id:			172600
accession number:	2015.82
share license status:	Copyrighted
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2015.82
updated:		2023-03-22 03:05:08.988000

Cumulo, 2014. Sanford Biggers (American, b. 1970). Spray paint, interior paint, fabric-treated acrylic paint; overall: 182.8 x 189.2 cm (71 15/16 x 74 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Agnes Gund 2015.82 © Sanford Biggers

title:				Cumulo
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			2014
creation date earliest:		2014
creation date latest:		2014
current location:		
creditline:			Gift of Agnes Gund
copyright:			© Sanford Biggers

---

culture:	America, 21st century
technique:	Spray paint, interior paint, fabric-treated acrylic paint
department:	Contemporary Art
collection:	CONTEMP - Painting
type:		Painting
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

---

CREATORS

* Sanford Biggers (American, b. 1970)  - artist

---

measurements: Overall: 182.8 x 189.2 cm (71 15/16 x 74 1/2 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

---

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Currents and Constellations: Black Art in Focus
	opening date:   2022-02-20T05:00:00
	<i>Currents and Constellations: Black Art in Focus</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 20-June 26, 2022).

---

LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

---

PROVENANCE

	Agnes Gund, New York, NY, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
	date: 2015
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 2015–
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


---

fun fact:
Using spray paint in this work, the artist adds imagery to historic quilts.

digital description:
Inspired by research indicating that quilts may have been used as coded signposts along the Underground Railroad, Sanford Biggers began employing them as his canvases. Gold paint and the inclusion of a heavenly body—a cumulus cloud—elevate the status of this quilt, and the women who crafted them, from mundane to sacred. Historically, quilts were often made from fabric scraps by enslaved women. They served as both a conduit for creativity and a way to beautify spaces. “I consider myself a late collaborator,” Biggers states, “working with this patchwork that goes over a span of decades and generations.”

wall description:
Inspired by research indicating that quilts may have been used as coded signposts along the Underground Railroad, Sanford Biggers began employing them as his canvases. Gold paint and the inclusion of a heavenly body—a cumulus cloud—elevate the status of this quilt, and the women who crafted them, from mundane to sacred. Historically, quilts were often made from fabric scraps by enslaved women. They served as both a conduit for creativity and a way to beautify spaces. “I consider myself a late collaborator,” Biggers states, “working with this patchwork that goes over a span of decades and generations.”
---

RELATED WORKS

---

CITATIONS

	"Currents and Constellations.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine  </em>61, no. 4 (Fall 2021): 23.
	page number: 	Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 23
	url:		

---

IMAGES