The Website of Artist Charles McGill

The work discovers new conceptual mass in the well-worn territories of race and representation.” – Joe Lewis, May 2001 Art in America

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Artist Statement

“As with most sustained bodies or work, the golf-inspired theme happened quite by accident. The subject matter began showing up in my work after I picked up the game – it really was as simple as that. I saw the action of playing golf  as creative, like “drawing” and composing space on the earth within a predetermined picture plane.

Mirror, Mirror (Golf Course Inspired)

Mirror, Mirror, 1998

Each hole was its own framed piece of art. Only I felt like I was a part of the composition – inside the picture. There was a history of marks and directions that I could draw from memory later on in the studio. So I began experimenting with these memories by drawing aerial views of golf holes I imagined. I also began to see these oil stick drawings as animated human figures.

Soldier (Golf Course Inspired)

Soldier, 1998

Shortly after that I began using golf objects as metaphors for a larger discussion of racism and identity. While I explored my own fascination with golf, I started to merge this passion with a more conceptual understanding of found object, the recycling of obscure Internet imagery, the Internet as “palette”, ethnicity, identity and socio-political dialogue.

Cadillac, 2009-10

Cadillac Bag, 2009-10. Made in residence at The Museum of Arts and Design, NYC. Collection of Bill and Pamela Royall

Over the last decade I began seeing the golf bag as “found canvas”, as metaphor, as vessel and as the human form; I saw its potential as both object and subject.

Using the process of collage and “found digital imagery” I changed the identity of the bag while maintaining (or in some cases, re-establishing) its relationship to race and social differences. In the end, I want to create an object that is at first beautiful then thought provoking.  I want my work to be seen as true American memorabilia.

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In the studio at The Museum of Arts and Design as a curious visitor takes note of the process, NYC 2009.

The two quintessential pieces from this body of work are, Arthur Negro I & II. Both are photo realistic, life-sized self-portraits. They represent my very personal and earnest contributions to the notion, “What is Black Art?”, hence the name Arthur Negro.

-Charles

Arthur Negro II, 2006-2009 (with new base)

Arthur Negro II with new base 2006-09

Arthur Negro II, 2006 - 2010

Arthur Negro II as he appears today in the collection of Bill and Pamela Royall of Richmond, Virginia.

  • All images © Charles McGill 1984-2010