FLAGWAVING

This series began as a drawing I did some years prior to making it into the series “Flag Waving”. The original drawing was non-descript, just a plain white flag as in a truce. I drew my inspiration for it from the Spanish master, Francisco Goya and his series of etchings, Los Caprichos. “Los Caprichos is a set of 80 prints [aquatint and etching] created by Goya in 1797-1798, and published as an album in 1799. The prints were an artistic experiment: a medium for Goya's condemnation of the universal follies and foolishness in the Spanish society in which he lived.”

The series Flag Waving was my reaction to September 11th here in the United States and the subsequent wave of nationalism that swept the nation. Not much has changed since as it seems we are entrenched nationally and internationally in the ongoing persecution of the “other”.

The series was originally exhibited in New York City at the International Print Center in Chelsea. The exhibition was curated by Marilyn Kushner, Curator of Drawings, Prints and Photographs at the Brooklyn Museum. Twenty years later the prints will be included again as part of the “Present Tense” exhibition 09.30.21 > 12.19.2021.

From the original exhibition commentary.

“.....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, Department of Prints and Drawings, Brooklyn Museum of Art