Hands Up Don T Shoot Analysis

Hands Up Don’t Shoot The Hands Up Don’t Shoot painting is a 48x48 inch piece of art located in the Portland Art Museum and was painted by Arvie Smith, recently in 2015. This abstract work is one of the many oil paintings by Smith that depicts his emotions of the way African Americans are treated in modern society. This vibrant piece is full of detail and many unified subjects that it’s difficult to learn its depth by just viewing it for a few seconds. While looking through the museum for the first time, this painting caught my attention instantly through its cultural references and comical yet upsetting images. The art I love the most is the one that has a message behind it, the pieces that speak to you through visuals but inform you about
Similar to the other works by the artist, this one uses warm colors with hints of pink and blue and various elements are integrated leaving little space in this abstract painting. A black woman is shown in the front of the chaos with her hands up holding plates with stacks of pancakes, I soon realized this was Aunt Jemima, a character I saw often in my childhood on the boxes of pancake mix. This connects to the title of the painting, Hands Up Don’t Shoot because this phrase became a familiar chant in the police brutality events three years ago that relates to the way the young black men raised their hands in the air in hopes of showing vulnerability and being let go. Aunt Jemima is smiling and carrying a baby on her back while her town burns behind her and a white man in the upper right corner films it like a production for the entertainment of the public and his profit. In terms of scale, Aunt Jemima is much larger than the other details and it takes time to study all of them in the foreground but they are essential to fully understand the message behind the