San Francisco Blog

Noland suffered serious injuries in June 2006 when a car collided with his bike at an intersection. It left him with a dislocated shoulder, two missing teeth, a wired jaw, fracture in his upper chest and lots of free time. “When that kind of thing happens in your, life you just stop - your focus is getting your body healthy,” he said. But while the 35-year-old freelance artist was recovering in his Chicago apartment, the world he knew was focused on politics, mainly the upcoming race to the White House.

“All these things were starting to happen and I started reading,” Noland recalled from when he was still recuperating. Interested, he picked up "Dreams from My Father," a memoir written by Obama 13-years ago shortly after he was elected the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. “Man, this guy is poised perfectly in history,” Noland thought then. “If the economy keeps getting worse, if the war just continues to be a quagmire, people are going to want something different.”

Inspired, Noland began to work. He created the image of Obama’s face with “dream” written below it. The poster is no longer at the gallery, since its been sold out. The only thing Noland disliked about his profession was the middleman -- having to apply and possibly face rejection while promoting his work -- so he sent an e-mail to a list of 700 friends. The first reply came from a friend named Rebecca, who asked if she could animate his work. “I gave that shit to her,” he said.

Rebecca's work is visible by the back of the gallery, within a spray-painted frame containing two LCD screens. “I just put this out there and people who gravitated (to it) and liked it would contact me.” A friend bought him a web domain to start a Web site, another provided $1,000 that would have gone into Obama’s campaign.

After the summer of 2007, Obama would announce his presidential candidacy, but by then Noland and his friend had already created two videos of the senator from Illinois.
The premise was based on a saying that went around Chicago at that time: “Hey, don’t tell mama, but I’m voting for Obama,” Noland whispered with his right hand over his left cheek. The whisper was to not denounce Hillary Clinton, a rival democratic nominee, but Noland, who liked the idea, wanted to be heard. The saying would become his slogan.

“I’m just an artist raising my voice,” said Noland, a registered democrat. He won’t proclaim himself a political activist, though. Instead, Noland claims his art and his slogan were meant for the youth. “This is to make politics, voting, participating cool.”

The technology evident in his graphics grabs the youth's attention, said Noland, and Obama’s proficiency in basketball didn’t hurt. “He’s on top of his game, plus he can grab a basketball and get it down the court.”

“This is like the perfect candidate.”

While Noland read Obama’s memoir he saw similarities, between himself and the nominee. “The way he’s seeing the dynamic of life is very similar to how I see it,” he said. “He grew up in a white world as a black man, went to Harvard and joined the Harvard Law Review and lived in Hawaii. In my life, I don’t think it’s been to that extent as his, but being a black and being an artist, I think I’ve lived in these kinds of communities too.”

Over the course of his project, Noland met Obamas in person. Overwhelmed by the spotlight of about 20 cameras in a crowded gallery, he overheard someone ask whether Obama would post a portrait in his office. “He said, ‘No,’” recalled Noland with laughter. “He’s a humble guy.”

When Noland had the opportunity to face the man within his portraits he told him: “We’re holding it down for you.”

Noland recalled Obama replying: “‘Oh, is that right?’”

By the Way: Find more information about Ray Noland and the Got Next (General Election Tour 08) at gotellmama.org.