Charles McGill (American, 1964-2017), Flag

Collage of reconfigured golf bag parts and cotton fabric on panel, 2017, signed, dated, and inscribed to the verso, unframed.

83 x 66 1/2 in.

From the Prominent Contemporary Art Collection of Pamela K. And William A. Royall Jr., Richmond, Virginia

Charles McGill was an African American artist, educator, and golfer. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts, a Master’s of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and a residency at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. His love of golf, notwithstanding its legacies of exclusion which he experienced firsthand as a golf teaching pro, came to permeate and animate his art practice. He manually broke down vintage golf bags and repurposed their elements into abstract and figurative forms.

Artist Statement
“I began using the golf bag as ‘found’ object/motif by exploring its relationship to the human figure, specifically the headless and limbless torso. I collaged race-sex-class-inspired imagery to the surface with meticulous care and attention to make a beautiful object. Recently the focus has shifted away from the surface to the bag’s intrinsic structure and hardware.”

McGill’s work was reviewed in The New York Times and Art in America and appears in several private and public collections. An exhibition of McGill’s work Charles McGill: In the Rough was held at the Sarasota Art Museum, Sarasota, Florida in 2021. (Adapted from the Sarasota Museum of Art and The Norwalk Community College Department of Art, Architecture, and Design)

Good estate condition, some spotting, stains, and toning to reconfigured pieces likely already present before use by the artist.