Outsider, Folk and Fine Art

MCMILLIAN, Rodney (American, b. 1969) Garden of Eden. 2000. 50 x 66”. Acrylic on plastic with elements of collaged enamel. Signed, titled and dated verso. Inscribed To Margaret thanks for your generosity-. The Margaret inscribed here is Chicago artist Margaret Wharton. McMillian worked for her for about a year and this was a gift from him. Rodney McMillian lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Known for his installations using found objects, he explores complex and loaded connections between history and contemporary culture, often exploring the home setting as part of a larger examination of the intersection of race, class, gender and socioeconomic policy. He uses symbols of domesticity to examine the myth of a universal, middle-class. A recuring format in his work is the rectangle as a ground, both vertical and horizontal. An early example of this format is Garden of Eden. Created on a plastic shower curtain, Garden of Eden has a background of messy pink and gray, with plants and flowers rising upward from the lower horizon edge. McMillian received his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 2002. He is also an alumnus of the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His works are in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Orange County Museum of Art; Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and The Studio Museum in Harlem. Wrinkles in shower curtain from paint. Random collage areas of lifting paint. Light surface dirt. Overall good condition. Third party shipping required.