Blog

The response to my painting Monumental Change has been amazing. It sold the first night of the 2020 WNPG "Summer Memories" exhibit at Crossroads Art Center, and several other people inquired into the potential availability of reproductions or studies. One such inquiry led to a commission to create a painting with a similar theme. Thus: Monumental Change II: Time to Erase Jim Crow, seen here.

Some background for those readers who do not live in Richmond. The city of course was the capital of the Confederacy during the Civil War, and the famous street Monument Avenue once held several imposing statues of confederate generals. I, a white man, never thought much about it: capital of the Confederacy + statues of confederate generals + the Civil War is part of America's history = makes sense. Something I came to realize far too late is that no, it does not make sense. All of the statues came into being decades after the Civil War and as part of an intentional effort to reverse the positive effects of the Reconstruction. More importantly, I have belatedly understood that when and why they came into being is not all that important. Even if they had been put up during the Civil War itself, and not decades later as a weapon of Jim Crow, they are still statues of traitors who fought to maintain slavery. They should have gone away decades ago and the fact that they did not was certainly not lost on African Americans. 

It is well known that protests erupted nationwide in response to the murder of George Floyd, and in Richmond these protests included significant expression of distaste regarding the monuments. For the most part this was expressed with spray paint, although the Jefferson Davis statue was pulled down by the people. Most of the statues have been removed per an emergency order issued by the mayor of Richmond; however, Robert E. Lee - the biggest one - remains. The Lee statue belongs to the state, not the city, and the governor ordered its removal last June. Legal challenges have so far prevented this from happening, but now there seems little doubt that that process is almost played out and the statue will be removed.

Visiting the Robert E. Lee statue these days leads to complex emotions. As somebody who agrees it needs to go away, I feel an overwhelming sense of living history. There is so much raw pain and abstract hope in the graffiti that makes it wondrous to behold. It brings to mind the Berlin Wall.

In previous works in this series of paintings on this subject I have shown the pedestal in its spray-painted glory with a hint of the statue disappearing. In this one, it is more like Lee is being erased. Erasures are messy, they leave marks behind. Just as the ultimate removal of the traitorous generals from the city will nonetheless leave marks and scars, visible and psychic, that will not simply disappear without time, healing, and willingness to work together.

I am having a series of quality reproductions of this image prepared. I will donate ten percent of the sales of this signed limited edition reproduction to the ACLU. The original painting is 40" x 30" and the prints will be 24" x 18".  

The signed limited edition prints, suitable for framing, can be purchased for $100.00 each. If you are interested in obtaining a print, please send your name and contact information to [email protected]. I will contact you when they are available.