The Norton Museum of Art presents Dave Cole: Flags of the World an exhibition on view Nov. 3, 2011 – Jan. 16, 2012.
Dave Cole, Flags of the World, 2008 United Nations Official 192 piece Flags of the World set, cut and re-sewn with mixed media 180 x 342 inches Courtesy of the artist and DODGEgallery, NY Photography credit: Shawn Gilheeney
Over the last decade, Dave Cole (b. 1975) has examined the complexity and power of craftsmanship, ordinary materials, and iconic images in his art. This has taken the shape of a 16-by-16-foot monumental teddy bear “knitted” from fiberglass insulation to the 15-by-30-foot subject of this installation, Flags of the World (2008). As one of the most recent manifestations of his ongoing tribute to one of his most beloved and recurring images, the American flag, the artist assembled it according to specifications set forth in the U.S. Marine Corps Flag Manual. The flag is suspended above a field of colorful fabric, the remnants of the 192 flags of the world found in the official United Nations set which Cole used to painstakingly recreate the American flag.
In conjunction with Cole’s Flags of the World installation, the Museum is presenting Rapt in the Flag: Conversations about an American Emblem with participation from the artist and local scholars and experts:
Nov. 3, 2011—Conversation with the Artist and Curator, with Cheryl Brutvan, the Norton’s Curator of Contemporary Art
Dec. 8, 2011—Origins and Meanings of the Flag, a lecture and discussion, featuring Robert Watson, Professor of American Studies, Lynn University
Jan. 12, 2012—Politics of the Flag: A Conversation with the Artist, featuring Randy Schultz, Editorial Page Editor of The Palm Beach Post
Local presentation of this exhibition is made possible in part through the generosity of the Contemporary and Modern Art Council of the Norton Museum of Art and The Gioconda and Joseph King Endowment for Contemporary Art.