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Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). <em>Power Flight</em>, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.165_view1_PS2.jpg)
Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). Power Flight, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.165_view1_PS2.jpg)
Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). <em>Power Flight</em>, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.165_view1_PS2.jpg)

Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). Power Flight, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.165_view1_PS2.jpg)

Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). <em>Power Flight</em>, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.165.jpg)

Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). Power Flight, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.165.jpg)

Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). <em>Power Flight</em>, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.165_installation_donor_photograph.jpg)

Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). Power Flight, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.72.165_installation_donor_photograph.jpg)

Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). <em>Power Flight</em>, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, DIG_E2009_21_Extended_Family_03_72.165_PS2.jpg)

Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). Power Flight, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, DIG_E2009_21_Extended_Family_03_72.165_PS2.jpg)

Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). <em>Power Flight</em>, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.165_view2_PS2.jpg)

Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). Power Flight, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.165_view2_PS2.jpg)

Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). <em>Power Flight</em>, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.165_view3_PS2.jpg)

Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). Power Flight, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.165_view3_PS2.jpg)

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Power Flight

Joe Overstreet

Contemporary Art

Shown in 1972 at the De Luxe Black Arts Center in Houston, one of the first U.S. exhibition spaces to place the work of artists of color alongside that of their white peers, Power Flight takes an experimental approach to painting, moving it off the wall and into three-dimensional space. Freed from the confines of a stretcher, the canvas, composed of five connected triangles, is pulled taut by ropes. The resulting shape suggests nomadic shelters, easily assembled and disassembled by individuals fleeing harm. Using the colors of the Pan-African flag, Joe Overstreet connects metaphors of flight and nomadism to transnational struggles for black liberation.

Committed to both experimental art-making and socio-political engagement, the artist notes that his life and work have been "tied up in abstract shape with what black [people] have felt and struggled." In 1973 he and his wife founded Kenkeleba House, a New York gallery focused on artists underrepresented by mainstream institutions.
ARTIST Joe Overstreet, American, 1933-2019
MEDIUM Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope
DATES 1971
DIMENSIONS 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm) storage (Stored rolled. Tube dimensions): 8 x 110 x 8 in. (20.3 x 279.4 x 20.3 cm)  (show scale)
COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 72.165
CREDIT LINE Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). Power Flight, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.165_view1_PS2.jpg)
IMAGE installation, 72.165_view1_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2009
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT © Joe Overstreet
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Joe Overstreet (American, 1933-2019). <em>Power Flight</em>, 1971. Acrylic on canvas with metal grommets and white rope, 98 1/16 × 164 in. (249 × 416.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John de Menil, 72.165. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 72.165_view1_PS2.jpg)

TAGS

Dramatic
red
kite
hanging on the wall
African-American artist
housing
tent
power

TAGS

Dramatic
red
kite
hanging on the wall
African-American artist
housing
tent
power

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