Arise! (working proof 4)

2004

Fred Wilson

Associated Names
Fred Wilson

Artist, American, born 1954

Crown Point Press

Publisher

The image shows two clusters of dark splotches with irregular shapes surrounded by smaller specks and dots scattered across a white background, creating an abstract composition. The larger cluster on the left resembles a dense cloud or an ink blot spreading outwards, while the slightly smaller one on the right could be likened to a constellation or an accumulation of bubbles. The arrangement of dots and spots gives an impression of randomness and motion, evoking the visual image of particles or stars dispersed across a cosmic scene.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    spitbite aquatint in black with inscriptions in graphite on wove paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Kathan Brown

  • Dimensions

    plate: 50.8 × 60.96 cm (20 × 24 in.)
    sheet: 77.79 × 86.36 cm (30 5/8 × 34 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2014.116.42

  • Copyright

    © Fred Wilson, Courtesy Pace Gallery

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Kathan Brown, San Francisco; gift to NGA, 2014

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2013

  • Yes, No, Maybe: Artists Working at Crown Point Press, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2015, pl. 25.1

Bibliography

2013

  • Brodie, Judith, and Adam Greenhalgh. Yes, No, Maybe: Artists Working at Crown Point Press. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 2013, p. 114, pl. 25.1.

Inscriptions

from upper right quadrant to lower left quadrant, top to bottom, in graphite: fellow critters: I'se ordered her to say / you must stop dat damn noice dare (from Melville, Moby Dick); I fear your sparkling darkness (from Genet, The Blacks); Goodness, / how dark it is (from Genet, The Blacks) ; we're black too (from Genet, The Blacks); You lie devil, you lie (from Miller, The Crucible); Haul ass, the black man is on the march! (from Mailer, An American Dream); I hate you for filling my black eyes with sweetness (from Genet, The Blacks); Come, if we must die / let us meet death the noblest way (from Behn, Oroonoko); The tragedy will lie in the color black (from Genet, The Blacks); in unknown hand, lower left in graphite: WP4 1, 2, 3, 4 514; in unknown hand, lower right verso in graphite: Wilson: Arise! WP4

Wikidata ID

Q76561075

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