Pick Up Sticks
Pick Up Sticks
Pick Up Sticks
ArtistMarcel Taylor

Pick Up Sticks

Date2020
MediumAcrylic and mixed media on canvas
Dimensions30 × 40 in. (76.2 × 101.6 cm) Framed Size: 33 1/2 × 43 1/2 in. (85.1 × 110.5 cm)
Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Art Bank Collection
Object numberDCCAH2021.041.2
ClassificationsPaintings
Locations
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Library (901 G St NW)
DescriptionTaylor’s work seeks to capture the instability of urban centers and the communities that endure urban renewal processes. The layers in his work remind us of the stratified nature of urban neighborhoods. On one hand, the interplay of acrylic paint, transparent paper, photographic collage, and house drawings symbolize dynamic and lively urban neighborhoods, conveying human diversity and cohesion. On the other hand, these elements can indicate unchecked urban renewal and gentrification efforts. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the laying bare of inequities within the criminal justice system, the debris-like shapes and piercing lines represent the destabilization of society, and abstracted protest signs indicate the uprisings of 2020.
Thunderous Dissent
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2020
Cornerstone
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2014
Window Pain
Marcel Taylor
2017
Cataclysm
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2016
Deluge
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2014
Tempest
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2014
Upheaval
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2014
A Community, A Family
Candice Taylor
2019
Pass the Crown
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2021
A Legacy of Resilience
Candice Taylor
2020