You Call This A Painting

Wayne White
You Call This A Painting
Acrylic on offset lithograph, 2002
28 1/2 x 40 inches
Gift of Eric Mellencamp
2013.005

Wayne White is drawn to the graphics on cereal boxes and detergents, roadside attractions, and comic books. He painted the text in You Call This A Painting on a found vintage, framed lithograph. The banal landscape image, readily available in many thrift stores and flea markets, had turned yellow with age. The text could be poking fun at the kitsch object it is a part of. At the same time, it could also be a self-deprecating comment about the artist’s own work.