Narrator: In some works, Whitten placed objects he called “disruptors” beneath the canvas. When he raked his “Developer” tool over the wet paint on top, they left an imprint.
Artist, Jack Whitten: Whatever I’m placing beneath the canvas is strategically placed accordingly to the drawings that I’ve already tried this with. I’m using these stones underneath. I’m using a piece of wire, like a coat hanger.
Also, I’m using pressure as an element. I had metal bars, each one carrying different weight. Let’s say I would try 40 pounds of weight, 50 pounds of weight—so depending upon the weight, I could control the image. You’re talking systemic, conceptualized abstraction. Purely process.
That was severe in the sense that you couldn't get no action, either from the Black community or the white community. The idea of a Black abstract artist—nobody paid attention to you. The white community, they would just say, ah, they're aping white artists. And from the Black community, oh, they're not doing Black art with Black people, so why bother?
So, politically, you're caught between a rock and a hard place, as we say. So once you realize that, you have to develop your own agenda about who you are and what you're doing. My agenda right from the beginning is to change the course of painting through innovation. That's my agenda.
Archival audio courtesy of The Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution