Original
Oil on Canvas
Year 2025
150cm x 100cm
I have always wanted to paint Martin Luther King Jr, probably more than anyone else. I pictured in my mind for many years how I would create a hyperrealistic painting of Martin Luther King. I never know why or when an idea sparks into a painting but I knew it would happen.
Martin Luther King Jr fought the establishment. He fought against racism and he committed the sin that you are just not allowed to do in the west and that is fight against war. He fought against the Vietnam war. He held the view that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. He said it.
I wanted to create this painting as part of my old stories series. We imagine that Martin Luther King was successful and racism and wars ended, here is a book that tells as such, and it shows us the amazing and beautiful peaceful world that we live in. The book is well read, its corners are worn but the message is clearer than ever. Unfortunately this book was not written, there was no happy ending. Martin Luther King lost his like for fighting for peace but it does not mean we give up.
I created the painting with the intention that the viewer would be immediately drawn to the face. To do this I wanted to blur the background and give as much detail as possible to Martin Luther King’s face. The edge of the book was to be purple as in my eyes it is a colour that contradicts. It is both beautiful and bright but can easily turn dark. I painted the words in a warm cream colour so that they would shout loud, they were not fading into the back ground. They were prominent.
I hope that whoever views this sees love, empathy and hope.
Martin Luther King Jr is also available as a Signed Limited Edition Print. CLICK HERE
