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I'll Be Back

Thornton Dial, Jr.
  • TDJ - I'll Be Back - Master Image

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    Photo: Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio
1988
Wood, metal, barbed wire, string, fabric, industrial sealing compound, enamel, nails
35 x 32 x 6.75 inches
Collection of
Clark Atlanta University Art Museum
Gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Description

Dial Jr.’s crucifixes tend to be more pop than pious. He is not a churchgoer, and there is nothing in his family’s Baptist religion that would encourage the making ot religious images. More likely, his Jesuses are working men. In one, his Jesus is a steelworker who bleeds steel from his wounds and is made of chain. In yet another I’ll Be Back, Jesus takes on the persona of an Arnold Schwarzenegger-type tough guy.