<I>Rutabaga: In the Sky</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1978-1979
name: label: Created by
content: McArthur Binion, American, born 1946
notes: label: Caption
content: McArthur Binion is an abstract artist who developed a unique technique of "painting" by taking wax-based crayons and repeatedly pressing them on a surface to build up texture and form. He chose the medium of crayon because he wanted to break with artistic tradition. "It became important to me to do something different … we did not have crayons in our house. The only crayons were at school. I started off doing charcoal drawings and lithographs and then oil paintings. The more I got into art history, I realized there were a lot of painters. What was going to make my art different from all those fine painters? I did not want to be just like everyone else. I wanted to break the rules."
label: Description
content: This oil stick and wax crayon painting on aluminum depicts an abstracted oval shape. Done in tones of red and white, the oval leans in a slant to the right, sitting on a rectangular field. The background is also two toned, yellow and red, opposite sides of the two tones used within the oval. The wax colors are pressed onto the canvas, rather than drawn, creating a high relief texture to the surface.
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Abstraction
label: Topic
content: Art
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of McArthur Binion
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2014.160
objectType: label: Type
content: paintings
label: Type
content: mixed media
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © McArthur Binion
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: oil stick, Dixon wax crayon on aluminum
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 59 × 46 × 2 1/16 in. (149.9 × 116.8 × 5.2 cm)