Cloaked in a cloud, disguised in the sky: Scad museum of art

26 September 2024 - 27 January 2025

Overview

George Clinton is a cultural icon whose contributions to the arts span seven decades. He revolutionized music and performance as the bandleader of Parliament-Funkadelic, collaborating across genres and mediums with outlandish styling, spectacular set designs, and pioneering artistry. While on tour in the 1990s, Clinton began applying his creativity to drawing and painting, developing a surreal, hallucinogenic, maximalist aesthetic that riffs on the characters, mythology, and language of P-Funk. His artistic approach is defined by improvisation, experimentation, and innovation — refusing to be bound by traditional expectations or societal norms. This landmark exhibition focuses on the wildly unconventional works Clinton has made in the years since, showcasing his inventiveness in the context of a fine art museum for the first time. A true visionary, Clinton presents a multidimensional perspective on Black experience in the U.S., inviting us all to enter a world that is fantastical, optimistic, and full of funk.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

George Clinton (b. 1941, Kannapolis, N.C.) became interested in music while living in New Jersey during the early 1950s. After an early Doo-wop hit single with the Parliaments, Clinton decided to record the same band under a new name: Funkadelic. Clinton gradually put together a collective of more than 50 musicians and recorded the ensemble during the 1970s both as Parliament and Funkadelic. While Funkadelic pursued band-format psychedelic rock, Parliament engaged in a funk free-for-all, blending influences from the godfathers (James Brown and Sly Stone) with freaky costumes and themes inspired by 1960s acid culture and science fiction. In 1978–79, the most successful year in Parliament-Funkadelic history, Parliament hit the charts first with “Flash Light,” P-Funk’s first R&B number one. Funkadelic’s “One Nation Under a Groove,” the title track of its 10th studio album, spent six weeks at the top spot on the R&B charts during the summer, while Parliament’s “Aqua Boogie” would hit number one later in the year. Clinton began his solo career with the 1982 album Computer Games. Several months later, Clinton’s “Atomic Dog” hit number one on the R&B charts.

Clinton and many former Parliament-Funkadelic members continued to tour and record throughout the 1980s as the P-Funk All-Stars. The early 1990s saw the rise of funk-inspired rap (courtesy of Digital Underground, Dr. Dre, and Warren G) and funk rock (Primus and Red Hot Chili Peppers), re-establishing Clinton’s status as one of the most important forces in the recent history of Black music. Along with renewed notoriety and respect, Clinton gained a wider audience with appearances in the movies The Night Before, House Party, PCU, and Good Burger and in commercials for Apple computers, Nike, and Rio Mp3 players, as well as hosting the HBO original series Cosmic Slop. Clinton also composed theme songs for the popular TV series The Tracey Ullman Show and The PJs.

Clinton has received a Grammy Award, a Dove Award from the Gospel Music Association, and an MTV Video Music Award and has been recognized for lifetime achievement by BMI, the NAACP Image Awards, and the Motown Alumni Association. Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2012 Clinton received an honorary doctorate of music from the renowned Berklee College of Music. He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2024.