CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
Scroll To Top![Nothing Rhymes With Orange (George Washington, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 5), 2018, acrylic/canvas, 32 x 26 in](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 607 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Nothing Rhymes With Orange (George Washington, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 5), 2018, acrylic/canvas, 32 x 26 in. (detail)](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 1028 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Time Never Tells (Niagara Falls, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 4), 2018, acrylic/canvas mounted to birch panel, 20 x 30 in oval](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 1107 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Time Never Tells (Niagara Falls, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 4), detail](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 985 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Happily Never After (Spring In The Valley, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 11), 2018, oil + acrylic/canvas, 26 x 30 in](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 857 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Happily Never After (Spring In The Valley, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 11), detail](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 930 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![If Only I Could Remember Your Name (Mary Elizabeth Woodbury, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 8), 2018, acrylic/canvas, 18 x 14 in](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 584 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![The Most Beautiful Place Is Far From Here (Rocky Mountain Scene, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 16), 2018, acrylic/canvas, 62 x 96 in](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 1165 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![The Most Beautiful Place Is Far From Here (Rocky Mountain Scene, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 16), detail](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 958 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![The Most Beautiful Place Is Far From Here (Rocky Mountain Scene, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 16), detail](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 1106 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![My Button Is Bigger Than Your Button (Marquis De Lafayette, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 7) \t2018, acrylic/canvas, 18 x 14 in](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 583 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Planet B (Pastoral Landscape, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 6)](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 625 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Me, Myself, And Hypocrisy (George Washington, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 13), 2018, acrylic/canvas, 80 x 58 in](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 537 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Me, Myself, And Hypocrisy (George Washington, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 13), detail](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 1058 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![My Favorite Show Is America (Sarah York Jackson, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 15), 2018, acrylic/canvas, 42 x 34 in](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 601 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![White Lies Beneath (William Henry Harrison, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 10), 2018, acrylic/canvas, 30 x 26 in](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 645 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![White Lies Beneath (William Henry Harrison, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 10), detail](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 858 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Moderation On One Side, Prudence On The Other (James Madison, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 9), 2018, acrylic/canvas, 58 x 48 in](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 619 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Moderation On One Side, Prudence On The Other (James Madison, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 9), detail](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 913 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Tell It Like It Was (First Lady Caroline Harrison, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 3), 2018, acrylic/canvas, 18 x 14 in](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 576 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![We Kind Of Have A History (Benjamin Henry Latrobe, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 2), 2018, acrylic/canvas mounted on birch panel, 18 \u215c x 16 in oval](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 662 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![He Said. She Said. She Said. (Julia Gardiner Tyler, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 18), 2018, acrylic/canvas, 60 x 50 in](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 624 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![He Said. She Said. She Said. (Julia Gardiner Tyler, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 18), detail](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 1012 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![The Truth Is An Arbitrary Thing (Daniel Webster, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 17), 2018, acrylic/canvas, 40 x 32 in](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 601 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![This Land Is (Shinnecock Hills Study, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 19), 2018, oil + acrylic/canvas, 14 x 18 in](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 974 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Loneliness Of Leaker (John Adams, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 20), 2018, acrylic/canvas, 30 x 26 in](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 643 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Loneliness Of Leaker (John Adams, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 20), detail](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 1107 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Disagree To Disagree (John Tyler, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 21), 2018, acrylic/canvas, 48 x 36 in](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 557 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Disagree To Disagree (John Tyler, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 21), detail](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 453 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Shawn Huckins, Denver studio, 2018](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 1170 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Fool\u2019s Gold installation, Modernism Gallery, San Francisco, CA.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 1122 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Fool\u2019s Gold installation, Modernism Gallery, San Francisco, CA.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 1124 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Fool\u2019s Gold installation, Modernism Gallery, San Francisco, CA.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 1018 750'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![close button](data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCA0OCA0OCI+PHBhdGggZD0iTTI0IDRDMTIuOTUgNCA0IDEyLjk1IDQgMjRzOC45NSAyMCAyMCAyMCAyMC04Ljk1IDIwLTIwUzM1LjA1IDQgMjQgNHptMTAgMjcuMTdMMzEuMTcgMzQgMjQgMjYuODMgMTYuODMgMzQgMTQgMzEuMTcgMjEuMTcgMjQgMTQgMTYuODMgMTYuODMgMTQgMjQgMjEuMTcgMzEuMTcgMTQgMzQgMTYuODMgMjYuODMgMjQgMzQgMzEuMTd6IiBmaWxsPSIjOTgwMDAwIiBjbGFzcz0iZmlsbC0wMDAwMDAiLz48cGF0aCBkPSJNMCAwaDQ4djQ4SDB6IiBmaWxsPSJub25lIi8+PC9zdmc+)
![]()
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Shawn Huckins' painterly skills and biting wit conspire to remind us that history is written by the winners — and then again later by the revisionists. Read more below.
Above: Nothing Rhymes With Orange (George Washington, White House Art Collection Erasure No. 5), 2018, acrylic/canvas, 32 x 26 in
Since construction was completed in 1800, the White House has served not only as home to each successive U.S. president, but also as a repository of American history, preserved in portraits and landscapes collected by the White House Historical Association. The collection contains iconic works ranging from Gilbert Stewart's famous portrayals of George Washington to Albert Bierstadt's epic scenes of the American frontier. For the contemporary American artist Shawn Huckins, who straddles the divide between traditional figurative painting and bleeding-edge digital culture, the archive is a provocation to consider how the past is treated today and how history might be remembered in the future.
The 18 paintings in "Fool's Gold" (currently at Modernism in San Francisco), Huckins' second solo exhibition at Modernism, mash up past and present by imagining masterpieces in the White House collection to be as ephemeral as Adobe Photoshop files. Meticulously repainting works by Stewart and Bierstadt, as well as Charles Wilson Peale and William Merritt Chase, Huckins "updates" them by simulating digital erasures: The artist selectively replaces portions with patches of gray-and-white checkerboard identical to the pattern that Photoshop users see when they delete sections of digital photos.
Huckins crafts these paintings entirely by hand in acrylic on canvas, working from archival images stored on the White House Historical Association website.
"If individual legacy can be expunged, how enduring are the concepts that spawned this country?" asks Huckins. "How will the current day be recorded, judged, and preserved when anyone can create, or re-create, his or her own reality with a keystroke, or a mouse-swipe, or a dead-of-night tweet?"
Shawn Huckins (born 1984, Laconia New Hampshire) currently lives with his partner Matt and works in Denver. His work has been exhibited nationwide.
The show, "Fool's Gold" will continue at Modernism in San Francisco until September 8, 2018.
xtyfr
More Galleries
Christopher Harrity
Christopher Harrity is the Manager of Online Production for Here Media, parent company to The Advocate and Out. He enjoys assembling online features on artists and photographers, and you can often find him poring over the mouldering archives of the magazines.
Christopher Harrity is the Manager of Online Production for Here Media, parent company to The Advocate and Out. He enjoys assembling online features on artists and photographers, and you can often find him poring over the mouldering archives of the magazines.