Not on view
Date
2018
Classification
Paintings
Medium
Acrylic and vinyl paint on canvas
Dimensions
Overall: 54 1/2 × 55in. (138.4 × 139.7 cm)
Accession number
2020.69
Credit line
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from Karen Elizaga and Jay Ptashek
Rights and reproductions
© Walter Price
Audio
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Walter Price
In 2019 Biennial (Spanish)
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Walter Price
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Walter Price: Me llamo Walter Price y soy de Macon, Georgia. Tengo veintinueve años.
Narrator: Price está exponiendo un grupo de pinturas. Encuentre la pintura naranja de gran tamaño en la que se representa un automóvil.
Walter Price: Tenía un lienzo naranja y quería trabajar a partir de ese color. Normalmente, cuando estoy comenzando, es el color de base e intento que todo lo demás gire en torno a él, y tengo que tener algunas zonas vibrantes.
Me siento más cómodo trabajando con el color naranja después de haber oído hablar sobre la cromoterapia y sobre la manera en que la naranja hace sentir feliz a la gente. Luego, pienso en cómo el naranja me hace sentir a mí y en lo que me hace pensar. No es exactamente felicidad, pero es como . . . audacia.
Puse el cartel “think slowly” (piensa despacio) en el lienzo para mí mismo porque . . . hablo muy rápido. Siempre ando soñando despierto. Necesito ese recordatorio que me diga que piense despacio, que respire, simplemente, que me relaje en una ciudad que no es relajante.
Me gusta que todo sea acogedor, pero también que te haga pensar acerca de su seriedad. Algunas de las obras pueden parecerles caricaturescas a algunos, o lo que sea, pero es que quiero que esta seriedad subyacente haga que la gente se pregunte: es esto un choque, esto qué es.
En cierta forma, quizás tenga mucho que ver con mi procedencia y con lo feliz que estoy de estar aquí. Tal vez es una pintura acerca de la muerte, a lo mejor tiene que ver con una segunda oportunidad en la vida, pero para ser honesto, no estoy totalmente seguro.
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Walter Price
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Walter Price: My name is Walter Price and I'm from Macon, Georgia. I'm twenty-nine years old.
Narrator: Price is showing a group of paintings here. Find the large, bright orange one that depicts a car.
Walter Price: I got an orange canvas and I want to work from that color. Usually when I'm starting, it's the base color, and I try to make everything dance around that, and I’ve got to have funky areas.
I'm more comfortable working with the color orange after hearing about color therapy and how it makes people happy to see orange. Then I think about how orange makes me feel, and what I think about. It's not quite happiness, but it's like—boldness.
I put the sign “think slowly” on the canvas for myself because . . .I speak fast. I'm a big daydreamer. I need that reminder to think slowly, just to breathe basically, to relax in a city that is not relaxing.
I like things to be welcoming, but then also kind of make you wonder about the seriousness of it. Some of the work may look cartoony to some or whatever it may be, but then I want this underlying seriousness to make you question: is that a car wreck, is that this.
Maybe it is a lot to do with where I've come from, and how happy I am to be here in a way. Maybe it's a painting about death, maybe it’s about getting second chances in life, but to be honest, I'm not quite sure.
Exhibitions
Installation photography
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Installation view of the Whitney Biennial 2019 (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 17-September 22, 2019). From left to right: Walter Price, The things that horse ourselves for uncertainty, 2018; Joe Minter, The First Fireplace, 1998; Joe Minter, Lightening the Load, 2004; Walter Price, Sit some to the side for the shell end, 2018; Walter Price, Everything’s connected, 2018; Walter Price, Upgrayyed, 2018; Joe Minter, ’63 Foot Soldiers, 1999; Troy Michie, Hung Out To Dry / The Land Was Mexican Once, 2019; Troy Michie, Yo Soy Un Puente Tendido / This Is My Home, 2019; Joe Minter, Three Flying Saucers, 2000; Troy Michie, Los Atravesados / The Skin Of The Earth Is Seamless, 2019. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
From the exhibition Whitney Biennial 2019
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Installation view of the Whitney Biennial 2019 (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 17-September 22, 2019). From left to right: Tomashi Jackson, Third Party Transfer and the Making of Central Park (Seneca Village – Brooklyn 1853-2019), 2019; Walter Price, The things that horse ourselves for uncertainty, 2018; Joe Minter, ’63 Foot Soldiers, 1999; Walter Price, Sit some to the side for the shell end, 2018; Walter Price, Everything’s connected, 2018; Walter Price, Upgrayyed, 2018; Joe Minter, Three Flying Saucers, 2000; Tomashi Jackson, The Woman is King (Mary and Marlene) (Simultaneous Contrast), 2019. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
From the exhibition Whitney Biennial 2019