Wed, July 31
6:30 - 8:30pm
Honfleur Gallery
1241 Good Hope Rd SE
Cost: Free
Go HERE to RSVP on Facebook

Part of LUMEN8TECH! Week!

White Turf Painting Actions is a series of performative events undertaken by Patrick McDonough at numerous sites in the DC metro region. These actions find McDonough painting large swaths of grass with white turf paint (commonly used for sports fields), until a predetermined time has elapsed or an agreed upon area has been entirely filled. McDonough will execute these actions through the use of a standard 12inch household roller, and the help of a custom made painting station housing the paint inventory, water and his lunch for the day.

After completion of the task, the white grass areas will remain, that is until the regularly scheduled mowing occurs at which time the work will disappear. Prospective locations for the series will be rigorously selected, with an eye towards in between-ness: utilization by varied populations; points of contention, transition, growth, and stagnation; and selections across the gradient from rural to urban.

While the WTPAs represent a turn towards the performative in McDonough’s public practice, these works continue his interest in concepts of class, agency, use value, free time, and the role and function of artists; specifically how these notions operate in the public sphere. In addition to these critical notions, WTPAs can be understood as an extrapolation of the painting of brown grass green in arid climates to the desire for snow filled landscapes-an emotive response both sentimental and increasingly relevant given rising global temperatures.

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