George, Juneteenth and Galleries
He continues to steer The Mothership and influence folks near and far
As the main brain behind P-Funk, George Clinton continues to influence fans and fellow artists. Let’s glance at a few.
Lauren Halsey is the L.A.-born artist known for creating site-specific installations that incorporate the ethos of South Los Angeles and celebrate Black life and aesthetics. The NY Times declares her “a rising star.” She has completed her most high-flying project to date, taking over the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of its series of garden commissions.
See if you can get The Mothership (or any other mode of transportation) to transport you to NYC before Oct. 22 to see the installation, titled the eastside of south central los angeles hieroglyph prototype architecture (I). Halsey’s work is inspired by everything from the museum’s Egyptian collection to her long-time love of George.
You can always stay up to date with George’s own artwork here. When not in the recording studio or bringing the funk live to a stage near you, Dr. Funkenstein is in his art studio expressing his funkiness in graphic form. Regular readers know George has been celebrating the 40th anniversary of Atomic Dog, which you can see in some of his recent creations, such as K9 Perceptions, shown here.
When he is done creating the work, George loves signing it.
And that wonderful touch of George’s personality also occurs when he is signing the limited edition gallery-quality photo prints taken by noted photographer Neal Preston. Each print is individually hand-signed and numbered by both George and Neal, with George adding an Atomic Dog for your personal collection. There are still prints available of each image. This is your opportunity to add some original and highly collectible art to your wall. You can enjoy the funk everyday, no matter what music you are playing.
The remaining prints come with free shipping, so avoid disappointment and don’t delay.
Speaking of galleries and museums, the National Museum of African American History and Culture celebrates Juneteenth everyday, but especially today. Just two years ago, President Joe Biden signed Juneteenth into law as a federal holiday with these words: “Juneteenth marks both the long, hard night of slavery and subjugation and a promise of a brighter morning to come.”
Standing tall just a few blocks from the White House on the National Mall, the Museum is a living, breathing symbol of that brighter morning. By sharing innovative exhibitions, sparking meaningful conversations, and fostering community, the lessons of history help shape a more hopeful future.
You can go explore the Museum and find out if any other celebrity is more represented than George. You can not only see the original full sized Mothership but a very familiar-looking rainbow wig.
Today we reflect on Juneteenth, which is the celebration of the announcement in Texas on June 19th, 1865, that enslaved Americans were free.
As noted by the erudite historian Heather Cox Richardson, on April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant of the U.S. Army, but it was not until June 2 that General Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered the Trans-Mississippi Department, the last major army of the Confederacy, to the United States, in Galveston, Texas. Smith then fled to Mexico.
Seventeen days later, Major General Gordon Granger of the U.S. Army arrived to take charge of the soldiers stationed there. On June 19, he issued General Order Number 3. It read:
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”
The next year, after the Thirteenth Amendment had been added to the Constitution, Texas freedpeople gathered on June 19, 1866, to celebrate with prayers, speeches, food, and socializing the coming of their freedom. By the following year, the federal government encouraged “Juneteenth” celebrations, eager to explain to Black citizens the voting rights that had been put in place by the Military Reconstruction Act in early March 1867, and the tradition of Juneteenth began to spread to Black communities across the nation.