diptych, Condition Repor t is comprised of two side-by-side prints...

The Left Hand Can't See That the Right Hand is Blind
© » KADIST

Douglas Gordon

2004

Douglas Gordon’s single-channel video The Left Hand Can’t See That The Right Hand is Blind, captures an unfolding scene between two hands in leather gloves—at first seemingly comfortable to be entwined, and later, engaged in a struggle...

No World
© » KADIST

Fang Lu

2014

No World is an action-filled video work filmed inside an abandoned museum in the Songzhuang area outside Beijing...

Other related works, blended automatically  
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South Africa Righteous Space
© » KADIST

Hank Willis Thomas

2014

South Africa Righteous Space by Hank Willis Thomas is concerned with history and identity, with the way race and ‘blackness’ has not only been informed but deliberately shaped and constructed by various forces – first through colonialism and slavery, and more recently through mass media and advertising – and reminds us of the financial and economic stakes that have always been involved in representations of race....

Condition Report
© » KADIST

Glenn Ligon

2000

Glenn Ligon’s diptych, Condition Repor t is comprised of two side-by-side prints...

Exquisite Eco Living (executive Properties series)
© » KADIST

Vincent Leong

2012

The photograph Exquisite Eco Living is part of a larger series titled Executive Properties in which he digitally manipulated the images to insert iconic buildings of Kuala Lumpur in the view of derelict spaces also found in the city...

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Jean Miotte
© » SLASH PARIS

Jean Miotte — Galerie Almine Rech — Exposition — Slash Paris Connexion Newsletter Twitter Facebook Jean Miotte — Galerie Almine Rech — Exposition — Slash Paris Français English Accueil Événements Artistes Lieux Magazine Vidéos Retour Jean Miotte Exposition Peinture Jean Miotte, Sans titre, 2000 (Détail) Acrylique sur toile — 99,1 × 81,3 × 2,5 cm Courtesy of the artist & Galerie Almine Rech, Paris Jean Miotte Encore 11 jours : 18 novembre → 22 décembre 2023 Jean Miotte (1926-2016), qui a exposé à Paris avec Joan Mitchell, Jean-Paul Riopelle et Sam Francis, est une des figures éminentes de l’abstraction lyrique...

What Color
© » KADIST

Luke Murphy

2016

What Color is Luke Murphy’s outstanding digital painting that elegantly loops in nonstop motion...

Enrico Navarra, Collector and Author of Key Basquiat Book, Has Died at Age 67 - via ARTnews
© » LARRY'S LIST

The three-volume publication is widely considered the most comprehensive catalogue of the artist’s work....

Tia-Thuy Nguyen — Sparkle in the vastness
© » SLASH PARIS

Tia-Thuy Nguyen — Sparkle in the vastness — Galerie Almine Rech, Matignon — Exposition — Slash Paris Connexion Newsletter Twitter Facebook Tia-Thuy Nguyen — Sparkle in the vastness — Galerie Almine Rech, Matignon — Exposition — Slash Paris Français English Accueil Événements Artistes Lieux Magazine Vidéos Retour Précédent Suivant Tia-Thuy Nguyen — Sparkle in the vastness Exposition Peinture Tia Thuy Nguyen, série I, my, me, cloud (2018-2023) Courtesy de l’artiste et galerie Almine Rech Tia-Thuy Nguyen Sparkle in the vastness Encore 13 jours : 11 janvier → 24 février 2024 « Sparkle in the vastness » (Une étincelle dans l’immensité), la première exposition de Tia-Thuy Nguyen à la galerie Almine Rech présente une série de plus de vingt peintures de techniques mixtes issues de la série « I, my, me, cloud », en cours depuis 2018...

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Nothing New
© » KADIST

Oded Hirsch

2012

Oded Hirsch’s video work Nothing New (2012) utilizes seemingly absurdist tropes to raise more trenchant questions about communal action and collective identity in modern day Israel...

La Ligne du Temps
© » KADIST

Valeska Soares

2012

Relying on repetition and repurposed materials, Soares works to interrogate time—its measurement, its passing, and its meaning...

Other works by: » Hank Willis Thomas  
» see more

South Africa Righteous Space
© » KADIST

Hank Willis Thomas

2014

South Africa Righteous Space by Hank Willis Thomas is concerned with history and identity, with the way race and ‘blackness’ has not only been informed but deliberately shaped and constructed by various forces – first through colonialism and slavery, and more recently through mass media and advertising – and reminds us of the financial and economic stakes that have always been involved in representations of race....

I Am A Man
© » KADIST

Hank Willis Thomas

2013

The image is borrowed from protests during Civil Rights where African Americans in the south would carry signs with the same message to assert their rights against segregation and racism...

Black Hands, White Cotton
© » KADIST

Hank Willis Thomas

2014

Shot in black and white and printed on a glittery carborundum surface, Black Hands, White Cotton both confronts and abstracts the subject of its title...

Related artist(s) to: Hank Willis Thomas » Abraham Cruzvillegas, » Claire Fontaine, » William E Jones, » Catherine Opie, » Collier Schorr, » Glenn Ligon, » Harun Farocki, » Jens Hoffmann, » Kirsten Pieroth  
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Foreigners Everywhere (Italian)
© » KADIST

Claire Fontaine

2006

Foreigners Everywhere is a series of neon signs in several different languages...

Condition Report
© » KADIST

Glenn Ligon

2000

Glenn Ligon’s diptych, Condition Repor t is comprised of two side-by-side prints...

American Flag (Scratch)
© » KADIST

Collier Schorr

1999

Collier Schorr’s prints upend conventions of portrait photography by challenging what it means to “document” a subject...

Raven (gun)
© » KADIST

Catherine Opie

1987

In this work, a woman sits on a couch with her shirt pulled up to expose her pierced nipples, which are connected by a chain...

Related works found in the same semantic group  
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Let Me Be Part of a Narrative
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Taus Makhacheva

2012

For Taus Makhacheva, the wild, untamed side of human nature is often the foundation of many of her formal investigations...

Contemporary Istanbul 2019
© » RANDIAN

During the inauguration of the 14th edition of the art fair Contemporary Istanbul, chairman Ali Güreli was also enthusiastically stressing the importance of art and culture in Turkey with the statement: “The artistic and cultural dimension needs to be reinforced at all times”....

Transaction/Evacuation
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Khadim Ali & Sher Ali

2014

Transaction/Evacuation is a collaborative painting by Khadim Ali and Sher Ali, and is part of a larger collaborative body of works by the artists, which share the same title...

Francis Belin: No City Beats Hong Kong
© » MUTUALART

In the second part of our interview with the President of Christie’s Asia Pacific, Francis Belin opines on art hubs in the East, asserting Hong Kongs hegemony...