Michael Jackson in pictures you have never seen before

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - The man of pop or the owner of the white glove, the American singer Michael Jackson, left many images in the memories of those who knew him. Some of them remember him as the talented child in the “Jackson 5” band, and some of them immortalize him as the owner of the famous “Moon Walk” dance. With the variety of images engraved in the memories of his fans, the National Portrait Gallery in London decided to move away from the idea of ​​immortalizing an ideal image of the hip-hop artist, and opened an exhibition entitled “Michael Jackson: On the Wall,” to receive drawings that embrace the different impressions that Jackson immortalized in the memory of contemporary artists.

Director of the National Gallery and supervisor of the project, Nicholas Cullinan, said, “The idea of ​​Michael Jackson as a subject attracted many artists, but the exhibition does not embody the biography of the late artist, but rather looks at him from the lens of contemporary art.” Of the 48 artists who worked on the project, only a few were able to identify Jackson's personality, as Andy Warhol's drawings placed the hip-hop singer under the category of legendary cultural icons, similar to Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe, while the painter David LaChapelle likened him to biblical figures such as "the archangel, Michael." Others drew it with the brush of their childhood memories, as the British painter, Dawn Mellor, shared a group of drawings that she worked on when she was young, while Graham Dolphin wrote down Jackson’s complete lyrics from the “Off the Wall” and “Thriller” albums.

Some of the paintings focused on Jackson's personal view of himself, as the "equestrian portrait of King Philip II (Michael Jackson), painted by Henned Wylie, was among the last paintings that Jackson commissioned before his death. Not all of the paintings were drawn solely from memories or personal knowledge, but the American artist, Jordan Wolfson's painting, embodied the dark side of Jackson's memory in his painting "Neverland", by focusing on drawing the eyes of Jackson, who was fighting child molestation charges that were brought against him.

Cullinan hopes that visitors will be able to see the different facets of Jackson through the exhibition, as he said, “The main idea is that one person can mean a lot of things to all other people,” adding: “It is important for people to know that the idea I have about Michael Jackson may not necessarily be wrong or right, just because it is different from everyone else’s view.” See photos of Michael Jackson in the gallery above: