Charles Clough

August 12 (#21)

Maker

Charles Clough (American, b. 1951)

Title

August 12 (#21)

Year

1985

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

enamel

Supports

Dimensions

70.2 x 61.3 cm (27 5/8 x 24 1/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed verso in black pen: "21 AUGUST TWELFTH CHARLES CLOUGH 1985"

Credit / Object Number

Credit

The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the National Gallery of Art, with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute for Museum and Library Services

Object Number

2009.59.5

Type

Publications

Exhibition History

The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection
Fifty Works for Rhode Island
Jul 20, 2012 – Dec 02, 2012

Label copy

Charles Clough’s paintings comprise many layers of appropriation and replication. Beginning with a photograph of an older artwork (his own as well as historical examples), he crops it, blows it up, alters it, and then uses it as a surface for painting. He then re-photographs the image and paints over it, often repeating the entire process again. This approach is devoted to what Clough calls the “the photographic epic of a painter as a film or a ghost.” With its smears and swirls of color, August 12 (#21) is a highly gestural painting that retains impressions of the artist’s fingers. Swathes of deep reds, ashy browns, and bright orange evoke the heat of summer and the onset of autumn foliage.

Image use

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In copyright This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Charles Clough (American, b. 1951)
August 12 (#21), 1985
Enamel on board
70.2 x 61.3 cm (27 5/8 x 24 1/8 inches)
The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the National Gallery of Art, with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute for Museum and Library Services 2009.59.5

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