Artwork Page for Cumulo

Details / Information for Cumulo

Cumulo

2014

Sanford Biggers

(American, b. 1970)
Culture
America
Medium
Spray paint, interior paint, fabric-treated acrylic paint
Measurements
Overall: 182.8 x 189.2 cm (71 15/16 x 74 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Agnes Gund 2015.82
Copyright
© Sanford Biggers
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

Using spray paint in this work, the artist adds imagery to historic quilts.

Description

Inspired by research indicating that quilts may have been used as coded signposts along the Underground Railroad, Sanford Biggers began employing them as his canvases. Gold paint and the inclusion of a heavenly body—a cumulus cloud—elevate the status of this quilt, and the women who crafted them, from mundane to sacred. Historically, quilts were often made from fabric scraps by enslaved women. They served as both a conduit for creativity and a way to beautify spaces. “I consider myself a late collaborator,” Biggers states, “working with this patchwork that goes over a span of decades and generations.”
Spray paint and acrylic cover a square quilt patterned with pink, gray, and blue three-dimensional cubes. A maroon dotted border frames the composition. Splashes of turquoise and red paint on the upper left partially obscure a blue patterned fabric patch. In the lower right, a voluminous white and gray cloud-like form rests on an expansive metallic gold field. Thin vertical drips of turquoise and red paint cut across the geometric grid.

Cumulo

2014

Sanford Biggers

(American, b. 1970)
America

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