FLAG WAVING
“.....certainly in light of September 11th, one need not look far for meaning in Francis Crisafio's series on FLAG WAVING. All that is left of flag waving nationalism that seems to have taken over the emotions of many is a desolate landscape that is the same everywhere.There are no people. Humanity has been buried and the flags are merely remnants of their originals. Could this be a warning, or, a fear for the future of civilization.....”
commentary by Marilyn Kushner Curator of Prints, Photography and Drawings at the Brooklyn Museum of Art
The series “Flag Waving” was a reaction on my part to September 11th and the subsequent wave of nationalism that swept the nation and the world. Not much has changed since then, if anything, the situation has intensified as we remain entrenched world wide in the ongoing demonization of “other” on so many levels.
This piece began as a drawing I did some years prior to making it into a series. The original drawing was nondescript, just a plain white flag as in a truce. I drew my inspiration from the Spanish master Francisco Goya and his suite of etchings, “ Los Caprichos”, which I admired.
“Flag Waving” was originally exhibited in New York City at the International Print Center in Chelsea. It was curated into an exhibition of new prints by Marilyn Kushner, Curator of Drawings, Prints and Photographs at the Brooklyn Museum. Twenty years later the prints were included again at IPCNY as part of the “PRESENT TENSE” exhibition in New York City, 09.30.2021 thru 12.19.21
francis crisafio 2023