Wardell Milan

“…His series of collages titled “Battle Royale” consists of cuts and rearrangements made to black-and-white photographs of boxers like Jimmy Slade, Floyd Patterson, Ike Williams and Sugar Ray Robinson. The family and sports photos and his explorations of black male sexuality echo the work of artists like Lyle Ashton Harris and Glenn Ligon — who wrote the essay introducing Mr. Milan’s work in the show’s catalog — as well as Paul Pfeiffer’s videos in which sports figures are isolated from their surroundings.

Mr. Milan’s photographed collages include a wealth of images and a pile-up of references, everything from the Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr. to Rogier van der Weyden’s “Deposition.” But his graphite and charcoal drawings, which recall classical nude battle scenes and are titled after the Tennessee Williams short story “Desire and the Black Masseur,” are comparably one-dimensional.”

From the New York Times

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