Whitewashed
Date2017
Artist
Sonya Clark
(American artist, born 1967)
MediumSherman Williams house paint
Dimensions43 1/4 × 82 in. (109.9 × 208.3 cm)
Credit LineF. V. du Pont Acquisition Fund in honor of David Pollack, 2023
Object number2023-55
On View
On viewClassificationsPAINTING
Label TextSonya Clark possesses the ability to deftly assemble works of art both beautiful in creation and weighted with content. While the materials she uses are seemingly delicate—beads, fibers, human hair, and combs—the history and associations within these manufactured and natural objects spur affecting responses and reflection. Whitewashed is painted directly onto the gallery wall. Visually subtle, the work engages the viewer’s recollections of the United States flag. Whitewashed is made using three Sherwin-Williams house paint colors—Incredible White, Storyteller, and Natural Choice. The shades of white replace the red, white, and blue of the American symbol. Clark has worked with the American flag, the Confederate flag, and the Confederate Flag of Truce throughout her career. In doing so, she addresses the physical makeup of these objects and the histories, experiences, and access these symbols uncover or veil.
George Frederick Scotson-Clark
1895
Walter Appleton Clark
1903
