The flag of the United States is a highly potent symbol of patriotism that simultaneously unites and divides the nation it represents and has long been celebrated and disparaged by artists enthralled by its power while remaining wary of its application.

Guidonbearer

Installation view, Flags: A Group Show, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, September 7 – October 26, 2024. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Steven Probert

GuidonPole

Among the first generation of flag-wielding artists is Jasper Johns, who described appeal of the flag in relation to its pervasiveness: it was something “seen and not looked at”.[1] Claes Oldenburg, on the other hand, considered the flag’s ubiquity a symptom of the commercialization of patriotism and history, and the family of flags he made from cardboard and driftwood in the summer of 1960 in Provincetown, Cape Cod, are both parody and symptom of the chronic idolatry he encountered there.

Installation view, Flags: A Group Show, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, September 7 – October 26, 2024. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Steven Probert

Installation view, Flags: A Group Show, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, September 7 – October 26, 2024. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Steven Probert

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A portion of the proceeds from the exhibition will be donated to America Votes, the nation’s largest grassroots voter mobilization effort.

Parts of aguidon

Among the many examples of contemporary artists extending this critical investigation into the present are Sanford Biggers, Carla Edwards, Glenn Ligon, Eric. N. Mack, Kiyan Williams, and Hank Willis Thomas with new works made especially for the exhibition.

Installation view, Flags: A Group Show, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, September 7 – October 26, 2024. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Steven Probert

Installation view, Flags: A Group Show, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, September 7 – October 26, 2024. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Steven Probert

GuidonMilitary

Installation view, Flags: A Group Show, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, September 7 – October 26, 2024. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Steven Probert

Installation view, Flags: A Group Show, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, September 7 – October 26, 2024. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Steven Probert

What is aguidon

Benny Andrews Diane Arbus Sanford Biggers Chakaia Booker William Copley Sam Durant Carla Edwards  Elliott Erwitt Robert Frank Lee Friedlander  Wayne Gonzales Felix Gonzalez-Torres Nancy Grossman  Hans Haacke  David Hammons  Lyle Ashton Harris  Rachel Harrison  Jonathan Horowitz  Douglas Huebler  Sonya Kelliher-Combs     Jasper Johns Cheyenne Julien Edward Kienholz  Josh Kline      Louise Lawler  Jacob Lawrence Sol LeWitt     Roy Lichtenstein Glenn Ligon Robert Longo Peter Moore Eric N. Mack Richard Marquis Claes Oldenburg Gordon Parks Pope.L Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Faith Ringgold Dread Scott Gedi Sibony Ming Smith Hugh Steers Tseng Kwong Chi Kiyan Williams  Hank Willis Thomas Garry Winogrand

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Installation view, Flags: A Group Show, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, September 7 – October 26, 2024. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Steven Probert

This exhibition will survey artworks made using or depicting the American flag and that exemplify the ambivalent nationalism, patriotic nostalgia, and social anxiety of the highly politicized motif. Works will date from the late 1950s––a period of huge historical significance for the United States and the global spread of capitalism––through to our contemporary moment of heightened political tension.

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'guidon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Following the Civil Rights Movement and protests against the Vietnam War the flag became an increasingly charged cultural symbol in the late 1960s and 1970s, and Douglas Huebler, Faith Ringgold, Edward Kienholz, and Ming Smith were among the artists reinterpreting its symbolic implications. In 1990 David Hammons debuted his African American Flag in the red, green and black palette of the Black Liberation Flag, and the following year Hans Haacke responded to the national disgrace of the Gulf War with Collateral, a rusted shopping cart full of flag buttons with the caption “May God bless the victory of the allied troop [sic]”.

Installation view, Flags: A Group Show, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, September 7 – October 26, 2024. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Steven Probert

Installation view, Flags: A Group Show, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, September 7 – October 26, 2024. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Steven Probert

“Guidon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guidon. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.