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A Representational Painting of Michael Jackson

Presenter: Daniel Dinerman

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Spring

Faculty Mentor: Hillary Homzie

Department: Communication & Media Studies

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1w2gRwNQMon7k0htayxX5y4r6uYfLQj3W

Abstract:
We All know Michael Jackson as “The king of pop” and as a pioneer of music throughout the 1980s and for many generations past that. No Matter what music you listen to, you probably know at least some words to a song he created before his passing in 2009. Michael Jackson was rushed into the spotlight as a young boy and had actors, politicians and other highly acclaimed individuals all expecting his greatness before he even reached his teenage years. He stayed on the top of the spotlight through the entirety of his career because he and his record company were able to release hit songs after hit songs and each sounded like nothing that had been on the radio before. He was also a fantastic performer and entertainer and set records for the most amount of sold albums, people in attendance and more. But how would this fame shape the life of a child who seemed to have the whole world watching his every move? For the sake of my project and research, I tried to not get caught up in some of the scandals, positive or negative opinions and the wrong doings done throughout his career, but rather understand how a regular person might respond if they were put into similar circumstances and then, make a painting. Each part of the painting is supposed to have its own separate meaning that related to my research, while the overarching theme is to remain ominous. With so much of Jackson’s adolescent years being spent as a famous entertainer, he was never able to develop into what is an emotionally stable individual. A third of the painting remains in darkness as this part of the life is never expressed because in the rest of the life has such great expectations and demands that must be fulfilled. As arguably the greatest entertainer of all time things like school, developing social skills and just being a person always came second to music and entertainment.