A Solar Flare

Artist Rodney McMillian American, born 1969

Date2016

MediumAcrylic, latex, and ink on chenille bedspread

Dimensionsheight, width, and depth: 102 × 73 1/2 × 1/2 in. (259.1 × 186.7 × 1.3 cm)

ClassificationsMixed Media

Credit LineGift from the Collection of Hedy Fisher and Randy Shull

Object number2023.25.1

On View

Not on view

Label TextLike other artists in this exhibition, Rodney McMillian sources domestic textiles from thrift stores, which he then transforms by using leftover paint from home supply stories. While pouring paint upon these blankets, sheets, and bedspreads, McMillian notes that he often contemplates the history of art—especially American landscape painting and its lack of human (especially Black human) presence. Bedroom textiles remind us of the bodies they are meant to cover and shelter, yet their absence can also be unnerving. The splashes of paint and ink, often arranged with a landscape in mind, re-embodies them in a visceral way, meant to remind us of blood and other bodily fluids as much as the natural world. To McMillian, such works showcase the interconnectedness of both body and land, making visible the “abject history of turmoil or the spillage of blood” frequently missing from the pastoral tradition.

[J. Dasal, "Break the Mold," 2021]ProvenanceCreated by the artist, 2016; acquired from Vielmetter Los Angeles, by Randy Shull and Hedy Fischer, 2016; given to NCMA, 2023..Published References"Say It Loud," 2018, pages unknown (exhibition catalog).Exhibition HistoryAsheville, NC, 22 London, "Say It Loud," September 29–October 28, 2018.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Break the Mold: New Takes on Traditional Art Making," September 25, 2021–January 30, 2022.

Charlotte, NC, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, "Seeing Stars: Works from the Fischer/Shull Collection of Contemporary Art," April 1–September 24, 2023. Object Rights Statement

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