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Michael Ray Charles re-represents the once-dominant stereotypes of black Americans found in popular culture – with his own twist. In The Target of Opportunity Gameboard, 1995, a man’s face with holes for balls or beanbags is painted atop a wooden duck, as if he were waiting to have things thrown at him. Charles uses the imagery of a game at the county fair to visualize how African-Americans, like other minorities, become decoys for society’s larger problems. Robert Colescott, in Feeling His Oats, 1988, similarly attacks the taboos of race, along side those of art, politics, sex, money, and power. By presenting a range of old, lurking stereotypes together – the black “Mammy” figure, the mask of African primitivism, the potent black athlete, and the promises of security offered by material wealth – Colescott asks the viewer to consider what previous representations have done to the African-American’s self image and larger society’s view of itself.
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