Black and White Tipped Flower

Media - 1986.52 - SAAM-1986.52_1 - 9605
Copied James Surls, Black and White Tipped Flower, 1982, burnt white oak, approx. 57 1⁄2 x 39 x 37 in. (146.0 x 99.0 x 94.0 cm.) irregular, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase and gift in honor of Adelyn Dohme Breeskin from her friends, 1986.52

Artwork Details

Title
Black and White Tipped Flower
Artist
Date
1982
Location
Dimensions
approx. 57 1⁄2 x 39 x 37 in. (146.0 x 99.0 x 94.0 cm.) irregular
Credit Line
Museum purchase and gift in honor of Adelyn Dohme Breeskin from her friends
Mediums
Mediums Description
burnt white oak
Classifications
Keywords
  • Abstract
  • Object — flower
Object Number
1986.52
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1986.52

Artwork Description

Black and White Tipped Flower captures the tornadoes, black earth, and tenacious animal energy of the Piney Woods of southeast Texas. Surls grew up in a house that his father built, and his art comes out of a lifetime of working with hand tools and "making do." He believes that everything he creates is both a self-portrait and an image of the land that shaped him. Flower is scary and comical, an animal-plant-man-creature rising from the thickets and looking for a mate. It calls to mind Surls's goal to be "a hump-backed beast with golden hands," unafraid to tap into the life-force of his home ground for images that tickle and terrify.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006