ABSTRACT
Willis Thomas has claimed to be interested in what Barthes has described as 'what-goes-without-saying' the taken for granted in the field of vision, what falls to the margin of our attention, all of which he has extensively explored by creating works that camouflage as advertising. Hank Willis Thomas's artistic program, however, is fraught with multiple challenges, the first of which, as opening anecdote suggests, is the sociocultural expectation that a black body must be identical to itself. However, the primary focus is on Willis Thomas's archeological impulse as it manifests in the decision to create works that camouflage as advertising, that occupy the same locations, and engage us similarly. By entering the visual economy of blackness and whiteness camouflaged as advertising, Willis Thomas's works disrobe it from within. They force the viewer to enter the blind corner they so effectively conjure up and then, pivoting on themselves, which like the slave, and extension the advertising image.
