Milton Bowens "The Mis Education of the Post Black Negro

Milton Bowen's, or otherwise known as Milton 510, uses his skill as an artist to reveal holes in societies

view of African Americans and how they view themselves.  His exhibition The Mis Education of the Post Black Negro shows that topics like racism still effect the African American Community today.

The lecture was held at Sacramento State University, where Milton Bowen's spoke about his exhibition. What made his art different wasn't just the bright acrylic colors or the cutouts from pop culture. It was the messages. During the lecture Bowen's made an influential statement;

"I paint to educate not just to decorate"

-Milton Bowens

Before delving into the issues and highlights of Milton Bowen's lecture, some background information sets it up. He developed his artist name of Milton 510 because he is the fifth child of ten children and signed everything that way so that he would feel differentiated from his siblings. Bowen's mother signed him up for art classes as a kid, where he developed his love for art.

His art shows more then just aesthetically pleasing color schemes and pictures. He tries to teach African American youth, that society is dictating too much of what they are supposed to be through media and pop culture. He brings this point up later when he talks about how African American youth are shown on the media that ignorance will get them rich fast so they aren't interested in education. Bowen's art uses interesting materials to convey these concepts.

When I asked him what kind of materials and methods he used to make this exhibition he said:
"I used a kitchen sink approach" he explained how first he would put down the old documents, then use acrylic dyes, and afterward he would apply acrylic. He uses cutouts from pop culture creating a mixed medium effect. Bowen's compared the look he wanted with a documentary, where the older parts in the art appear black and white and the the contemporary images are in color.

He wraps up the lecture with a call to action:

"Tomorrow becomes yesterday unless you do something today"

-Milton Bowens