SPILLMAN | BLACKWELL and Spring McManus Art Advisory (SMAA) are pleased to announce “Interplanetary Funkmanship”, the second solo exhibition of paintings and drawings by the legendary musician George Clinton in New Orleans. The exhibition, coinciding with peak festival season, will feature new and recent works from the brilliant multi-hyphenate creative. The exhibit will be on view starting April 13th, the first day of French Quarter Fest, with opening reception Saturday, May 6th in conjunction with Jammin’ on Julia in the Arts District. Recording as both Parliament and Funkadelic, George Clinton revolutionized popular music during the ‘70s and ‘80s with an avant-garde sensibility that continues today. For over five decades, his unparalleled sound has been cited as the DNA of Hip Hop and Urban Culture. As a visual artist, Clinton’s body of work is as adventurous and eclectic as his music. He delights in transforming our capacity to dance to the rhythm of vision. Clinton’s influence has been widely cited among contemporary musicians from nearly every genre, and continues to impact artists like rising L.A.-based superstar Lauren Halsey, who credits Clinton as a chief inspiration for her visual language. Clinton’s paintings riff on themes from his music, including images of the “Atomic Dog” and “Mothership”, with the newest work showing an increasing push toward abstraction and continued experimentation with layering media. “We are thrilled to present these new works, which not only demonstrate a pronounced progression in George’s ability as a painter, but also his willingness to push himself creatively”, says gallery co-owner/Director Leslie-Claire Spillman. “George is unencumbered by many of the traditionally ingrained pressures that challenge a lot of visual artists; he is so free in his mark-making, and consistently employs experimentation and a sense of “play” in his dynamic works which vibrate with the same infectious energy of the genre he created”. George Clinton: Interplanetary Funkmanship follows recent exhibitions at the Oakland Museum of Art, The George Washington Carver Museum in Austin, TX, The National Museum of African American Music in Nashville, and at the Los Angeles location of the prestigious Jeffrey Deitch Gallery. The iconic Mothership (centerpiece stage prop) for Parliament-Funkadelic is on permanent display at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC.
