Artwork Description
Clarence Heyward – Swim At Your Own Risk
Dimensions: 41 x 31″ framed / 39.75 x 29.75″ unframed
Year: 2023
Medium: acrylic on canvas
A profound voice in realities of contemporary Blackness in America, Clarence Heyward uses green instead of black skin to remind us of our own projections upon Black people. In his highly acclaimed Swimming Lessons series, he paints himself and his family in a swimming pool, as a reminder of what it felt like when he and his family entered the swimming pool at the New Orleans Four Seasons Resort, and everyone else–all white–got of the pool. The history of being Black and unwelcomed in swim settings runs deep and he feels people should be able to walk in his shoes.
Here, Heyward renders himself, wearing an inner tube. He never learned to swim. Behind him, we read “pool rules,” a metaphor for social constructs that attempt to limit, define, and prevent forward social movement.
Clarence Heyward is a painter whose work explores notions of the Black American experience, primarily focusing on how the use of media and historical documentation are used to shape perceptions of Black American culture. His work investigates cultural truths, challenges stereotypes, and examines identity.
He has exhibited his work in spaces nationally including the 21c Museum of Durham, Harvey B. Gantt Center for Cultural Arts, Wiregrass Museum, Museum of Science and Industry Chicago, Art Miami, Dallas Art Fair, CONTAINER Santa Fe, North Carolina Museum of Art, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, and Contemporary Art Museum of Raleigh.
Heyward was the recipient of The Brightwork Fellowship residency at Anchorlight Raleigh in 2019-2020, the Emerging Artist in Residence at Artspace Raleigh in 2021, the Ragdale artist fellowship in 2022 , the 2022 Artist in Residence at NC State University in 2022, and the IEA Artist in Residence at Alfred University in NY in 2023. His work is in the collections of several notable private and public institutions including the North Carolina Museum of Art, Nasher Museum of Art, Mint Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Ackland Art Museum, Cameron Art Museum, as well as several major private collections.