Convocation

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Convocation

Artist Fred Wilson (American, born 1954)

Publisher Crown Point Press , San Francisco, CA

Place of OriginSan Francisco, CA

Date2004

Dimensions(Sheet) H: 30 1/2 in. (77.5 cm); W: 34 in. (86.4 cm);
(Image): 20 in. (50.8 cm); W: 24 in. (61 cm)

MediumSpit bite aquatint with color aquatint and direct gravure.

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineCarl B. Spitzer Fund

Object number

2004.40

Not on View

Label TextThis series of four expressionistic etchings marks Fred Wilson’s first foray into printmaking at a time when his artistic approach expanded to making works inspired by his own imagination. Although Wilson is best known a conceptual artist who creates site-specific installations, these prints vary greatly from his earlier practice that involved the rearrangement of museum objects and archival documents to reveal hidden histories. Instead, intrigued by the idea of creating black ‘spots’, Wilson made these works by dripping etching acid onto copper plates to create small splashes. Relying on a process that introduced the element of chance, each composition in the series varies in its effects, though in general the dense images suggest microbes under a microscope or, alternatively, cosmological views. Three of the prints, Convocation, Exchange, and Arise!, include thought bubbles containing short phrases spoken by black characters in novels and plays written by notable white male literary figures, such as Herman Melville, William Shakespeare, Arthur Miller, and Norman Mailer. Each quote contains strong racial connotations, as in the statements in the print Arise!, which include, “The tragedy will lie in the color black” and “I fear your sparkling darkness.” Examples of Wilson’s successful effort to translate his interests in the construction of racial identity into a new medium, these works are a milestone in his artistic practice.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, PICTURE ID: Contemporary African American Works on Paper, March 14-June 14, 2020.