THE COLLECTION
Emergency Room
Robert Colescott (American, 1925-2009)
1989. Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 7' 6 1/8" x 9' 6 1/8" (229 x 289.8 cm). Jerry I. Speyer and the Millstream Funds. © 2010 Robert Colescott
70.1991
What is Painting? Contemporary Art from the Collection
July 7–September 17, 2007
Using a rich palette and articulated brush strokes, Colescott has depicted a chaotic emergency room, which he considers to be "a vivid allegory for the whole country." Since the 1960s, Colescott has addressed social issues, particularly racial stereotypes, through narrative figuration. This scene is crowded with caricatured figures, including a priest holding a decapitated head, a skeleton receiving a blood transfusion, a gang of knife–wielding apes, and a doctor smoking as he administers an injection. The women in the painting are subject to violence and harassment, and one large, recumbent, objectlike woman in the background has bricks for flesh, skeletons for eyes, and factory smoke for hair.
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