McArthur Binion

of assemblage painting, the artist has interwoven individual memories with historical recollection and his experience of America in the past, by layering paint and personal memorabilia onto large-scale canvases. Though McArthur Binion’s over 40-year investigation of abstract painting has been continual, his work was not widely seen until several years ago.

The works part of his “DNA” series, which commenced in 2013 and is on going, the artist blends private documents, such as negatives of his birth certificate (which references the situation of many that,like him, were born in rural communities and whose births were never recorded) and handwritten pages of his old phone books (where names from the past such as ‘Mary Boone’ and ‘Basquiat’ evoke the 1970s and 80s New York art scene) are covered with layers of painted coloured grids, that conceal and at the same time introduce the narration element of his practice. The “DNA” series are “notions of self-awareness and self-discovery, a conscious reflection on himself and to the historical discourse he has contributed to”.  

The intricate surfaces of the canvases become abstract shapes and motives: the artist’s archival belongings, that can only be seen when in very close physical proximity to the canvas, are transformed by the paintbrush into weightily textured patterns and reflect the importance of the influence of Modernism in McArthur Binion’s practice.

McArthur Binion’s work has been exhibited in prominent institutions such as the 57th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, VIVA ARTE VIVA, curated by Christine Macel; the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Texas; the University of Maryland University College Gallery; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Detroit Institute of Arts. His works are in renowned public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana; Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C.; Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York.