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oil paint canvas
Not currently on view
Museum Purchase: Funds provided by Charles W. Beam Endowment Fund and James G. and Mary Lou Babb, Gray Ellison and Selena Beaudry, David and Jane Conlan, Bill and Sandy Cooper, Fairfax and Hillary Cooper, Walter and Meredith Dolhare, Mike and Libba Gaither, Mike F. and Laura Babb Grace, Beverly and Jim Hance, Mary Ann Grace and Mary Beth Grace Hollett, John and Stacy Sumner Jesso, Thomas E. Kanes and Susan Valentine Kanes, Stephen and Laura Philipson, Bill and Pat Williamson, Ginger Kemp, Bob and Peggy Culbertson, Norris W. and Kathryn Preyer, Claudia W. Belk, Janet and Lowell Nelson and Exchange Funds from the gifts of various donors.
“Using the history of art as my playground, I toy with paintings from the past, and I connect them to the present,” says Ken Aptekar. His Charlotte’s Charlotte references Mint Museum Randolph’s 1772 coronation portrait of Queen Charlotte by Allan Ramsay. By appropriating Ramsay’s imagery and adding his own original text on sandblasted panels that hover above the surface of repainted details excerpted from the original painting, Aptekar initiates a dialogue between his work, Ramsay’s painting, and the viewer. The six panels of Charlotte’s Charlotte not only refer to the imagery present in the original, but also the spatial dimensions of the portrait itself: the six panels together equal the size of the historical work. Prior to creating Charlotte’s Charlotte, Aptekar met with diverse groups within the community to gain a better understanding of what Queen Charlotte means to Charlotteans. Words and phrases such as BLACK WHITE OTHER and IMMIGRANT reflect the distinct voices of the Charlotte community and function as a means of eliciting a variety of interpretations. With these texts overlaying the paintings, Aptekar intentionally addresses the issue of Queen Charlotte’s race (she was of North African, Portuguese and German descent) and invites us to compare the implications of ethnic identity at the time of Ramsay’s portrait, and the multiplicity of meanings that this may hold for contemporary viewers. The panel entitled take my hand references the Queen’s young age (17) at the time of her coronation. Just a few years later, the British Empire would be at war with the American Colonies.
Accession Number: 2010.24a-f
Measurements:
Copyright Information:
NEPL Mint has signed non-exclusive form 2010
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