 "Photo: JUDSON PECK/THE BATES STUDENT")
 "Photo: JUDSON PECK/THE BATES STUDENT")
If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, he would be pleased to meet Clyde Bango ’11, the artist responsible for the exhibit of five King portraits on display in the Commons fireplace lounge through this week. Last semester, the Martin Luther King Day Committee sent an e-mail seeking proposals for the exhibit. Because of the likeness of Bango’s work to King, most of which he completed over winter break, it almost feels as if he is alive at Bates, watching students head to Commons each day.
The most unique work is the wire portrait, which Bango said was the hardest to do. He made preliminary sketches before busting out the wire that he found at a local hardware store. Bango is no stranger to working with wire, however. In his native Zimbabwe, he and his friends often made wire toys. In the letter that accompanies the exhibit, he describes how his mother never liked his playing with wire because she thought it distracted him from his schoolwork. Without his mother looking over his shoulder, he decided to take the opportunity to make a wire portrait.
Bango likes the plainness of the wire on black, although he had originally considered laying the wire over a painting, an idea he hasn’t completely discarded. When he was working, the wire was freestanding. Only after he completed it, did he attach the wire to the background in four places by poking the wire through the cardboard. He purposely left some areas, such as the top of the head and the right shoulder, raised off the background to give the piece more form.
The face is most important in all of the portraits, he said. Even in the wire portrait, King’s face is easily distinguishable. The portraits are based on photos he found on the Internet, from which he made preliminary scaled sketches.
For someone who did not have a deep understanding of who King was when he came to the United States three years ago, Bango has captured not only his physical likeness, but the essence of his character. He wanted each portrait to show that “he was a humble guy even when exercising his authority, that he was confident but down to earth, and that he was passionate.” Illustrating this point is the fact that King appears in front of microphones in many of the portraits, although he is not speaking, Bango pointed out.
Bango is fond of the charcoal on white portrait because of his use of abstract techniques. He wishes the portrait were even more abstract; however, he feels it is the one that people like the least because it looks unfinished. Less authoritative and more patient in this piece, King seems to be applauding, perhaps celebrating our progress since his time and urging us to keep moving, Bango suggested.
A studio art and biochemistry double major, Bango never took an art class before coming to Bates. Eventually, he intends to sell or give away the portraits. The deans and the academic departments are already clamoring to secure them for their offices, Bango said. He doesn’t like to hold onto his own work because he thinks it inhibits him from doing more work and improving. Instead, he likes to keep other people’s work. He told his mom about the exhibit but hasn’t revealed that he worked with wire again. His family, he said, pushes him to dedicate his time to his biochemistry major, but he feels that his artwork should be considered schoolwork in the same way that his science homework is. In the future, Bango hopes to do medical illustration to unite his interest in science and art.
In the two pencil portraits, Bango purposely left the microphones unshaded to give them an element of abstraction. Again, King is not speaking. To Bango, this motif symbolizes King’s enduring presence: “he’s not around to say much anymore,” explained Bango, and yet, he still speaks.
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