Edgar Arceneaux’s concerns link studio practice and work in public space. He uses the persona of the artist, an identity that transcends race or agency, as “a transfigurative subject” within his work. His desire to monitor how his work is received becomes complicit with his idea of what it means to present himself as an artist. It is no coincidence that he moves fluently between traditional, isolated studio practice in works such as Broken Sol or The Alchemy of Comedy…Stupid and his 13-year commitment to the Watts House Project in Los Angeles.
