3 Panel Glyph #2
2012-14
During recent visits to Barbados, Denzil Hurley started thinking about the island's and the region's history of provisional structures and the make-do ingenuity employed to build and mend things with available materials. His series of Glyph paintings grew out of these encounters and the connections he made to the practice and critique of abstraction in painting and sculpture. A term of Greek origin, a glyph is a symbol that conveys information nonverbally. These paintings, mounted on repurposed sticks, don't carry images or slogans. Instead they become abstract, pointing to their form and function while being reminiscent of signs carried by participants at rallies, processions, and demonstrations around the world.
Oil on canvas on panel and sticks
60 x 56 in. (152.4 x 142.2 cm)
Modern Art Acquisition Fund; by exchange, Norman Davis Purchase Award, 53rd Annual Exhibition of Northwest Artists; Dean Valentine and Amy Adelson; Hester Diamond; National Academy of Design; David Hoberman; Camille and Luther McLean in honor of the museum's 50th year
2017.34
Provenance: The artist; [CANADA Gallery, New York]; purchased by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2017
Image provided by CANADA Gallery