C.S. Stanley

Charles Shane Stanley is a contemporary stencil artist who was born in Indiana in 1977. His most popular works are political commentaries. A lot like Pawel Kuczynski, he has an overall negative viewpoint of the government and more specifically, law enforcement. Many of his works deal with the corruption and abuse of power that exists today in many forms in law enforcement. Stanley likes to use movies to illustrate these themes. Most of his works are fairly plain with black drawings on a white background and very little color. However, I think this adds to the overall meaning of the works. These are very serious topics and the lack of color keeps the focus on the issue rather than the art itself. One of his pieces shows five cops standing in a police lineup and the only color in the drawing is the blood on one of their batons. While looking at the piece, I was immediately focused on the theme of the work instead of its artistic characteristics. Another one of his pieces shows a group of policemen standing in a formation. They are all drawn in dark colors except for one man in the middle of them. He is dressed in a white Klu Klux Klan outfit. He uses the contrast in colors to bring the viewer to central theme of the drawing. Stanley’s work caught my eye because of the simplicity and relevant meaning to today’s society.