Shawn Huckins

Shawn Huckins, George Washington (The Athenaeum Portrait) – Laughing Out Loud Nope

Shawn Huckins

Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA - Oct 5-21

by Matthew Kangas

Denver artist Shawn Huckins has sent canvases that trawl 18th- and 19th-century American art history, then violate its durability as nationalist verity. Overlaying canonical artworks of historical figures with jargon from Facebook and other social media, the New Hampshire native extends portraiture into political critique and analysis. For example, among Gilbert Stuart’s iconic portraits of George Washington, Huckins has painted over part of one and added the phrase “lol nope.”

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