Hank Willis Thomas: A Suspension of Hostilities, 2019

A Suspension of Hostilities is an artwork that has been created in 2019 by Hank Willis Thomas (b. 1976, Plainfield, New Jersey; lives in New York). It has been part of the group show “Monuments” at The Geffen at MOCA and The Brick in Los Angeles. It consists of a 1969 Dodge Charger automobile. This is what the official description says about the piece: “Hank Willis Thomas frequently repurposes imagery from popular culture, especially as it pertains to race and represen-tation. A Suspension of Hostilities faithfully replicates the iconic muscle car from the 1980s hit TV show The Dukes of Hazzard. Named the General Lee after Robert E. Lee, the car was famous for its airborne leaps along the hilly Georgie back roads, with the characters Bo and Luke Duke at the wheel, typically in flight from the local law. Its horn played the first twelve notes of "Dixie," a minstrel song that served as the de facto Confederate national anthem. In Thomas's sculpture, a replica of the car, which included the Confederate flag emblazoned on its roof, stands vertically facing the viewer. The actual Robert E. Lee famously surrendered his fight at Appomattox Court House in 1865, a "suspension of hostilities" that ended the Civil War. Like many Americans, Thomas watched The Dukes of Hazzard growing up, calling it his favorite TV show and even owning Duke action figures and a model of the car itself. "My grandmother watched it with me. My mother watched it with me. There was never any mention or suggestion that there was a problem with the context or the Confederate flag." The television show exemplifies how Confederate iconography became part and parcel of American pop culture under the guise of rebellion, heritage, and popular entertainment.”

“Co-organized and co-presented by MOCA and The Brick, MONUMENTS marks the recent wave of monument removals as a historic moment. The exhibition reflects on the histories and legacies of post-Civil War America as they continue to resonate today, bringing together a selection of decommissioned monuments, many of which are Confederate, with contemporary artworks borrowed and newly created for the occasion. Removed from their original outdoor public context, the monuments in the exhibition will be shown in their varying states of transformation, from unmarred to heavily vandalized.”

Hank Willis Thomas: A Suspension of Hostilities, 2019. The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles.