Top+of+the+Line+(Steel)

Date: 1992
 * [[image:https://s3.amazonaws.com/saam.media/files/styles/x_large/s3/images/1993/1993.47_1a.jpg?itok=WLCr3saW width="310" height="252" link="@https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/top-of-the-line-steel-33718"]] || Title: **Top of the Line (Steel)**

Artist: **Thornton Dial, Sr.** Born: Emmel, Alabama 1928 Died: McCalla, Alabama 2016

Medium: mixed media: enamel, unbraided canvas roping, and metal on plywood Dimensions: 65 x 81 x 7 7/8 in. (165.2 x 205.7 x 20.1 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift from the collection of Ron and June Shelp

Accession: 1993.47 || Thornton Dial Sr. uses scrap metal, wood, carpeting, and house paint to make his art. Having worked most of his life as an industrial laborer, he is also a social critic; his paintings raise issues of class and race and refer to current events and key moments in African American history.
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This piece is Dial’s response to the social outbreak of the Los Angeles riots in 1992—among the largest civil disturbances in American history. Painted figures loot parts of air conditioners, cars, and other consumer goods. His frenzied brushstrokes convey the intensity of the mob. The title has a double meaning, referring to the quality of the stolen merchandise and the socioeconomic struggle for equality. "Steel" also plays on the word "steal," pointing to Dial's experience as a steelworker and the looting that took place during the riots.

"I make art that ain't speaking against nobody or for nobody either. Sometimes it be about what is wrong in life." —Thornton Dial Sr.


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Artist Biography Eye Level: On Thornton Dial (1928 - 2016) SAAM Collections Page
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