"Art ain’t about paint. It ain’t about canvas. It’s about ideas,” artist Thornton Dial, says. “Too many people died without ever getting their mind out to the world. I have found how to get my ideas out and I won’t stop. I got ten thousand left." This short film examines the extraordinary life and work of 77-year-old black contemporary artist Thornton Dial. It also explores the uniquely important improvisational style and viewpoint of Southern African-American visual artists in American history. This visual arts appendage of jazz and the blues was born of the same experiences of Southern African-Americans, and much like their original musical styles, has been appropriated by many now-famous white artists.
Thornton Dial was born in the Black Belt of Alabama. He neither reads nor writes, yet art critics call him a genius. Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times hailed him as one of the most “preternaturally gifted” living artists in America. So then why is his name not well-known?
The current movement toward recognizing and elevating great “self-taught” talents, such as Dial, is causing the artistic intelligentsia to reexamine its own prejudices: What is art and where it is born—through talents honed in elite art school classes or through life experiences? It asks us all about genius,” curator Dr. Alvia Wardlaw says, “and where does it reside.”