Brooklyn Museum: Contemporary Art: Power Flight

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Power Flight

Power Flight takes painting off the wall and into the space of the gallery. Freed from the confines of a rectangular stretcher, the canvas, composed of five triangles sewn together, is pulled taut by ropes anchored in the ceiling, wall, and floor. The resulting angular shape suggests the sort of small nomadic shelters that fascinate the artist— structures easily assembled and disassembled by individuals in flight from threatening situations, both natural and human-made. The bold combination of red, black, and green alludes to the colors of black liberation. Power Flight is part of the Flight Pattern series, initiated while Overstreet was living and teaching in the Bay Area. He and a partner now run a gallery in New York committed to presenting the work of artists of color and other artists who are underrepresented by major cultural institutions.

Artist: Joe Overstreet, American, born 1934
Medium: Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope
Dates: 1971
Collections: Contemporary Art
Museum Location: This item is on view in Contemporary Art Galleries, 4th Floor
Accession Number: 72.165
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil
Image: Installation, 72.165_view1_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2009