Untitled (Study for Kase Painting, Green)
Artist
Karlos Cárcamo
(born in El Salvador, active in the United States born 1967)
Date2019
Mediumlatex spray paint, graffiti removing solvents applied by spraying with dripped and collaged hand additions
Dimensionsframed: 67.3 × 54.6 × 3.8 cm (26 1/2 × 21 1/2 × 1 1/2 in.)
ClassificationsDrawings
Credit LineChapin Riley Fund at the Greater Worcester Community Foundation
Terms
Object number2021.93
Label TextCárcamo merges gestural abstraction, minimalism, and graffiti, “as a means…to engage modernist abstraction’s historical legacy of artistic purity, self-referentially and exclusion.” In particular, Cárcamo’s work reflects on the art world’s erasure of street art, an artistic style that is predominantly associated with Black and Brown communities.
To begin this work, Cárcamo tagged the name of a renowned graffiti artist, Kase 2 (Jeff Brown, 1958–2011), then applied a solvent typically used to remove graffiti. He later returned to the image, layering more paint and solvent, and finally reworked the drawing with additions of dripped and collaged-on paint. Despite this, a palimpsest, or trace of his original marks, can still be seen beneath the layers. By using a famous tag, Cárcamo reclaims, reintroduces, and thus preserves an important narrative about the history of street art.On View
Not on view
