Charles McGee “Energy” Exhibition at Eastern Michigan University

Charles McGee in 2008 framed by a section of his sculpture, “United We
Stand,” at the Buckham Gallery in Flint, MI.
Photo by Jeana-Dee Allen of The Flint Journal

In the late 80s and early 90s, Charles McGee had a number of significant retrospectives. However, he wouldn’t hear of devoting a show entirely to past works. McGee told The Detroit News’ Joy Colby in 1989 that “I didn’t want to look back 30 years or so to include different phases of my work. … I want this show to be about process, about moving forward.” This resistance towards looking back extended to the occasion of his largest solo exhibition “Seeing Seventy” at the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1994 in honor of his 70th birthday. The DIA’s MaryAnn Wilkinson noted then: “Even as the occasion of an artist’s seventieth birthday is frequently the impetus for a contemplative look back at an entire life’s work, a classic retrospective implies the culmination or the closure of a career. Charles McGee, however, continues to change, reinvent, and experiment with every aspect of creative expression and, therefore, is not yet ready to be summarized.”

Now, fifteen years later, with this latest retrospective, “Energy” in celebration of his 85th birthday, McGee is still being driven forward by asking “What’s next?” And while this show will have on display selections from 60 years of his making art, there’s also plenty of new work on hand – and much more on his horizon. He’s still not yet ready to be summarized. As his biographer, I’ve often gotten a kick out of reading comments marveling at his youthfulness for a man in his 60s. These are exactly the same reactions he now gets in his 80s! McGee’s life is a continuum of constant renewal. In order to keep our minds fresh, he feels it is necessary to continually be exposed to new vistas, and thus his insistence on retrospectives having new work. It’s an invigorating pursuit, a constant source of nurturing, “As old as I am, I’m excited, I keep moving towards somewhere where there’s another little morsel of information.”

McGee is constantly exploring and changing, and has overturned so much in his quest for “always figuring out the new best way for expression” that today he says, “I feel like I’m in almost virgin territory.” And that’s McGee, never content, never ceasing to be inventive: “I’m not satisfied, ever.” Where he’s been is never a substitute for where he’s going, for as he puts it, “It would just kill me dead to do the same thing over and over again.” This continual process of experimentation and transformation that will be on display at Eastern Michigan University may explain why over the years some have seen his work as eclectic. It’s not. Despite the obvious diversity of his work, such a label overlooks the identifiable presence running throughout all of his work – what he calls signature, which transcends arbitrary boundaries of media and style. Even as the work changes over time, McGee maintains that they always retain his particular propensities and individual inclinations – their “McGee-ness” if you will. As he says, “it still remains identifiable as Charles W.” It’s the one thing he never wants to let go of. “I want to feel that it’s renewing. And still to have it renew itself within the spectrum of my understanding, of my particular vocabulary.”

Taking in the span of McGee’s career – thus far, offers an education on vitality and the importance of remaining curious along our own journeys. As he says, “I keep learning, I keep getting excited about things, and any little nuance that I learn, whether it’s good or bad, it’s still information. And that information allows me to be a better person, to be a better practitioner over the long run, simply because I listen, I’m learning, I’m growing.”

I’m writing this from Harlem, New York City, and regret being unable to join in celebrating my friend, from whom I’ve learned so much. Eastern Michigan is providing a great benefit to the community in pulling together an amazing span of an artist’s lifetime for this exhibition and putting on display the pure intensity of energy McGee has maintained throughout the continuum of his career. It’s a rare opportunity to witness his growth and development, and wonder alongside him, “What’s next?”

Nick Sousanis is the co-founder and former arts editor of www.thedetroiter.com. His biography on Charles McGee (of which some parts of this essay are adapted) is forthcoming from Wayne State University Press. He is currently a doctoral student at Columbia University’s Teachers College. You can contact him at nsousanis@gmail.com.

Selection from “Bi(bli)ography: A life of privilege.” Text and images copyright Nick Sousanis 2009. Full work available at www.spinweaveandcut.blogspot.com.